[Fantasy] Divine Capital (Book) - 19-21

Chapter 18 A Chaotic and Entangled Being It

possessed the upper body of a handsome man, but its hands and lower body were horribly disfigured limbs formed by twisted, grotesque veins. The monster sat in the center of the cabin, its location shimmering with eerie energy pulses that merged into the magic circle beneath it.

All the remaining missing persons were here, as were the guards. However, none of the guards in this place were indulging in sexual desire. On

one side of the room, women huddled together, trembling; on the other, the corpses of men, their heads severed and their equipment stripped… the decapitated heads were arranged in a neat row on the floor like decorations.

A wave of nausea washed over me; I nearly vomited on the spot, barely managing to suppress my urges.

The monster's penis was nearly half a meter long and as thick as an arm, a sight that terrified me.

A woman was in the monster's arms, screaming in agony as the monster thrust its grotesque phallus into her body. I gasped for breath, looking closely, then secretly rejoiced that the woman wasn't Asaga.

"Ahhh! Spare...spare me...ahhh!"

The girl tried to brace herself against the mutated arms supporting her waist, trying to stop the phallus from penetrating deeper.

The monster, possessing a handsome face indistinguishable from a human's, chuckled, its blond hair trembling with its laughter.

"What? Not feeling well?"

"No...no...uhh...I can't take it..."

The girl convulsed, her face contorted in extreme pain.

Her labia were swollen and deformed by the massive phallus, and a bulge of flesh had formed on her lower abdomen. It was quite remarkable that the girl's internal organs hadn't been damaged despite being penetrated to this extent.

"Would you like to sit on the mast too?"

the monster continued with a sinister grin.

"No! No!"

The girl shook her head, screaming in terror.

"Then let me cum properly."

The monster, satisfied, lightly touched the girl's lips with his long, slender fingertips, as if to stir up her fear.

The girl closed her eyes, gritted her teeth, and began to move on top of the man. Her love juices flowed down the penis that filled her vagina, her legs trembling with pain and pleasure.

The man extended his long, snake-like tongue, wrapped it around the girl's breasts, and began to lick them indiscriminately, leaving a layer of glistening liquid on her bare skin.

The girl moved for a while, then stopped due to the excruciating pain. "No... I can't move... Please... Ahhh..."

A helpless expression appeared on the man's face, then he pressed the girl's head down and forced her to the ground.

The girl's eyes widened in terror as she screamed, but it was just a meaningless wail.

The monster treated her as a mere lump of flesh to vent his desires, and began to thrust mercilessly into her vagina. The girl's screams quickly turned into agonizing cries; her labia and abdomen looked as if they were about to be torn apart, and large amounts of blood flowed out.

Her voice grew fainter and fainter. When the monster ejaculated inside her, her lower abdomen was bulging high with semen, and her eyes had completely lost their color.

The monstrous man let out a long sigh, then pulled the girl's body off his penis. The fluid that had been blocking her vagina gushed out like water from a burst dam. The girl let out a hoarse gasp, then fell silent as if dead.

Two guards dragged the unconscious girl away, and the man turned to look at a corner on the other side of the cabin.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness, I didn't really want you to witness this,"

the man said with a smile.

I looked in the direction he was looking, and my heart tightened. Asaga was there, sitting on a sofa, surrounded by the dismembered remains of murdered people.

"It's not the first time, don't pretend to be so polite,"

Asaga said coldly.

"What have you thought about what I said, Your Highness?"

The man ignored Asaka's attitude and spoke to himself.

Asaka was the only woman in this place who hadn't been stripped naked. She sat there, looking relatively composed, which relieved me.

"Shirō, you should know what you are in my eyes. How many more times do you want to hear the same answer?"

Asaka said.

The guy named Shirō shrugged, at least that's how it seemed to me.

"Kōyō, just because I'm not touching you now doesn't mean I won't kill you. While I still have patience, you'd better make the right decision quickly. Right now, your power is no different from these women's. If you want to try to be treated the same way as them, then keep gritting your teeth."

Shirō said sinisterly.

Kōyō was Asaka's surname; I hadn't forgotten that. However, I had absolutely no idea what they meant...

"Do you think I'm afraid of death?"

Asaka looked calmly into Shiro's dark yellow eyes, showing no fear whatsoever. "If you don't care about your clan being devoured by us, leaving only dregs, you can try."

Shiro's eyes flickered, but he still grinned maliciously. "I'll kill you here, and no one in the Devouring Clan will know."

"Are you sure?"

Asaka's lips curled up, revealing a subtle expression.

Shiro sighed and then shook his head.

"Guangyong, you've already seen my strength. If I wanted, I could crush everyone on this ship like insects! Twilight-class, Full Moon-class, Midnight-class... even Eclipse-class warriors! They were all cleanly killed like trash in front of me! If you unite with me, I will definitely satisfy you..."

Shiro's face flickered with excitement, as if he were showing off his magnificent creation.

"That's a trick, not strength,"

Asaka said calmly.

"Trickery is also part of strength!"

Shiro seemed to have lost his composure, shouting at Asaka.

Asaka swept her gaze across the other person with a cold, arrogant look. Looking into her eyes, I felt for a moment that anyone looked at like that for even a short while would feel utterly inferior. That gaze was that of a human looking at an ant.

"You lowly thing who can't even shape your own body properly, with your current physique, you dare to hope to enter the Abyss with me? Do you think the Abyss, Riolet, will accept something like you?"

Selong roared, his fingers shooting out like tentacles, suddenly wrapping around Asaka's neck.

"That's right! Something like me! I can kill you with a flick of my wrist!"

Asaka's throat was tightly gripped, cold sweat pouring down her face, but that contemptuous look never disappeared, not even her expression changed.

"So what if you're royalty! Hmm! So smug! You're still at my mercy! I'm not trash! Don't look at me like that!"

Selong yelled, violently throwing Asaka onto the sofa.

He still seemed wary of Asaka's identity, even in his rage, he was afraid of actually hurting her.

Shirou was a demon; I roughly understood that now. However, judging from Asaka's words, although he possessed considerable power, his racial rank was low…

Asaka sat up straight from the sofa, looking at him without speaking. Shirou's anger quickly subsided, as if nothing had happened.

Shirou stood in the center of the magic circle, staring directly at the girl sitting a few meters away. The ferocity in his eyes gradually disappeared, finally replaced by a completely opposite emotion.

“Asaka… Asaka…”

Shirou's voice suddenly became gentle and soothing, “I have been watching you for a very, very long time… ever since you were in the egg… watching you be born… watching you awaken… watching you be acknowledged by the Devouring King… I have been watching you for a very, very long time…”

“I'm sorry, I never knew you existed,”

Asaka said.

Shirou shook his head. "It's not your fault...it's not your fault...you're royalty...how could you possibly know...but I really want to go to the Abyss with you...I also want to see you become the Queen of Devourers..."

"Are you really from the Palace Clan?"

Asaga suddenly sneered. "This possessiveness is more like that of a vampire."

Shirou stared at her, saying nothing.

"You understand, social class can be climbed little by little..."

Asaga continued, "but some things will never change. The arrogance of the Eye Clan, the greed of the vampires, the jealousy of the Shadow Clan...do you know what I hate most? The lust of the Palace Clan...it's too filthy! So filthy it makes me want to vomit. Look at your own body, look at the ugly thing between your legs, look at your core! The Palace Clan has always been such a disgusting existence...even if you perfectly mold your body, your core will always be oozing nauseating fluid and a putrid stench. I can accept invitations from any other race, but the Palace Clan will never be on my radar, understand?"

I thought Shirou would suddenly lash out, but he knelt there, his eyes devoid of any emotion. The cabin fell silent, both of them staring at each other.

“Asaja…sing a song…”

Shirou suddenly said after a long silence. “I won’t touch you today, but you have to sing a nice song.”

Asaja closed her eyes, seemingly recalling something. Half a minute later, she gently opened her mouth and began to sing…it was a song I had never heard before.

“A horned monster ran into the village,”

“Those who want power, come and devour me,”

“The doctor ate the monster,”

“From then on, no disease could defeat him.”

“But the monster is still alive,”

“Splash splash splash clack clack patter patter gurgle,” “The monster was hungry, and ate him from inside the doctor,” “Those who want power, come and devour me.”

“The painter ate the monster,”

“From then on, his brushstrokes were beautiful on his canvas,”

“But the monster is still alive,”

“Splash splash splash clack clack patter gurgle,” “The monster was hungry, and ate him from inside the painter,”

“Those who want power, come and devour me.”

"The farmer ate the monster,"

"And from then on, the harvests were plentiful,"

"But the monster is still alive,"

"Splash, splash, clack, clack, patter, patter, gurgle," "The monster was hungry, and it ate the farmer,"

"Those who want power, come and devour me,"

"Come and devour me..."

Shirou listened quietly to Asaka singing, and I listened to her voice... Everyone was listening... The voice sounded distant and ethereal, just like the first time I heard it.

This place, which looked like hell, echoed with hellish nursery rhymes, except for that voice, which sounded like an angel.

Asaka finished singing, Shirou looked up at her, and she looked at him.

"Every time I hear you finish singing, I think, I might as well let you eat me..."

he said.

"I won't eat such disgusting things,"

Asaka said bluntly.

Shirou laughed loudly, a sharp, hoarse laugh echoing in the blood-stained hall, sending chills down the spines of everyone who was still alive.

“Princess… I’ve prepared so much delicious food for you, why aren’t you eating? Why are you still enduring hunger?”

He pointed at the corpses surrounding Asaga.

“I don’t eat humans,”

Asaga said simply.

Seiro seemed quite surprised. “Are all royalty as picky as you? The Devourers I’ve seen eat anything.”

“It’s just a matter of personal interest.”

Seiro licked his lips with his long tongue. “I’m not as picky as you. Humans, Rilin, or even us Riolet, as long as I can, I’ll gladly accept them… Princess, I’ll probably get tired of all these human women on this ship very soon. You’d better not challenge my willpower. The noble body of a Devourer princess… just thinking about it makes my thing below want to ejaculate…”

A murderous glint ignited in Asaga’s eyes.

Shirou seemed quite satisfied with her expression. "I really want to know who took the first night of the Devourer Princess... What a pity, what a pity, I didn't expect you to appear on the human side. If I had known that these guys' guild was actually trying to capture you, I would have signed a contract with them long ago..." "

Shirou, if I regain my power, I will definitely kill you, so you better not let me leave this ship alive."

"Of course not, a low-level guy like me can't consume the power of a royal member in one go. I will keep you by my side and slowly manipulate you, you can rest assured about that. You chose this path yourself, hahahaha!"

"That's right, you chose it yourself." Jingu licked the scabbard

, making a crisp hissing sound. I rushed in front of him and with all my strength, I ruthlessly severed the guy's erect penis.

"Aa ... Most importantly, the ground where he stood glowed with the light of magical runes, then exploded. Blood rained down, wood chips, and body parts were blasted everywhere by the backlash of the malfunctioning magic runes. Chaos reigned all around; victims and guards alike lost their sense of judgment in the explosion, instinctively screaming and dodging the flying debris and flames. I ignored everything else, because right now I only had eyes for one person: Asaga Mikyou, standing there dumbfounded. I rushed over, grabbed her cold little hand, and my heart instantly relaxed. Then this guy punched me in the face, and I screamed, clutching my nose as I fell to the ground. "Are you stupid?! You really want to kill me?!" I ripped off my mask, my nose stinging and tears streaming down my face.

Asaja cried out in a voice brimming with surprise, quickly pulling me up. "You're wearing a tattered mask, how am I supposed to know it's you!"

"Run!"

I grabbed her and rushed out. Several guards seemed to try to stop me, but the shockwave from the explosion made them unsteady and unable to stop us.

Energy was gradually returning, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Asaja clung tightly to my sleeve, running behind me, while another array of lights appeared on the ground. It seemed the illusion array had lost its source of magic and was beginning to fail.

The deafening explosion echoed in the enclosed cabin, making my ears ring and my head throb, but I didn't forget Yuying, whom I had hidden in another cabin.

"Give her some clothes!"

I shouted to Asaja.

"Can't you just take them off?"

The princess seemed to have some objections.

"There are still enemies outside! I can ambush them while I'm in disguise!"

Asaja glanced at Yuying, who was trembling after I pulled her out of the cabin, and finally reluctantly took off her outer clothes.

The moment she undressed, I realized I might have made a mistake… Asaja was left in only a tight-fitting blouse after taking off her coat. Her burgeoning breasts stretched the blouse high, and upon closer inspection, one could even vaguely see the pink buds beneath.

At this point, I didn't want to waste any more time saying anything. Suppressing my desire to admire, I led the two of them back into the passage leading to the upper level.

Fortunately, almost all the guards were focused on survival, and no one even tried to stop us. The backlash from such a large magic circle was considerable, but it didn't seem to have shattered the ship's hull; otherwise, everyone on board would probably be fish food.

The people on the upper level felt the tremors, and more and more people felt their energy recovering.

The warriors cheered excitedly, eager to rush down and capture the culprits. Let

them handle these things… I've done what I needed to do.

Singafro hadn't been harmed; he hadn't even been dragged down. Perhaps it was because it was early morning and Shirou and the others hadn't officially started their "work" yet.

Watching Yuuki cry and throw herself into Singafalo's arms, I asked myself if I was, in some ways, not entirely, a bad person.

Singafalo held Yuuki tightly, looking at me with grateful eyes. I nodded to him, then left with Asaga.

Asaga hadn't said a word since I brought her out of the demon's lair at the bottom of the ship, but when we returned to our suite, she hugged me, her shoulders trembling.

"Seeing you so confident down there, I thought you weren't scared at all,"

I chuckled, patting her back.

Asaga buried her head in my chest, her horns poking my shoulder several times. I grinned, suppressing my urge to speak.

"How could I not be scared! If I were raped by a lower-ranking warrior of the Miyako clan, I'd rather die!"

Asaga sobbed in my arms.

“You’re quite the big shot, though. That guy didn’t dare touch you, did he?”

I reassured her.

The girl didn’t speak, but her arms around my waist didn’t loosen. We stood there in the main hall of the room for a long time.

I smelled the familiar scent of her hair and finally felt completely relaxed.

I really hadn’t slept well during the days she was missing. She must have felt the same way; even if she wasn’t violated, she must have been under a lot of pressure in that kind of place.

“I’m hungry… I haven’t eaten for days…”

Asaja finally let go, took a step back, and looked at me pitifully. “They said there was a buffet… but I haven’t eaten even once!”

I smiled and sighed. “It’ll be chaotic outside for a while now, let’s wait until things calm down. Can you still hold back? You’re not going to have to eat yourself again, are you?”

Asaja reluctantly gave in. “We didn’t fight this time, so it’s impossible for me to be so exhausted that I need to eat myself… but I’m just hungry…”

“I can’t take it anymore, I’m going to get a good night’s sleep. I’m not going to worry about you anymore. Don’t wander off, or I won’t look for you if you disappear again.”

I said with a laugh as I walked toward the bedroom.

"Greedy Wolf, thank you for coming to find me,"

Asaga said solemnly from behind me.

This was the first time she had thanked me, and I found it somewhat ridiculous, but I couldn't laugh.

"As a thank you, how about we do it?" I turned to tease her

.

"Okay."

I almost slipped and fell, unable to believe what I was hearing. "You agreed!" "Yeah." Asaga nodded, then smiled slyly, " But I 'm starving right now, so I don't have the energy for that kind of thing." This was definitely blatant revenge... This woman had even learned to play tricks on people... ********** ... Shirou didn't reappear, neither in the cabins nor in the rumors. He must have escaped; my strike hadn't dealt him a fatal blow. However, according to Asaka, the Miya clan's weakness is their genitals; such an attack would leave them in a state of extreme weakness for a long time. Sea burial of the body, cleaning the cabins… after the commotion, the cruise ship finally returned to its pre-departure state. Although everyone remained on guard, things seemed almost back to normal. Those perpetrators—I still don't know if they were Dreams' people, nor do I understand Shirou's purpose. Thinking about it always leaves me feeling uneasy. "Shirou is just a tool, summoned by someone else," Asaka said happily while enjoying the restored buffet. Singafro and Yuuki were also sitting at our table. They'd become my friends since the incident, but I felt very uncomfortable whenever they acted overly grateful. Sensing my displeasure, the two wisely stopped mentioning the past. "Who exactly are you? Why are they being so polite to you?" Yu Ying asked Asagi. To Yu Ying, she felt like a lamb to the slaughter at that time, while Asagi was being treated like an honored guest by the ferocious monster—this was incomprehensible to her. Although the two of them posed no threat to me, I thought that if they knew Asagi's true identity, it would introduce many uncertainties, so I started to cover it up with some random excuse. Singafolo and Yu Ying were clever; they stopped questioning me after realizing my intentions.

After Singafalo and Yuying finished their meal, they left, leaving me to continue my rampage in the restaurant with Asaga. But now that they were gone, I could finally ask the questions that had been weighing on my mind.

"Shiron was summoned, but who summoned him?"

I asked.

"It was one of the leaders of the masked men. They possess the [Shattered Harp] from the Demon Realm, which can summon Riorets from the Demon Realm by playing different combinations of timbres. However, because the [Shattered Harp] itself is in a state of disrepair, the summoned Riorets aren't particularly high-ranking. Shiron was a low-ranking palace-clan Rioret; after being summoned, he signed a contract with the summoner and was used as the source of magic for the cursed magic circle."

It seemed these people were indeed members of Dreams, because I knew the [Shattered Harp] and the [Dragon's Eye] were currently in Dreams' possession. And according to this description, the [Shattered Harp] could indeed open one-way portals to the Demon Realm, which basically matched the information Dreams had leaked.

"It seems there are many races in the Demon Realm... Are the Palace Clan powerful?" "

Among the Leoretes, there are seven that can truly be called complete races: the Eye Clan, the Skeleton Clan, the Shadow Clan, the Heart Clan, the Devourer Clan, the Blood Clan, and the Palace Clan. Our legend is that each race was born from the seven deadly sins of humanity. The Eye Clan was born from pride, the Skeleton Clan from sloth, the Shadow Clan from envy, the Heart Clan from wrath, the Devourer Clan from gluttony, the Blood Clan from greed, and the Palace Clan from lust. Our power grows as the dark side of humanity expands."

Sure enough, the system has a complete setting for the demon races, but I find this setting both cliché and boring... It seems many games with similar themes have something similar in them.

"You just said Shirou signed a contract with someone? What's that?" "

Leoretes can form contracts with humans or Ririn, and then you can borrow the corresponding contractor's power. The power of your Skeleton Clan rings is actually the power of a contract."

What she said confused me a bit, but that wasn't important. What was important was...

"So, what about you? Can you also form contracts with others?"

I asked.

“Yes. If it’s the highest level contract, then the other party can use my full power to some extent.”

“Then sign with me?”

I said with a smile.

Asaga shook her head. “No, you’re too weak.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

Asaga held up two fingers. “There are two kinds of contracts. One is a contract where the human or Rilin is the subject and the Riolet is subordinate. The other is exactly the opposite. If you want to sign a contract with me, you have to defeat me, but you’re not strong enough, so you’ll just be devoured by me.”

“Are you that powerful? I didn’t see that coming.”

I laughed.

“On your side, the power of us Riolets is forcibly suppressed to some extent. But if it’s a battle based on signing a contract, my power will be released in its entirety. I don’t want to devour you, and there’s no benefit for you to sign a contract with me… I’m still too weak.”

“Okay, okay…”

I compromised. Originally, it was just a casual remark. I’ve always been very cautious about the source of power that I don’t understand. And I still don’t know what benefits this so-called contract will bring. The

cruise

ship continued its voyage, the remaining journey uneventful. A few days later, we arrived at our destination, the capital city of Nathalie.

After saying goodbye to Singafaro and Youying, Asaga and I began to wander aimlessly through Nathalie.

Nathalie was the most magnificent city-state on the continent; even using high-speed energy flight, traversing the city would take a full day. Moreover, from the moment we entered, the city issued a warning, prohibiting all energy activities exceeding energy level e.

I didn't ignore this warning, because the city guards of large cities possessed strength comparable to top-tier mercenary guilds, and were even more powerful in terms of support and funding. No one wanted to openly oppose such a force, not even Dreams.

"So many people..."

Asaga and I strolled through the cobblestone streets, curiously looking around.

I was actually quite interested in this place as well, but I didn't show the same astonishment as her, probably due to my pride. If I looked around, I always felt like a country bumpkin.

Because of the Battle of the Dome, the entire city was teeming with adventurers and mercenaries from all over the world. The city was large, but almost all the inns were occupied.

It was like a grand festival; the whole city was incredibly lively. All sorts of people who wanted to do business also flocked to this place, and the air was filled with the smells of food, wine, and burning things. Anyone who stayed in the city for a while would be deeply infected by this atmosphere.

But I hadn't forgotten what was behind all this. The Battle of the Dome—if nothing unexpected happened, countless high-level warriors in this world would die here…

I just needed to survive; whether or not Melfis could win the championship was his business. I would help him, and I hoped I wouldn't be one of those who died.

"My companion has a bit of a temper. Can you promise me you won't clash with him?"

I stopped in front of the tavern where I had arranged to meet Melfis and asked Asaga.

“I’m your companion, and so is he, so we’re companions too. You don’t need to worry about that,”

Asaga said.

I was about to breathe a sigh of relief when she added, “But I don’t need to tolerate guys who don’t know how to give way to women, do you think?”

There was nothing I could do; Melfis and Asaga were completely unpredictable. I just hoped everything would go smoothly.

Entering the tavern, I carefully searched for that familiar figure. Two minutes later, I saw him in a corner. However, to my surprise, he wasn’t alone. Melfis was sitting with two other people, a man and a woman.

It was as if Melfis had eyes in the back of his head; as I walked towards him from afar, he seemed to immediately sense my gaze and turned to look at me.

We made eye contact, and then I pushed through the people blocking my way to get to him.

“Haha…you’re here earlier than I expected,”

Melfis said with a laugh.

“I almost died on the way,”

I replied, then sized up the two strangers beside him.

One was a man with a thick beard, deep-set eyes, and a well-proportioned figure. Although he had a beard, I didn't think he was more than forty years old. The other girl was in her early twenties, with shifty eyes, wearing light armor and carrying a rapier, her long hair piled up behind her head, revealing her smooth, beautiful neck.

I nodded to both of them, and they responded. It seemed neither of them were particularly talkative; compared to my noisy companions, I preferred this type.

"Who is she?"

Melfis gestured with his chin towards Asaga.

"A companion. If there are any vacancies, add her,"

I said.

Melfis frowned. "Who told you to bring someone? Are you bored?"

"Ha, as if you said you weren't allowed to bring anyone."

I sneered.

"Damn it, that's because you've been causing trouble and don't even have a single friend! I didn't tell you!"

Melfis cursed.

"Sorry to disappoint you."

I retorted sarcastically.

"Do you know this competition isn't a game? I'm not even sure I can survive. If you bring someone you don't know, the team will have trust issues!"

Melfis looked quite serious.

"What does he mean?"

Asa suddenly pulled me aside.

"He doesn't want to play with you."

I said half-jokingly.

"Then what do we do?"

Asa tilted her head and asked.

I looked at Melfis and then smiled, "You've already gathered three people, that's enough, and you can do without me. Since it's this trip, if you don't let her join, I'm quitting too."

Melfis looked at me and then burst out laughing, "It's only been a month, how the hell have you become so shameless?"

I shrugged, giving him a "you figure it out" look.

Melfis stopped laughing, stood up, and gestured for me to go outside with him. I told Asaga to sit there and wait, then we ran outside to a quiet spot.

“Honestly, can you trust this woman?”

Melfis asked.

I nodded. “Of course.”

“Letting her join means that my life, and my companion’s, are all in your hands. Are you prepared for that?”

I gave Melfis a definite answer.

Having received his answer, he didn’t press the matter further. I could only say that Melfis trusted me; even if he didn’t approve of my decisions, he would still respect them.

“How strong is she?”

I thought for a moment. “You know Gambler Paul, right?”

“Of course.”

“She managed to escape from Gambler Paul and his desperate pursuit while I was unconscious. That’s her strength.”

Melfis raised an eyebrow, seemingly surprised, but didn’t comment.

“You fought with Gambler Paul?”

“No choice. I’m a wanted criminal now, everyone hates me.”

I said helplessly.

"Gambler Paul and Kuku teamed up but couldn't kill you outright, you're pretty lucky."

He said this, then beckoned me back to the tavern.

At my seat, Asaga was munching on something with her head down, and I noticed the two companions Melfis had brought were making amused faces. Asaga had probably been eating other people's food again without a care…

"All done, you're on board."

I snatched her plate and said to her.

Asaga turned to look at Melfis, then said nothing.

Melfis stared at her with interest, then reached out his hand. I stared in disbelief as he touched Asaga's head, wanting to stop him, but it was too late…

"Your horn is quite interesting."

I glanced back helplessly; the ruins in the distance were surrounded by people, with piles of wood and stone lying haphazardly on the ground. I let out a long sigh as I ran.

Here's what happened: Melfis touched Asaga's horn, and then the two of them destroyed the tavern, forcing us to find an inn on the outskirts of the city to settle down.

It's not that we're afraid of being wanted; Melfis already has over 60 million, destroying a tavern isn't a big deal for him. The real reason is that all the inns in the entire capital of Natharius are fully booked.

"Quite the temper, woman,"

Melfis said, grinning at Asaga outside the small inn on the outskirts, a hint of murderous intent in his eyes. His mood wasn't as good as he appeared.

"Try touching her again if you want to die..."

Asaga stared intently at him.

"No one in this world who has said anything like that to me is still alive."

Melfis stopped laughing; he had already drawn his Raven Feather Blade.

"You really have a lot of free time, fighting here without attracting a crowd,"

Melfis's female companion said irritably from the side.

I glanced at her with a hint of gratitude. Letting these two fight within the city-state of Nazalius would definitely attract a horde of super monsters. And I believed that none of us had identities we wanted to keep hidden.

"Ashaja, he didn't mean it,"

I began to try and comfort her.

Asshaja turned to look at me, her face showing particular grievance, as if I had said something unpleasant.

Seemingly sensing something, Melfis also turned to look at me, looking expectant of an explanation.

I sighed and went over to Melfis, whispering a few words to him. Melfis sheathed his weapon, suppressing a laugh as he bowed slightly to Asshaja.

"I see... I'm sorry... Pfft... Hahahaha!"

I frowned as I watched him laugh, then turned to look at Asshaja again. Asshaja still looked unhappy, but she had already retracted the multiplying claws on her arm.

"Looks like your companion isn't exactly a peace-of-mind character either,"

Melfis's male companion said, walking up to me.

I chuckled wryly. "Not everyone can find companions who always meet their expectations..."

"Moth, that's my name,"

he said.

"My name is Greedy Wolf

," Moth nodded. "Melfis has already told us."

"Swan... I always felt that would be a female's ID,"

I blurted out.

"Not a bird, but a kind of moth..."

Moth said with

a smile. I said "Oh." To be honest, I hate moths. Although they seem harmless, the scales they produce always disgust me. But what names people choose is their own business, and I have no right to criticize.

"What's her name?"

I asked Moth. The girl was standing on the other side, talking to Melfis.

"Star Viewer."

It had been a long time since I'd worked with so many people. I felt that anyone Melfis trusted was a trustworthy person, so I could confidently team up with either Moth or the girl. But whether Melfis felt the same way about me, I wasn't sure, especially since he'd just had a conflict with Asaga.

I went to that small hotel and booked a room. It was already quite late, but after everyone else had gone to rest, Melfis gave me a look that suggested I come out with him alone. We

really should catch up; after all, a lot had happened in the past month.

We ordered two drinks, and Melfis and I sat at the bar, silently drinking without saying a word. The suburban hotel wasn't crowded; only four or five people were still seated in the bar. A harmonica blues tune filled the room, and if it weren't for the alcohol, I don't know if I would have felt drowsy.

"I've broken through my bottleneck,"

Melfis suddenly said, then downed his drink in one gulp.

I froze, staring at him blankly. Melfis remained calm, tapping the bartender to refill his glass.

For a moment, I wanted to congratulate him, but a very bad premonition rose within me. Just as I had always felt, after breaking through his bottleneck, Melfis should have reached level one or even higher within a year, but…

"What's wrong? Did you eat a fly?"

he glanced at me.

"How did you know you broke through your bottleneck?"

I composed myself and asked.

"I tested my level, level four,"

he said casually.

I nodded, unsure what to say.

"What? Did I hurt your pride? Hahahaha!"

he laughed.

I snorted coldly, "Who would be stupid enough to compare themselves to a monster like you?"

"And you? You've even fought with Gambler Paul, what's your level now?"

"Didn't test it, too lazy to test it. I couldn't beat you even at level 1."

I said irritably.

Melfis shook his head, "Underestimating yourself. Don't forget you've already broken the seal on that ring, thinking of yourself as so weak is disgusting."

"Even if I broke the seal, I don't know what power I have."

"You'll find out, you'll find out in this competition..."

he said confidently.

I nodded, hoping he was right, "Who are those two?"

"Moth and Star View? Hired to fight."

"What?"

I was very surprised, "I thought they were your friends!"

"I don't have any friends."

"Can you trust people who are hired for money?"

I frowned and questioned him.

"Nonsense! You didn't even pay that girl you brought, and you still trusted her?"

he cursed.

I never know how to refute what this bastard says. But thinking about it carefully, I understood what he meant. Those two guys definitely had a close relationship with him, but they weren't doing his menial work for free like I was.

"Are they good?"

I asked.

"We're in the same line of work, and their rank isn't low."

I was slightly taken aback by this answer. "Also assassins?"

"More or less. Starseeker is an assassin, Moth is a mercenary, the kind you see outside."

"Sounds like we have a good chance of winning this time~" I joked.

Melfis didn't respond to me, but turned to look at me. "Don't mention your own affairs to him. Moth is a friend of Elegy."

I froze, then nodded blankly.

Melfis's meaning was clear: not everyone would view my betrayal of Elegy the way he did. In fact, apart from him, probably none of Elegy's friends would forgive me. A heavy weight pressed down on my heart, and I felt my mood plummet.

He sipped his drink and looked at me for a while. After confirming that I understood his meaning, Melfis turned away.

“People like you always hold onto those petty things for a lifetime,”

he said with a sneer.

“Maybe so. Not everyone can live as carefree as you,”

I retorted sarcastically.

“That’s just your opinion,”

Melfis said softly, and I sensed a hint of darkness in his words.

“I don’t think you’re someone without any obsessions. If you were that kind of person, you wouldn’t have become an assassin,”

I said.

Melfis sat there ignoring me, but I felt the light in his eyes dimming little by little.

“Greedy Wolf, do you think revenge is meaningful? The person you cherish is already dead. Even if you kill the murderer, that person can’t be brought back to life.”

“If it’s someone you cherish, we should have a reason to convey her hatred to those she hated. More importantly, we will also feel hatred because of the death of our companions… That’s why I want to avenge Elegy.”

Melfis shook his head. “The dead don’t have hatred… I don’t understand, I really don’t understand the meaning of revenge.”

By this point, his meaning was clear, but I suddenly felt that he was hiding something.

It was as if he was trying to comfort himself, not me…

But what was he hiding behind all this? How could I ask him? I felt that even if I did ask, he definitely wouldn't answer me.

“We ran into some trouble on the ship on our way here…”

I began to change the subject, then told Melfis about our ordeal.

“Dreams are playing pretty big games these days…”

Melfis sneered.

"Are you sure it was Dreams?"

"Just think about it. There are actually four magic arrays on that ship: a curse array to absorb energy, an illusion array to alter vision, and an inner teleportation array to activate spatial teleportation. When different arrays overlap, their effects interfere with each other, with higher-level arrays being more affected. In your situation, without a fourth correction array, it would be impossible for all of these things to take effect. And the only organization on that continent that could possess four such high-level arrays is Dreams."

"Why would they..."

"Equipment, and simply reduce the number of participants. Dreams takes this [Battle of the Dome] very seriously; they will take some measures to directly reduce the number of competitors. If I could do that, I would too." "

It's a pity there's no evidence... otherwise, it would really ruin their reputation..."

"Dreams would never leave a trace when doing something like this; they are very experienced, and this isn't the first time."

It seems that my plan to use this opportunity to severely damage Dreams was just wishful thinking.

"What do you think of her?"

"That horned girl? Pretty wild, interesting. Is she a demon?"

Melfis said casually.

"You seem to know a lot about this."

"I've been to the demon realm. High-ranking demons are like humans, but they usually have horns, tails, wings, or something."

"What do you think demons are?"

I asked.

"High-level brainwashed batteries,"

Melfis said with considerable certainty. "There's no other possibility."

This is just as I initially suspected, but since what happened on the ship, I've become even more confused.

I can attribute Asaka's description of Riolette to brainwashing, but some of Shirotaka's words to Asaka create huge contradictions. Shirotaka

once said he'd been watching Asaka "when she was still an egg"—where did that memory come from? Has human technology advanced to the point where it can fabricate memories? Brainwashing is different; it requires a factual representation, then uses repeated indoctrination to change a person's perception of that fact. But fabricating a memory that never existed is just too absurd.

Melfis listened to my description and meditated for a long time.

"You mean the demon race really exists? Following that line of thought, the existence of [Divine Capital] is just to make us players conquer the demon realm for the government? If they really wanted to do that, there would be no need to hold this competition."

"What does this competition have to do with what we were talking about earlier?" "

[Battle of the Dome]... Why do you think the system would create something like this? There are more and more high-level warriors in this world, and their goal is to kill them in the competition to balance the game. If their goal was to conquer the demon realm, they wouldn't waste the lives of high-level warriors on something like this."

"Since you know it's to make us die, why did you participate!"

I said, somewhat exasperated.

"Who said we'd definitely die? The system just gave us high-level warriors a reason to fight. Surrendering or admitting defeat, the system didn't stop you. Besides, participation is voluntary. As long as there are a few valuable prizes, people will risk their lives to come here, and I'm no exception."

I could only sigh at his words.

"So, even if demons really exist, our purpose in this world isn't to be their enemy. But thinking about what you said, maybe demons are high-level artificial intelligence."

"That level is really too high."

I laughed.

"I hope your woman won't cause us any trouble..."

"Basically, if you don't provoke her, nothing will happen."

"Greedy Wolf, if she can follow our commands, we can go further. But if she causes trouble, we'd better not go and die. I hope you make things clear to her; the worst thing for a team is the presence of unstable factors."

"I don't think I'm particularly stable myself."

"I roughly know what kind of things you might do impulsively, so it won't be a big problem. That woman is different; I don't know her at all, let alone control her... Sigh, being with you makes me feel confused; I actually agreed to bring a complete stranger into such a dangerous situation."

I didn't say anything more; saying anything else at this point would be pointless. I just secretly hoped that my addition and Asaga's would help Melfis get what he wanted.

It's not that I'm so great, but Melfis has helped me in every way.

I have absolutely no idea what kind of opponents we'll face in this competition, but I do have a feeling that with Melfis, we can probably handle anything. The next day, after everyone got up, Melfis dragged us together to submit our competition registration through the hotel's system. I originally thought he could handle this himself, but I was told that the entire team had to register together.

" We need to decide on a team name," Melfis said, looking at the information that popped up in the system. "We need to use one player's ID." "What does that mean?" I asked, frowning. "Each team has the opportunity to choose their opponent, and the only identifier is the team name. That is to say, when it's our turn to wait, the opponent will decide whether to choose us as their opponent based on the player's name we present." It was rare for Melfis to be so patient in explaining something to us. Moth stroked his beard and thought for a while, "You're the most famous one among us. If you want to scare the trash, just use yours." " Melfis shook his head. "Using my name would likely scare away all the initial opponents, which wouldn't be very interesting." "Moth and I don't want to be too famous," Hoshimi interrupted before Melfis could even ask for his opinion. They both looked at me, and I was slightly taken aback. "I'm a wanted criminal; I want to keep a low profile." "Then it's just you," Melfis said, turning to Asaga. "Whatever." " Asaja's answer was quite straightforward, which surprised me a bit. But thinking about it, there probably aren't many people in the world who recognize her name... If we do run into someone who does, it just means we're incredibly unlucky. Having decided on the team name, we started discussing our battle strategy and tactics. Since the format of the competition hasn't been announced, we can only discuss some details of teamwork. Moth and Starshine are both magic warriors, so our team is quite balanced in a way. As for Assaja, I know absolutely nothing. Aside from her mutated multiplying claws, I haven't seen her use any other techniques. But since she calls herself a princess, she should have some magical abilities. 'Greedy Wolf's magic is mainly individual enhancement; you'd better treat him as a pure warrior,' Melfis said. 'Don't forget I can create that Bone Prison...' I said. 'That kind of thing is a hindrance in our newly formed teamwork. Besides the two-person tactic we discussed before, the Bone Prison can only trap single enemies and break up the enemy formation. You'd better not use it unless I tell you.'" " Although I wanted to argue with him, he has far more experience in multi-person combat than I do, so I'd better compromise. Moth is more magic-oriented; he can create extremely powerful area-of-effect fire spells. In our team, Moth will be responsible for the core tactical execution in direct combat. His energy will be used for self-defense, so don't expect him to participate in our close-quarters combat." Melfis was saying this to me, because Hoshimi was clearly already quite familiar with Moth, while Asaka was eating and showed no interest in listening to the tactical instructions… However, Melfis seemed to have already come to terms with it; his intention was to treat Asaka and me as a single unit to execute all tactics. This sacrificed the advantage of numerical superiority but also prevented uncontrollable accidents. "Hoshimi is very similar to me; she excels at support-type spells and spell arrays. She can provide us with some magic shields and buffs, but don't rely too much on the spell's effects." "You consider your rock-type spells support-type?" " I asked, frowning. "Those moves have very high environmental requirements. We don't know if the competition venue is a virtual space type of place, so we're not considering abilities that might not be usable right now," Melfis said bluntly.

We spent a lot of time figuring out our teammates' fighting styles afterward. Excluding Asaga, we paired up and started symbolic duels. Melfis was highly adaptable, seemingly able to perform well with anyone she teamed up with. I, on the other hand, was the weakest, almost completely unable to coordinate with my teammates, fighting only according to my own ideas. So after three team practice sessions, my record was a complete defeat… ( Chapter 19,

April 19th ) Although it wasn't a real fight, this result still made me very unhappy. I didn't use the Soul Redemption Armor, and they didn't use their strongest weapons either… so I had no excuse for my failure. When teaming up with others, I never had the extra energy to observe my teammates' positions and status, often falling into their traps or using surprise attacks to escape my entanglement and then attack my other teammate. This was a matter of inherent ability, not level, which is why it particularly frustrated me. “You’re used to one-on-one fighting, so losing is normal. It would be strange if you could take advantage of people like us,” Melfis said, noticing my unpleasant expression. “The goal of this training is to integrate you into the team. If you can keep up with our pace when the real competition starts, that will be a success.” I nodded. Complaining and making excuses were pointless; only by quickly integrating into their fighting style could I demonstrate my value when the real battle began. In the following days, Asaga was also brought in to spar with us one by one. According to Melfis, their only requirement for Asaga was to familiarize herself with her attack range and avoid being accidentally injured in the melee. “How many limbs can you do?” Melfis asked. “I can do it all over my body, and the wounds can regenerate, but I need to eat,” Asaga answered honestly. Satisfied with the answer, Melfis seemed to have figured out some interesting tactics. However, no matter how much I asked him, he kept shaking his head, saying he would wait until the specific rules were released before considering it. During my rest, I carefully examined the promotional posters for the [Battle of the Dome] on the hotel wall. The champion's prize was incredibly tempting, offering three choices, all allocated within the winning team. The position of Lord of Natharius was even offered as a prize. This meant immense wealth and system-recognized power, making it incredibly convenient for intelligence gathering, guild building, or simply making money. There was only one lord in the world who was a freelancer without professional experience—Gambler Paul. He used that position to build one of the three most powerful mercenary guilds in the world, demonstrating the immense value of that position. The second prize was exactly what I expected… a level 1 item. While it wasn't as high-level as the Raven Feather Blade or my rings, the problem was that our equipment hadn't even reached half its power. A level 1 item, on the other hand, could easily be used at almost 100% power… In some ways, a level 1 item was even more powerful than a level 0 item. The third prize… I frowned when I saw the description, as it was quite brief. [An answer to a question.] "The winner gets the right to ask the system one question, anything related to the game. " "That's what I want," Melfis said, appearing behind me unnoticed. "What question do you have? I think this prize is a bit ridiculous..." I turned to him. "I don't know... to be precise, there are too many questions. I haven't decided yet, hahaha! Actually, you know our chances of winning are very small. Let's wait until fate smiles on us before we bother thinking about it..." "So lacking in confidence before even starting?" I teased. Melfis didn't laugh. "Most of the high-level warriors in this world are guys with rich combat experience in the outside world. [Divine Capital] has made the most of this combat talent. In the end, we'll definitely be facing real monsters, and I'm sure there are some teams with such good teamwork that they can easily toy with us." "If that's the case, we'd better not go and die..." Melfis laughed heartily. "If it's a contest of adaptability to this world, I don't want to lose to my own kind. Besides, our team has two level zero items, which other teams can't match. Make good use of your ring, and we'll have a huge advantage." Since he said so, I only needed to focus on the battle. As for how far we could go, thinking about it now would only give me a headache. Tomorrow is the start of the competition, and I tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. Worried? A little, but mostly excited and expectant. I love fighting; the thrill of defeating an opponent after teetering on the brink of death is incomparable to anything else. Because I'd spent so much time practicing with others, I hadn't had much time to spend with Asaka in the days leading up to the competition. Since I couldn't sleep, I decided to go talk to her now. I knocked on the door, and her voice came softly through the door. "It's unlocked. Come in." I opened the door and saw her sitting on the windowsill, looking out. "You seem pretty nonchalant. What if it's an enemy coming in?" I asked, leaning closer to her. "Enemy people don't knock. And I know it's you; I can smell it even through the door," Asaka said calmly, still gazing at the night sky. I awkwardly sniffed myself. "Do I smell bad?" "Every human has their own unique scent; you can't smell it yourself," she glanced at me. I chuckled dryly and sat down on a chair next to her. "It starts tomorrow..." Asaka nodded. "You're not so excited you can't sleep, are you?" "A little," I said honestly. Asaka suddenly turned her head and smiled slightly at me. Her smile was incredibly charming in the bright moonlight, just like the first time she smiled at me. This woman's smile was something no human could ever possess. "I can't sleep either," she said, then jumped from the windowsill onto me. I was nearly knocked over by her impact, and suddenly felt a soft, warm mass in my arms. "What are you doing?" To be honest, I was a little uneasy about her sudden display of intimacy. "Just a hug!" She sat on my lap, pulling my arm so I could hug her. I scratched my head, then did as she said; I had no reason to refuse such a suggestive thing. "What do you think of the others?" I asked, putting my arm around her shoulder. Asaga wasn't very tall, so when she sat on me, our heads were directly opposite each other. "They're fine. I don't dislike them. Why?" the girl asked.

"The upcoming battle is dangerous... I just want to tell you, you don't need to risk your life for them."

"Then what about you? Would you risk your life for them?"

I nodded. It wasn't that I would willingly die for Moth or Star View; those two were more like strangers to me who were on my side because of Melfis. The problem was that I had to live up to Melfis's trust, which meant I had to give it my all in battle, and that meant I wouldn't back down out of fear when my life was threatened.

"Me too,"

Asaka said immediately after seeing me nod.

"I don't understand how you Riolet think, but I still want to ask, why would you go to such lengths for me?"

I no longer called Asaka a demon, because I always felt her identity was so real, so real that I wanted to respect her understanding of it.

"You've already asked that question,"

Asaka replied.

“Okay…”

It seemed her previous answer hadn’t changed with time, so I gave up pressing her. “Asaja, we have a deal. After this is over, if we’re both still alive, I’ll help you do what you’ve been waiting for.”

“Do you know what I’m going to do?”

“I heard what Shiron said. You want to be the Queen of the Devourers, don’t you? You’re on my side now, so I’ll help you get the position you want.”

Asaja neither nodded nor shook her head.

“The meaning of our Leoret lives is to keep getting stronger. Entering the Abyss and becoming a Devourer King is a means, and also a symbol of power. I don’t necessarily need to sit in that position; I just want to get stronger. I’m staying here now just to find someone qualified to make a contract with me.”

“You said I wasn’t qualified.”

I said self-deprecatingly.

“So I’ll protect you by your side until you are qualified.”

Asaja looked into my eyes and said something that shocked me.

“…Why?”

I was silent for a moment before asking.

“Because I no longer want to sign contracts with other humans. If you insist on asking why I chose you, just attribute it to fate.” I

couldn’t help but laugh. For a moment, I felt certain I would survive the [Battle of the Dome ] .

********** ... “The organizers are playing tricks on us,” Melfis said with a malicious smile. “Whoever brought us here must have a really twisted sense of humor. This place isn’t for fighting.” It was obvious that the arena couldn’t possibly accommodate all the participating teams. And if they continued fighting one match at a time like this, it would probably take over a month to finish. More and more teams were being teleported to the stands. A dozen minutes later, system notifications popped up in front of everyone. “No way… so many…” Hoshino casually flipped through a few pages and found that this time the system notifications contained a lot of detailed rules. After carefully reading the system instructions, I realized that this was just the preliminary stage. There were many competition venues like ours in the entire [Battle of the Dome] space; we were just one group. This stage involved ring-style battles. Each team could only send one person at a time. The winner became the champion and could substitute members or continue fighting until they surrendered or were all eliminated. “This is too reckless,” I said, frowning. “What’s the point of winning if you get constantly subjected to a series of matches? Doesn’t the team that plays later have an advantage?” Melfis shook his head with a smile. “The system didn’t say that surrendering would result in elimination, nor did it say that only one team from each group can advance.” “You mean, they have other motives?” Hoshino asked. “Of course.” Melfis applied for a match without hesitation. “We’ll each send one up, win one, and surrender the second. This is the safest approach. I don’t believe the organizers would go to such lengths to eliminate many high-level teams at the beginning.” He acted too quickly; we didn’t even have a chance to voice our opinions. But that’s fine; it’s better to do something than to speculate wildly. While waiting, we began to carefully study the instructions for the official competition phase in the manual. After reading it, I realized that this competition would definitely be much more interesting than I had imagined. In the official competition phase, all teams would be teleported to the competition map [Dome] according to the results of the preliminary rounds. The first team to traverse the [Dome] and enter the "Arena of Acamoron" will be the champion. The [Dome] map contains portals connecting to the "Arena Space." Victorious teams receive rewards and are teleported out through the corresponding portal, essentially skipping a full day's journey at A-level speed. Unsuccessful teams return to their starting point in the Arena Space and can then choose to forfeit or continue. Each team entering the Arena Space possesses an energy crystal. The objective is to destroy the opponent's energy crystal or eliminate all members of the opposing team while protecting their own. Both teams start with 50% of their maximum energy capacity. High-level energy stones that rapidly replenish energy are randomly distributed within the Arena Space; teams must search for them. The Arena Space has a one-hour time limit. If neither team's energy crystal is destroyed within one hour, the winner is determined by the degree of crystal damage. If both crystals are undamaged, both teams lose, receive no rewards, and cannot be teleported. Energy and mana are replenished upon entering the Arena Space from the [Dome]. Regardless of victory or defeat, the Arena Space provides both sides with food and a safe place to rest. ************ Melfis looked at the instructions, his expression shifting between exasperation and furrowed brows. "Interesting...very interesting..." he said after closing the system instructions. "What are your thoughts?" Moth asked. "A battle in the Arena Space lasts an hour, and winning saves a whole day. Clearly, although the main map is the [Dome], to win the championship, you need to find the entrances to the Arena Space as much as possible and ensure a high win rate," Melfis said. "You don't need to tell me that; everyone can see it."

Hoshimi said coldly, "The important thing is how to deal with the battles inside the arena."

Melfis held up two fingers: "There are only two strategies for that kind of place: overall action or split-team action. There are essentially three things to do: 1. Attack the enemy crystal. 2. Defend your own crystal. 3. Find the charging stone. Teams lacking overall combat experience will maintain a unified action, attacking and defending together or searching for charging stones together. These teams are very easy to deal with; as long as we figure out their intentions, we can completely dominate them."

Hoshimi and Moth looked completely at ease, but I was confused; after all, my strategic acumen wasn't as mature as theirs.

"Why do you say that?"

I asked.

Melfis was impatient because I interrupted him, and it was Moth who answered me.

“If they go all out on offense, we'll go all out on defense. We'll set up magic circles and traps beforehand, and as many of them come, they'll die. If they go all out on defense, we'll go find the charging stone. Fight them with full energy, and they won't survive either. If they go to find the charging stone, we'll launch a surprise attack, and we'll win before they even have time to recover their energy. It's like rock-paper-scissors; it's a game of mutual restraint.”

Melfis patiently waited for Moth to finish explaining before continuing his analysis. “The truly difficult teams to deal with are those that operate in teams. Because there are five people, there are many more tactical possibilities. At this point, it's a contest of which team can execute their tactics most perfectly… Of course, this also requires a higher level of individual combat ability from each of us.”

At this moment, the fighting had already begun in the center of the arena. Since Melfis had requested to fight earlier, we would be next.

“Who’s going?”

I asked.

“Little beauty, it’s you.”

Melfis said to Asaga.

Asaga didn’t object. It seemed everyone wanted to see how she would perform in actual combat. You know, even I had never seen her actually fight anyone.

The two fighters on the field were quite skilled. Because it was a ring battle, maneuvering and magical techniques were largely useless; the two were truly engaged in hand-to-hand combat with swords.

Spectators wouldn't learn much from this kind of fight, and it wasn't particularly interesting. Amidst the sounds of energy explosions, the two were simply comparing the intensity of their energy and their weapon usage techniques.

Five minutes later, the sword in one of their hands began to change color. His opponent, seeing this, immediately retreated and tried to form hand seals, but it was too late; the sword began to indiscriminately unleash energy beams. The one who suffered the most damage quickly ran out of energy and chose to concede. After conceding, that person and his teammate in the stands were immediately teleported away.

"Be careful, concede if you can't win. Don't be stubborn, only win one match,"

I instructed Asaga.

"Why are you so long-winded, like an old man?"

Asaga rolled her eyes at me.

She left me speechless, and I frowned at her. Asaja smiled at my expression. "Don't worry, I won't do anything reckless."

Just as Asaja was about to confirm the match, Melfis suddenly leaned closer and whispered something in her ear. Before I could react, Asaja was teleported onto the arena.

"What did you just say?"

I asked.

"Ask her yourself when she comes out."

Melfis didn't smile; it seemed he wasn't deliberately trying to keep me in suspense.

Although I wasn't lacking in confidence in Asaja, I still felt a little worried. Because I didn't know the hidden rules of this arena match, I didn't know if the champion would have their energy restored by the system after each match.

I saw that guy smiling and saying something to Asaja, but Asaja had no expression at all, seemingly not wanting to pay him any attention. This reminded me of the first time I saw her, in that tavern, where she stole food from others, killed people, and that carefree attitude was just like now.

Her opponent, finding it unhelpful, immediately began to enhance the energy of her weapon and create a protective shield, while Asaja also multiplied one of her hands into her preferred claw.

After the claw appeared, I heard a small commotion from the surrounding audience; this ability was quite rare among others.

The opponent seemed to hesitate for a moment, but ultimately pounced on Asaga first.

The two began fighting in the ring. My dynamic vision wasn't great, but I could still tell that Asaga wasn't at a disadvantage against her opponent.

Just as the two were locked in a fierce battle, Asaga did something that shocked everyone in the arena: she extended her left hand to her side, revealing a huge defensive opening on her left side. Her opponent immediately noticed this movement, but the man was clever; to avoid falling into her trap, he didn't aim for her torso, but instead struck directly at Asaga's hand.

Everyone thought Asaga would dodge, but when her hand was severed, even the attacker was stunned. Then, a black shadow flashed, and Asaga's claws cleaved the man's body in two.

Blood gushed from the severed half of his body, and before I could even react, everything turned white.

Two seconds later, the surrounding scenery completely changed. Towering mountains in the distance, weeds beneath me, and a clear sky overhead… Asaga and the others were right beside me, but the arena from before was gone.

I got up from the ground. “What happened?”

“This should be the [Dome].”

Melfis surveyed the surroundings.

“Your hand…”

Hoshimi frowned at Asaga.

Asaga shook her head and began regenerating her limbs. Her energy was depleted in the battle with gambler Paul, so regenerating limbs caused self-devouring. Now it was different; it seemed this action hadn't burdened her at all.

“Using limbs as bait to lure the opponent, then gaining a fatal attack opportunity…”

Moth looked at me, “Your companion is really ruthless… If it were me, I'd probably fall for it…”

“Save the nonsense for later, let’s go.”

Melfis interrupted Moth’s remark.

“Going is fine, but which way should we go?”

Hoshimi asked.

Her words stunned us all, because we genuinely had no idea which direction led to the [Arcameron Royal City].

"Damn it..."

Melfis cursed, "What a fucking twisted sense of humor..."

There were no clues, no landmarks, not even a map. The five of us stood on this vast, seemingly endless plain, completely clueless about what to do.

"There are mountains over there, that might be the way,"

Moth said, pointing to the mountains on the horizon.

"If those mountains represent the boundary of the [Dome], then we've gone the wrong way!"

Hoshimi immediately retorted.

"Then which way do you think we should go?"

"How should I know?"

Seeing that the competition had barely begun and our own group was about to start arguing, I quickly stepped in to stop them.

“Maybe it’s the same no matter which direction we go, stop arguing.”

Melfis suddenly looked up at me. “What did you say?”

I was taken aback. “I told them to stop arguing.”

“No, the previous sentence.”

“It’s the same no matter which direction we go?”

“I think that makes sense…”

Melfis smiled. “Since we weren’t given a direction, the others won’t have one either. The element of luck in this kind of competition should be minimized, so it’ll probably have the same effect no matter which way we go.”

Everyone fell silent, because this was the most plausible explanation so far.

Melfis threw the Raven Feather Blade into the air and watched it fall to the ground. After doing this, he picked up his weapon and began to fly close to the ground in the direction the sword tip was pointing.

We did the same thing, and our speed quickly increased to A-level. A-level speed is not a big burden for warriors of our level, and at this speed, even if their level is higher than mine, I won’t be left behind.

The climate of the [Dome] seems relatively peaceful; if it were me, fighting in such a place would be the most comfortable.

A gentle breeze, not many obstructions, and a wide field of vision—in this situation, my strength can be fully utilized.

However, as the competition progressed into its second half, I realized my initial assumptions were wrong…

Perhaps because the competition had just begun, we hadn't encountered any teams in the two hours we'd been playing.

If I wasn't mistaken, there should be over a thousand teams participating, which only meant the [Dome] was much larger than we'd imagined.

"What did that guy say to you when you went on stage?"

I asked Asaga as we flew.

"Melfis? He told me to kill my opponent and then immediately concede,"

the girl replied.

"There's something ahead,"

Hoshimi suddenly warned.

A second later, I saw it; Hoshimi's eyesight seemed to be the best among us.

A two-person-high spatial portal, with a faintly visible magic circle below. That was the entrance to the arena; it seemed the first battle was about to begin.

Just as I sped up to get closer, Melfis and Moth grabbed me, while Hoshimi shielded Asagami with her body.

"What are you doing?"

I was startled and in a bad mood.

"Use your Burial Ghost to scout it out,"

Melfis pulled me back to the ground from my floating state.

“Is it necessary? If someone was lying in wait, they would have seen us by now.”

I frowned.

“Why do you ask so many questions?”

I snorted, then summoned the Burial Ghost to move over. Nothing happened. I glanced at Melfis with annoyance.

“It’s always better to be careful.”

Melfis, however, seemed to think it was a matter of course. He turned to Moth, “Get to work.”

I watched, bewildered, as Moth walked to the portal and began to cast a spell, while Melfis started setting something up further away.

“Those guys are really malicious.”

Hoshimi stood beside me, laughing.

“What are they doing?”

I asked.

“Making trouble for those who come later. If they approach this portal rashly without preparation, those who are slow to react will be killed.”

“But there might not be anyone coming after us. Isn’t this a waste of energy?”

“Anyway, our energy will be forcibly reduced to fifty percent once we go in. It’s a waste not to use it.”

I stood there speechlessly watching them set up traps, deeply feeling the huge gap in experience between us. If I were to find a team to participate in this kind of competition myself, I probably wouldn’t even get past the initial stage.

After leaving a big surprise for the next group of unlucky souls who discovered the portal, we entered the arena one after another.

Passing through the portal, we were immediately surrounded by an unsettlingly white virtual space. A huge floating panel stood before us, displaying a long list of names.

"What does this mean?"

I muttered to myself.

Melfis studied the panel for a moment. "These are the teams waiting for challenges. We're now in the challenge group, and we can choose which team to face. After being selected, the opponent can decide the battle map..."

Hoshimi glanced at the screen. "There's no information except for the captain's name. How are we supposed to choose..."

"See if you recognize anyone,"

Melfis said in a commanding tone.

Hoshimi rolled her eyes at him. Moth didn't seem to mind his tone, and I didn't care either, so I just focused on checking the list.

I didn't find any particularly prominent names. I figured smart teams wouldn't register their most famous member as captain; that would be too conspicuous, and people who knew them could roughly understand their team's tactics.

Hoshimi looked at the list, then suddenly laughed. Everyone looked at her.

She realized something and, somewhat embarrassed, put on a serious face again. "Let's challenge this team."

I glanced at her; she had chosen a team called "Galot."

"Know them?"

Melfis asked. Hoshimi

nodded. "Sort of, I've seen them before."

"Rank?"

"I don't know. But he was one of the bodyguards when we were killing people before,"

Hoshimi said.

The meaning was clear: this team wouldn't be too strong. Although teams participating in this competition often had powerful members, knowing their weaknesses was better than challenging them without any knowledge.

"This one,"

Melfis nodded, then turned to us. "This is the first match. Try to understand the hidden rules of the arena as much as possible, and then win."

"We'll win even without you telling us,"

Hoshimi retorted.

Melfis wasn't angry but continued, "Although the rule is to destroy the opponent's energy crystal, don't overthink it. Our goal is to kill everyone on the other side, understand?"

"Why?"

I asked, frowning.

"Because we need to avoid encountering them again. If we reveal our hidden abilities and techniques, they'll target us. Unless we can't kill them, we should eliminate all opponents without hesitation whenever possible!"

We all nodded and pressed the confirmation button one after another.

While waiting for confirmation, no one spoke. Everyone was trying to get into combat mode, quietly awaiting the impending battle.

A few seconds later, a white light flashed before our eyes, and then the scene changed again.

**************************

A wave of intense heat suddenly engulfed me, the blinding sunlight making it impossible for us to open our eyes.

The desert…

the scorching sand under the intense sun almost seemed to burn. I shielded my forehead with my hand, squinting as I surveyed the battlefield. The air in my lungs felt like it was igniting my entire chest, making breathing incredibly difficult.

“What the hell… what kind of place is this…”

I cursed.

The others, like me, wore expressions of disgust. Asaga kept pulling at her clothes to cover her exposed skin, looking utterly annoyed.

Only Melfis was laughing.

“Hahaha… not bad, not bad… it seems the enemy has a special advantage in combat environments… this is going to be very challenging!”

I shook my head helplessly, then saw a crystalline object over a meter tall appear out of thin air behind us.

This must be the energy crystal that needed to be protected; it was entirely blue, very conspicuous against the yellow sand.

The energy crystal was embedded in a base that didn’t look particularly heavy, standing there steadily.

Melfis walked over and shook the crystal. "It can be moved... If things get tough, we can just bury it."

"It's not that simple,"

Hoshimi said, pointing to her wrist.

We then noticed that everyone had a watch-like device on their wrist, but it seemed to be unable to be activated due to a lack of energy.

"I don't know what this thing is for, but it still needs a charging stone to activate,"

Moth said.

"What do we do now?"

I asked.

Melfis thought for a moment. "Moth and Hoshimi, guard the crystal. Greedy Wolf and Asaga, come with me to find the charging stone. The enemy won't find us quickly, and we don't even know how many people are in their team."

"Can those two hold it off?"

I was a little worried.

Moth smiled. "Don't worry about that."

I nodded, then boosted my energy and followed Melfis, with Asaga close behind.

The hot weather was draining my stamina quickly, and I couldn't keep my mind sharp. After flying for only about five minutes, I was soaked in sweat. And the 50% energy reduction was no joke; our flight speed was drastically reduced, which made me very uncomfortable.

The distant scenery was distorted by the heat, my throat was dry and sore, and even my eyes were starting to feel dry and sticky.

"What if we encounter the enemy?"

I asked breathlessly as we flew.

Melfis had a good tolerance for this environment; although he was also covered in sweat, he didn't seem as exhausted as I was.

"We'll see what they do, and then decide how to deal with it. This terrain makes ambushes difficult unless we hide under the sand..."

"They chose this terrain; maybe they really can..."

"Yeah, so we absolutely won't attack them until we're fully charged. They're probably waiting for us to lose patience from the weather and fall into their trap..."

Hearing him say that, I felt a growing sense of crisis.

“They’re right. If this keeps up, we’ll all be dehydrated in no time.”

“Don’t worry. Unless they want to lose with us, they’ll definitely attack. Dealing with a defensive team is too easy. As long as we damage their crystal even a little bit with energy splash, we’ll win in time. They won’t give up that temptation.”

Since Melfis already had a very mature idea, I thought I should just do as he said.

The first charging stone was found soon after. It was also blue, but smaller than the energy crystal, and it didn’t have a base, floating directly in the air.

“We still have some energy left. Let’s see how to charge the thing on our wrists first,”

Melfis said.

After approaching the charging stone, a button on the thing on our wrist lit up. I pressed it, and then everything on our wrists lit up, while the charging stone dimmed.

“Melfis? Found the charging stone?”

Before we could take any further action, the detector emitted a clear star-like sound.

"Is that a communicator?"

I fiddled with it with interest, then discovered that the watch wasn't just a communicator; it could also directly display the locations of our own crystal and the opponent's crystal.

"How's the situation on your end?"

Melfis asked routinely.

"Everything's normal. Moth has set up the traps; we can hold them off for a while."

"Okay, let's continue looking for the charging stone. Call for backup immediately if anything happens."

"Don't worry."

After finishing the call, Melfis buried the charging stone on the spot, seemingly afraid the enemy would discover our presence.

"Looks like some teams will have a big advantage..."

Melfis said as he continued flying.

"What do you mean?"

I asked.

"Teams with archers... launching long-range ambushes on energy crystals in this kind of place will be a huge headache."

"You're talking about Azza, right..."

"Azza doesn't like ambushes, but... yes, I'm talking about that guy."

We all knew that Azza's dislike of ambushes didn't mean he didn't want to win the competition. And there were no moral constraints on which method of victory was used in this competition; magic traps were tactics, and so were ambushes; no one could criticize that.

“Greedy Wolf,”

Asaga suddenly spoke.

I turned to look at her; the girl was pointing in a direction.

I immediately looked in that direction… On a sand dune very, very far away, four black dots appeared…

“Melfis!”

I shouted.

“We see them! Let’s go!”

Melfis quickly began to gather his energy and rush in that direction.

Asaga and I immediately followed.

“Let them spot us first, and follow my instructions!”

Melfis shouted back to us.

“Understood!”

I replied, my heart beginning to race with excitement.

As we expected, they quickly spotted us, because the dust kicked up by our energy flight was very conspicuous from a distance. The four of them immediately began to rapidly approach us, while Melfis led us at an acute angle towards their rear.

The four figures charged towards us from the sand dune, their energy carving four trails in the desert, slithering towards us like venomous snakes.

“They’re eager for battle; there should be another person guarding the crystal.”

Melfis analyzed the situation for us, “They don’t know how many of us there are, so they’re using this method to force us to call for help. This shows they’re very confident they can threaten our crystal.”

“What do we do?”

I asked.

“Take them in circles a bit, to a place where they can’t set traps and fight them. If we’re lucky, we might find another charging stone.”

Just as Melfis planned, we saw another stone before they caught up with us.

I darted towards the charging stone, and the guys behind me fired a lot of energy projectiles to stop me. I put on a bone shield and then grabbed the charging stone.

“Give it to me!”

Melfis shouted at me.

I didn’t hesitate; it was best for our whole team if Melfis could fight with all his might.

I shot the charging stone at Melfis with energy, and he caught it with one hand and quickly absorbed all its energy.

“Asha and Greedy Wolf, hold one of them, and I’ll take care of the other two!”

Melfis tossed the empty charging stone aside, drew his Raven Feather Blade, and began to slow down.

Asagaa abruptly stopped, then shot towards one of the opponents on the outside like a black arrow. The two collided, turning into a ball of energy that exploded into the sand.

I pulled out the Divine Palace, infused it with energy, and then skeletalized it. This time, after skeletalization, the Divine Palace changed again; the two free-floating energies became three… What did this mean?

I didn't have time to ponder the secrets, because the opponent had already rushed towards us.

The opponent made some kind of hand seal, and the sand we were on instantly began to tremble violently. In just five seconds, the surroundings were engulfed by a chaotic sandstorm.

Tiny grains of sand transformed into terrifying weapons within the sandstorm, pelting my protective shield with a relentless crackling sound.

Visibility plummeted to an extremely low level, and the intense storm made it difficult to breathe.

Calm down… calm down… I tried to focus. With the protection of the Soul Redemption Armor, I believed that the opponent's ranged attacks would have little effect on me, and in this situation, they would definitely come looking for me.

Sure enough, a figure emerged from the sandstorm. I had been waiting for him. The moment he appeared, I immediately summoned the Bone Prison, trapping him alone with me without warning.

The Bone Prison completely blocked the sandstorm outside, leaving the guy stunned in mid-air.

"Sorry, such a small trick won't cause me much trouble..."

I sneered at him.

He must be someone very skilled at fighting in low-visibility environments like sandstorms or blizzards. Now that my advantage had been neutralized, his face was very ugly.

"Don't think you can gain an advantage just because you broke our sandstorm."

He stared at me with murderous intent.

"Whether you can gain an advantage depends on whether you're worthy of my attention."

Although my words were tough, I actually only had less than half my energy left, and the Soul Redemption Armor's energy seemed to have been halved by the system, so after creating this Bone Prison, it didn't have enough energy left to repair the damage.

"We have two with full energy, what about you? How many charging stones did you find?"

the man asked.

"Why should I tell you? Trying to stall for time until my Bone Prison breaks down on its own? Don't waste your time, this thing has no time limit."

I mocked.

"These should all be the first matches in the arena. Exchanging information will be beneficial for the future."

He seemed quite calculating.

I laughed. "No need, since you won't survive to the next match."

My smile enraged him, and he immediately charged. My goal was achieved; most people lose strength when angry. This tactic was a bit underhanded, but I'm not exactly a saint.

I initially thought his level wouldn't be too high, but when our weapons clashed, I was actually forced backward.

It seems he had already replenished his energy with the energy stone; I was truly unlucky…

Due to the difference in energy intensity, I was forced to dodge repeatedly, with almost no chance to retaliate.

"What's wrong? Weren't you so arrogant! Why are you running!"

he shouted, swinging his sword faster and faster.

It wasn't that I didn't want to talk back, but his aggressive attitude completely suppressed me, and I had no chance to speak. Besides, arguing while fighting seems particularly low-class...

Since the physical attacks with the sword seem to be very effective, the opponent has no intention of using any other moves against me, but I can't wait any longer to break this passive situation.

Right now, the Soul Redemption Armor's energy is insufficient for any effective offensive, but the Ring of Immortality's power isn't limited to just the Soul Redemption Armor. However, using other abilities would leave me with very little energy. In this situation, besides defeating my current opponent, I also need to ensure that I won't be held hostage by other members of the enemy after retreating to the Bone Prison, thus hindering my own people.

Just as I was racking my brains for a solution, the opponent's attack took effect. My energy shield couldn't completely defend against his attack, and his sword had already left a wound on my arm.

The pain in my arm, the constant energy shocks to my body, and the sweltering heat made my mind increasingly clouded; at this rate, I would soon have more wounds...

Blood flowed down my arm, all the way to the Divine Palace. Just then, three streams of energy suddenly shot out from the blade above the Divine Palace.

This situation startled me, and my opponent was also taken aback. He immediately abandoned his attack and retreated rapidly into a defensive stance.

The three energy streams began to float and slowly rotate around the Divine Palace. I had no idea what the three energy streams were for. However, they seemed to have stopped me from being beaten and running around aimlessly.

I moved the blade, and the three energy streams immediately moved as if they were alive. They hissed and darted around the air at sharp angles twice before following the trajectory of the Divine Palace back to the blade.

While remaining vigilant about my opponent's movements, I continued to subtly try to control the three energy streams by moving the trajectory of the Divine Palace. These three energy streams were like appendages floating around the blade, chasing the blade and drawing zigzag lines in front of me at various dazzling angles.

My opponent held his sword, but hesitated to rush forward again.

If he wouldn't come, then I would try to see what this thing was for myself. With that thought, I swung my sword and charged at him.

During the charge, I swung the Divine Palace around me several times at high speed. The three energy streams, as if activated, immediately began to dart around me in irregular trajectories, lunging at the opponent with me.

His opponent, already drenched in sweat, gritted his teeth to meet my attack head-on. However, the instant his weapon made contact with the Divine Palace, the three energy streams continued their trajectory, instantly shattering his energy shield.

The opponent cried out, blood flowing from his three wounds. Taking advantage of this opportunity, I used the Divine Palace to draw a semi-circle in the air with his weapon.

The energy streams immediately spun back, and as I forcefully shoved my opponent backward, his back slammed solidly into the energy streams.

Before he could even scream, three streams of energy zigzagged wildly through the air, piercing through his body in an instant. Half a second later, the guy crashed to the ground, his once-intact body, armor and all, chopped into pieces of flesh. Blood splattered everywhere, staining my pants red at the calves.

After dismembering the guy, the energy streams rushed towards me, and I almost turned and ran away in fright.

However, when I tilted the Divine Palace to my side, the three streams of energy rushed in that direction, then bounced back and forth around the Divine Palace several times as if elastic, before returning to calm.

I stared in astonishment at the results of my actions, almost unable to believe my eyes. Was this the power of the Divine Palace? Why hadn't I used it before? Was it activated because of my blood?

I had no reason to waste my brain on questions without answers. After sheathing the Divine Palace, the three streams of light disappeared.

The battle outside wasn't over yet; I could still feel the vibrations of energy. However, after I dispelled the bone prison, I knew I was no longer needed to help Melfis deal with his opponents.

Asa, half-covered in blood, stood watching Melfis, who had clearly already defeated his opponent.

Melfis had pierced one man's stomach with his sword; the man lay motionless on the ground.

Now, Melfis was relentlessly attacking another man, a very strong opponent who still had the strength to fight back.

But when I released the bone prison and saw his companion reduced to a pile of minced meat, his expression immediately changed. I think it was because the man I killed was one of their team members at full energy.

The sandstorm had subsided, whether due to the time limit or something else, and the sand dune beneath their feet had been blasted into a basin by the energy.

"Stop! We surrender!"

The man could no longer remain calm; after all, he had a seriously injured companion on the ground.

Melfis seemed to have become addicted to killing; the black light on his sword suddenly surged as he prepared to unleash his power, but as he lunged forward, the two opponents vanished into thin air.

Before he could stop, he slammed his sword into the ground, sending sand flying more than ten meters high. Then a victory message appeared before us, indicating we could teleport back to the world used as a buffer zone for the arena.

"Damn it! They got away!"

Melfis cursed, coughing.

"Let's go, let's teleport out first,"

I said, covering my mouth.

Everyone confirmed and left the sweltering desert.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

"Well done."

Moth and Hoshimi reappeared before us, immediately offering praise.

"Let three… bastards escape…"

Melfis seemed quite unhappy.

"Is it really necessary? We won anyway…"

Hoshimi dismissed his attitude.

“So it's possible to concede… If they had known beforehand, they definitely wouldn't have made it out alive.”

Melfis sighed. “There should still be three of them alive.”

I shook my head, then pointed to the wound on my arm. “No, my energy and magic have recovered, but my injuries haven't healed at all. The one you seriously injured should die even if he concedes.”

Melfis looked at me, his brows gradually relaxing. “If that's the case, they probably won't fight anymore. The guy I fought wasn't weak, but he definitely didn't have the strength to fight another team alone.”

“They didn't choose to activate their watches but instead charged two of them, which is why they were so eager to put pressure on us. If it weren't for that, the outcome would be hard to predict.”

I muttered to myself.

At this moment, a scoreboard-like interface appeared on the screen in front of us, with a list and our IDs on the right, each ID followed by the number “60”.

“What is this?”

Hoshimi looked up, scanning the screen.

“It seems we can use these points to redeem rewards,”

Moth said.

I looked closely, and sure enough, the list included some interesting items and prices.

“We need one of these…”

Melfis selected one of the options and zoomed in.

[Dome] Acamoron Royal City Locator, requires 100 points.

“Can we combine points to buy it?”

he asked, turning to us.

After studying our own panels for a while, everyone shook their heads; no one found an option with a similar function.

“The teams in this competition are three to five people… Judging from this design, it's impossible for teams with more players to always have an advantage. I think if it's a three-person team, the points for each win should be 100, so a three-person team can directly exchange for a locator after just one win. For us, we'll probably have to wait another match,”

Moth said.

Perhaps because he was older than us, Moth preferred to make summarizing remarks. I didn't dislike his summarizing remarks, because he was basically never wrong.

“I'll save the points and exchange them for this locator next time we win,”

Melfis said decisively this time.

Everyone started examining the items available for exchange. Among the more useful items were first-aid supplies like healing potions and bandages, requiring 10 points. This seemed quite cheap to me, considering there were no hospitals or similar places here.

“We can’t trade points, so let’s all keep 10 points,”

Melfis said after careful consideration.

The system-provided medicine, while not enough to save those with fatal wounds, could effectively alleviate ordinary injuries. I exchanged for the medicine and used it on my arm wound; the pain immediately lessened significantly.

This kind of injury should heal completely in about a day.

Other useful items, like the 300-point energy stone, required winning five matches without spending any points, and could only be used once… We had no illusions about it.

However, the ability to freely choose food for just 5 points… that was practically cheating for Asaga. I knew her abilities; even with a fatal wound, as long as she wasn’t dead, bringing her here and exchanging for a large amount of food would revive her.

Then there were a series of magic stones, all requiring 100 points or more to purchase. These

could display the nearest arena portal, show the temporary location of the opponent’s energy crystal once without an energy stone, and reveal the number of opponents before a battle. The various effects of these magic stones greatly increased our desire to buy them, but unfortunately, we didn’t have enough points.

Aside from that, we can only buy some survival supplies... However, judging from the list, the Dome is not just a plain... because I saw some warm clothes and climbing gear, which means we are likely to encounter places like snow-capped mountains or cliffs ahead.

After discussion, we decided to continue, fight another battle, and then rest. Everyone was in high spirits because we won the first battle with almost no casualties, especially since Hoshimi and Moth hadn't even fought.

It was this mindset that led us to pay the price for our underestimation of our opponents an hour later.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

04-19
Chapter 20

"Hoshimi, make shields for everyone,"

Melfis said to the girl beside him as he flew.

"What's wrong?"

I looked around warily, but didn't see anything unusual.

"From now on, if we encounter an enemy, they'll be a team that has won a battle, so we have to be careful. Moth, you pull Hoshimi forward, Hoshimi, save your energy for making shields,"

Melfis continued to instruct.

"Okay, stop nagging,"

Hoshimi let Moth pull her arm, then threw some magic orbs at us.

The magic orbs instantly transformed into a magic shield shimmering with a pale blue light after hitting me. The shield's light was quite conspicuous; even in daylight, we should be easily visible from a distance.

"Isn't this giving away our position?"

I said.

"Are you stupid? If they're determined to ambush us, they'll use detection spells to pinpoint our location even without the shield."

I scoffed, deciding not to argue with this jerk and simply maintaining my pace.

The surrounding plains were gradually replaced by forests, and the sky slowly darkened. Everyone's faces weren't particularly good; after all, no one wanted to spend the night in such a place.

So when the entrance to the second arena appeared, we all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Look!" Xingjian pointed to a faintly glowing dot ahead.

Just then, centered on us, the clouds overhead suddenly began to swirl, emitting a low, buzzing sound.

"Trap!"

Melfis roared, unleashing energy.

We did the same; five pillars of energy burst forth, flattening a large swath of forest. At the same time, the sky seemed to change color, and a dense barrage of lightning began to fall from it.

Three bolts of lightning struck my shield directly. If it weren't for Hoshino's magic shield, I would probably have been injured before I could even create my own.

Although I wasn't injured, the immense force slammed us downwards. The magic circle wasn't low-level, but because of its large attack area, its power wasn't particularly strong.

As soon as we hit the ground, Melfis, Hoshino, and Moth darted off in different directions. I, however, was thrown off balance and gasped for air.

When I saw the magic circle glow beneath my feet, I knew I was in trouble.

The next second, as I accelerated to escape, a violent explosion erupted very close behind me. The powerful force flung me dozens of meters away, and I crashed to the ground, immediately losing consciousness.

However, this shock didn't last long; I regained consciousness at least before someone thrust a weapon at my chest. I used a burst of speed to dodge the fatal attack, only suffering a shallow cut on my arm.

My companions were already engaged in battle with the other enemies. Because I had lost part of my consciousness, I couldn't make out the current situation.

That guy lunged at me again, and I drew my shrine to parry his attack. But to my surprise, the three energy streams above the shrine were gone, as if they had never existed.

In that moment of hesitation, a wound immediately appeared on my chest. My opponent's swordsmanship was incredibly powerful; how could I have hesitated in this situation… I really didn't want to live anymore.

Gritting my teeth, I began to fight him head-on, the metallic scraping of swords clashing echoing continuously.

My mind was a complete blur, all because of that sudden acceleration and being ambushed by the magic circle. My hands trembled with pain; every time I clashed head-on with his weapon, I felt like my hand was about to break.

After a fierce attack, he realized he couldn't quickly defeat me with swordsmanship, which infuriated him, so he began to bombard me with his full energy, using no skill whatsoever.

Damn it… this guy's energy level is at least level 3! I was completely powerless to fight back, constantly retreating.

"Greedy Wolf! Don't let him lead you! He's going to isolate you! Damn it!"

Melfis's anxious voice rang out from afar, only to be immediately drowned out by the sound of an energy explosion.

But this wasn't something I could just do on a whim. This guy was terrifyingly powerful, and my physical condition was terrible. Plus, my supposedly reliable killing move had suddenly failed, leaving me with almost no will to live.

I had no other choice, so I frantically summoned all sorts of bone weapons and hurled them at him. The guy seemed startled, and I immediately slashed with my sword.

But he was too fast; I only managed to leave a shallow cut on his shoulder.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, I used my remaining energy to accelerate away from the battle and try to get closer to Melfis and the others.

A huge energy ball followed behind me; it was chasing me and getting closer.

When I saw the battle situation on Melfis's side, I was almost dumbfounded.

A gigantic skeletal serpent, a full hundred meters long, had been summoned, coordinating with three other enemies to besiege Melfis and his companions. No wonder this guy wanted to finish me off quickly; they weren't outnumbered.

However, in this situation, Moth and Stargazer's magic hadn't had a chance to be used, and Melfis and Asaga took the brunt of the attacks. The fact that no one was seriously injured was the best-case scenario.

Three level 3 warriors holding off Melfis and his group—it's hard to imagine they were below level 5. It seems I can't rely on them for help.

The guy behind me is very close; I can't keep charging forward, because at this distance, his energy blade would easily hit me. A level 3 warrior's energy blade—I don't want to gamble with the defense of my Soul Redemption Armor. Because if I lose, the price will be my life.

I slowed my pace, and the opponent's sword immediately burst with intense light, the fully protected energy blade slamming down on me.

I hate pure warriors, especially those of such high level. Their unpredictable attack style is the bane of a magic warrior like me. His sword seemed to be a weapon specifically designed for pure warriors; it had no special effects, but its energy absorption capacity was unparalleled.

There was no chance to dodge. I used most of the Redemption Armor's energy to generate a bone shield. But the sword sliced through the bone shield layer by layer like cutting wood, aiming for my forehead.

The Divine Palace was lifted up, finally living up to my expectations and blocking the sword's advance.

"Get down!"

the guy roared at me, and then I was thrown to the ground like a puppet.

This time, I couldn't afford to be careless. I gritted my teeth and used all my strength to change direction the instant I landed. A cracking sound came from my calf; it had probably broken.

But the extreme tension and adrenaline rush made me feel no pain. Almost simultaneously, the spot where I had landed was blasted into a deep crater by countless high-density energy blades.

"Greedy Wolf!"

came the shouts of my companions behind me. I couldn't tell whose voice it was anymore, because when I turned around, the giant skeletal serpent had changed its target and opened its blood-red maw to bite me.

The energy shield shattered instantly, but before I was knocked away, I pressed my hand against the serpent's head.

The giant serpent stopped instantly, then turned into pieces of bone that fell to the ground in pieces.

The opponent seemed to be frightened by this scene; they didn't attack again. Taking advantage of this moment, Melfis and the others rushed to my side.

"How are you!"

Asaga asked anxiously.

Looking at her little face, which was covered in dust and grass clippings, I couldn't help but want to laugh. But the excruciating pain in my legs and the fog in my head prevented me from laughing.

"I won't die, but I'm running low on energy,"

I gasped. "Let's just rush into that portal over there; this is going to cause trouble."

Melfis shook his head. "No, they've definitely set a trap there too."

Just then, the guy who had been chasing me flew over, and we immediately got into a fighting stance.

This situation was truly unexpected. I never imagined that the five of us would be in such a sorry state when facing a team of four. Subconsciously, we were already in a defensive posture; this was the first time.

"Not bad... we've put in so much effort and haven't even taken down a single one."

The guy had a murderous smile on his face. "And you destroyed the Tombstone Serpent with just one move? How did you do that?"

I sneered. "You want to know too much."

It was my ring that destroyed the Tombstone Serpent. For a necromancer of that level, I didn't have enough energy to resummon it, but I could still cancel its subjugation and banish it again.

"Our plan was too optimistic... Continuing this fight won't yield any rewards, so let's stop here... What do you say?"

the man asked.

We didn't speak; of course, stopping the fight was best, given our current disadvantage. It wasn't that we couldn't fight, but I was already severely injured, and even if we won in the end, I'd likely die. That was something no one else wanted to see.

"What's your name?"

the man asked me before leaving with his companion.

"Greedy Wolf,"

I said in a low voice, "And you?"

"Greedy Wolf who survived a duel with Azza? Heh, no wonder..."

the man chuckled, "My name is Yormgard."

I nodded. I'd never heard of that name before, but his strength was worthy of my respect. In a one-on-one fight, I was certain I would lose.

Watching them slowly disappear from sight, we breathed a long sigh of relief.

"Yormgard, ever heard of him?"

I asked Melfis.

Melfis shook his head. "No. There are plenty of unknown monsters in this world, and I can't possibly know them all."

Except for Asaga, who could regenerate on her own, everyone else was injured, though most were minor. I was different; I had some concussion symptoms, and my calves were swollen, making it impossible to walk.

"That lightning array was clearly designed to force us to land. Why were you so naive? Why didn't you run away as soon as you landed?"

Melfis said to me.

"Sorry, I'm not a monster like you,"

I said irritably.

"Come on, I've never seen anyone who fell into a trap and was separated from the team come back alive. You're pretty good,"

Hoshimi said, showing me some respect.

This was still a result of being too inexperienced in team battles. I clearly remembered that the three of them rushed out in roughly the same direction; this wasn't a tacit understanding that could be developed overnight. As for Asaga, she couldn't be judged by ordinary standards. She could sacrifice her limbs for a breakthrough, but I couldn't.

Using the Burial Ghost to probe the entrance to the spatial gate, there really was a magic array there. It seems Melfis and his group aren't the only ones with bad intentions... If we had run here directly to escape Jormgard and his gang, someone would definitely be seriously injured.

************

Once inside the arena, I immediately used points to buy bandages and splints to treat my leg. At the same time, the system determined our identities—this time, we were the challengers.

"What about your leg?"

Asaga knelt in front of me, looking at me worriedly.

"It's nothing, it's not a big problem if I'm levitating."

This wasn't forced; I'm not good at attacking with my legs, so the injury didn't affect me much.

Melfis came over, knelt down, and pressed on my neck twice. I immediately felt nauseous and gagged twice.

"Mild concussion, probably hit your head by the explosion. Don't fight in the next match if you don't have to; I don't want to see you get killed for nothing."

"Then how do we fight next?"

Hoshimi asked.

"I'm fine."

I frowned as I looked at them.

“Don’t be reckless. In your current state, you could easily be knocked into shock by a low-level tremor,”

Melfis said. “Next round, let’s give up and see how things go.”

Everyone sat down, waiting for the challenger to appear.

I took out the Divine Palace, trying to study the disappearance of the three energy streams. You know, when you’re relying on your own techniques to save your life, this kind of inexplicable occurrence is tantamount to suicide.

One energy stream had somehow returned to the Divine Palace. But according to my memory, if it had recovered on its own, it shouldn’t have been this fast. Because when I first discovered them, it was the day I fought Gambler Paul, and there were only two energy streams on the Divine Palace. The third one only appeared in the last battle, a very long time ago.

Thinking back carefully, I suddenly realized a clue. After I got the Divine Palace, I fought Fang Buning, Gambler Paul, Xia Xi… but in reality, I only directly injured three people with the Divine Palace: Fang Buning, the tailless one who insisted on following Asaga, and Selong who was injured on the ship.

And in the previous encounter, I also injured Yormgard.

Thinking about it this way, the shrine must generate energy flows based on the injured person, and then the energy flow disappears after each activation.

With that in mind, I looked up at the others.

"Melfis, let me cut you."

Melfis was resting with his eyes closed; he didn't even open them when he heard me. "Want to die?"

"Testing something."

I hopped towards him on one leg, losing all face, and then used the tip of the shrine's blade to stab his finger.

"Get lost! Don't use me as a guinea pig!"

Melfis yelled as I grabbed his hand.

"Alright, alright, stop yelling like a child. Are you scared?"

I didn't give up, instead using the old trick of provoking him.

"Damn it..."

Melfis looked helplessly at me pricking his finger.

Three seconds later, the bloodstains on the shrine were suddenly absorbed, and a second energy stream appeared on the blade.

It flowed slowly around the blade, but unlike the translucent white stream of Yormgard, Melfis's was black.

"Come on, lend me a hand..."

I called to the others, "Lend me some blood. I think I should be able to protect myself in the next battle."

Everyone inexplicably contributed their blood, and then three more energy streams wrapped around the shrine.

Moth's was pale yellow, Hoshimi's was blue, and Asaka's was gray. I think these energy streams must be something that reflects the energy attributes of the absorber...

I checked the shrine's item description, and it turns out that this kind of energy stream even has its own name. These explanations didn't appear before I boned it.

The Light Flow Blades, each possessing not only cutting power but also hidden attributes directly related to the abilities of the target being drained. Using one's own blood activates an ability called [Pardon - Light Flow Blade], allowing control of the light blades for attacks. Each activation lasts until the user leaves combat. Afterward, the number of light blades resets to zero, and no new blades can be generated while active.

I told Melfis and the others about the Light Flow Blades, and Melfis seemed quite interested.

"You used this to dismember that guy? What level was that person?"

he asked enthusiastically.

I thought for a moment, "I only had half my energy at the time, so if I'm level 6..."

Melfis raised his hand to interrupt me. Level 4? Didn't you see the energy storm you just unleashed? It was almost as big as mine! You're level 4 now."

I opened my mouth, somewhat surprised.

"I think you've reached a bottleneck..."

Melfis smiled evilly, "Take your time, try to reach level 3 in a year, I won't wait for you in terms of level." "

I never expected to reach the same level as Melfis... Of course, how long he's been stuck at his bottleneck is another matter. I always felt I'd be stuck at my bottleneck for even longer... " Melfis said, licking his lips.

"Since we're the same level now, I definitely have to fight you sometime..." "You're not just saying I'm at the same level as you to fight me, are you?" I said helplessly. He ignored me and started calculating with me, "Based on your current level 4, if your opponent at their peak can suppress you but not pose much of a threat, then they should be around level 6 or 7. They can break through energy shields of that level... This move is quite practical..." " It's just quite difficult to control. The trajectory of the Light Blade is very chaotic, and if you're not careful, you can easily cut yourself." I complained. "It's the same concept as using a whip." " As she said this, Melfis turned to look at Hoshimi. Hoshimi blushed and glared back fiercely. I was a little confused, so I pretended not to see it. "If I have to use this move, I'll shout out the name of the move, so try to dodge it," I said. Before Melfis could speak, a system notification suddenly interrupted our conversation. Someone had already decided that we would be their challenger team; their team name was "Tooth Marks." "Does anyone know them?" Melfis asked, and we all shook our heads. The system gave us five minutes to choose our battle environment. To my surprise, there were many more maps to choose from than we had expected. Besides maps like "Snow Mountain," "Desert," "Gobi," and "Plains," which were easy to understand, there were also names like "Wind City," "Eternal Night," and "River Palace," which were a bit confusing. "We'll choose this one," Melfis said, pointing to a map called "Worm." "Oh, why do you always like to choose these weird things?" " Hoshimi complained, dissatisfied. "The weirder the place, the more we need to familiarize ourselves with it beforehand, so the enemy won't get the upper hand first." We had no reason to argue with his explanation. Melfis confirmed, and we immediately entered the second match. After the teleportation, we were all dumbfounded. I had thought the so-called "worm" map referred to a place with many worms, but when we actually entered the map, we realized that the so-called map was just a worm. And we were inside its belly... Through the glowing walls of this enormous worm's cavity, I could clearly see that the worm's body cavity was tens of meters high, and its width was so great that we couldn't even see the end at a glance. If it weren't for the soft tissue under our feet, we wouldn't have been able to imagine that we were inside a worm. "How disgusting!" Hoshimi shouted, rubbing his arms incessantly. "Where's the energy crystal? Why isn't it here?" " Melfis was the first to notice the anomaly on the map. Six energy crystals were scattered on the ground, as if they had been prepared specifically for us. We immediately began charging ourselves and activated the detectors on our wrists. Checking the detectors, we realized the map's purpose. Both sides' energy crystals were located at the head of the giant worm; we didn't need to destroy or protect them. The map's objective was a deathmatch, until one side surrendered or was eliminated. "How do we fight?" Moth asked. "Since we've been given the opportunity to fight with all our might, most people would want to settle things directly. We'll disrupt their strategy," Melfis commanded. "Moth, Greedy Wolf, and Asaga slowly move towards the worm's head, remaining vigilant. I'll take Starseeker and make some preparations here. When we encounter enemies, our actions will depend on the number of them." "What if we encounter five people?" I asked. "Run back immediately. If it's three or four, engage them while ensuring a safe retreat, then pretend to be outmatched and retreat." "What if they don't pursue us?" “ Then come back and meet up with me and Hoshimi. The fact that they're not pursuing us means they were prepared, so we'll revise our battle plan, like setting up an ambush.” Melfis's suggestion was quite sound, so we carried out the plan decisively. After splitting up, the three of us immediately flew towards the worm's head. The place looked very dark, and the soft fleshy walls and floor made us feel extremely depressed.

Fortunately, there wasn't any sticky bodily fluid here, otherwise I think the two women in the group would have wanted to kill Melfis first.

This was my first time acting alone with Moth. Of course, it wasn't that I didn't respect Asaga, but as always, she had no interest in others and didn't like talking to me in front of many people.

When I fought Moth, I clearly understood one thing: although he was a magic warrior who focused on attacking magic arrays, his melee combat ability was not weak. If you ignore the issues with energy management, in pure hand-to-hand combat, he was on par with Melfis. So after deciding to act together, I was still quite at ease.

However, he wasn't Melfis. I didn't need to worry about him betraying me, but I couldn't risk my life to support him like I would with Melfis, and he certainly wouldn't either.

If my fighting strength with Melfis was a ten out of ten, then my teamwork with Moth was probably a six or seven out of ten.

"Moth, have you known Melfis for a long time?"

I asked.

Moth glanced back at me as it flew away. "The three of us played together when we first entered the game."

"The three of you?"

"And Hoshimi."

"Oh..."

I nodded. In my opinion, partners who have grown up together and are still in touch must be friends with deep feelings.

"What was he like back then?"

"He's much easier to get along with now. In the beginning, he would kill someone at the drop of a hat, and then he was wanted for a long time. Hoshimi and I were desperately trying to help him hide. Back then, we were both low-level warriors, being chased around like madmen."

Moth recounted the past with a smile.

"But you all survived." "You

were lucky, you weren't targeted by the monsters, otherwise he definitely wouldn't be alive now."

"Because he's become a monster."

I laughed.

As I said this, Moth suddenly turned to look at me, and I was slightly taken aback.

“Melfis isn’t a monster, not yet. But the monster suppressed within him will one day be unleashed, and neither I nor Hoshimi can stop it. I just hope that when that time comes, you can do something for him.”

“Me? I’ve only known him for a few months.”

I frowned.

“Melfis rarely brings companions to meet us; you’re the second. So, I think you must have something special about you.”

“The second? Who was the first?”

I blurted out the question instinctively.

“Elegy.”

This wasn’t unexpected, but I still fell silent. Because Melfis had said that Elegy was Moth’s friend, so…

“That woman didn’t seem to like Melfis very much, but she had to travel with him for a while for some reason. After all, with Melfis’s personality, heh…”

Moth slowly spoke of Elegy, while I tried to suppress my turbulent emotions and listened quietly.

“Tell me about her.”

“Elegy has a great personality, and she’s incredibly capable. Melfis brought her to us from the outside world. Back then, she was a freelance mercenary, and when I saw her, I knew she must be a terrifyingly strong monster.”

“My mercenary group and I accepted her, and then we started working together in the game. By then, [Divine Capital] had become an unparalleled behemoth, just like it is now. More and more of our business from the outside world was shifting to this world, and we gradually stopped fighting and killing outside, and instead, we unknowingly moved our work here.”

“Anyway, we were all mercenaries, so it didn’t matter where we were. Hoshino and Melfis were assassins who preferred to operate alone, and he had a grudge against some members of our mercenary group, so he didn’t join us. But to be a little narcissistic, our mercenary group was arguably the strongest in the entire [Divine Capital] at that time, though not many people knew that…”

“Those who knew were all killed…”

I guessed.

"Heh, you're pretty much right. Our mercenary group didn't actually have an official name back then, because we were never registered in the system. We just called ourselves 'The Specter'... something that both existed and didn't exist. At that time, our group had four Level Zero super soldiers. Keep in mind, that was a long time ago. Back then, we had almost half of all Level Zero soldiers in the world. 'The Specter' was the underground king of this world. But later, because of something, the mercenary group split up."

Four Level Zero soldiers, and that was years ago... If you think about it that way, 'The Specter's' power in 'God City' could be considered godlike... If they wanted to do it, there was almost nothing they couldn't do... Whether here or outside, power can always bring you what you want.

"Even groups with that kind of power can split up..."

I sighed.

A sigh escaped Moth's eyes. "Of the four level zero warriors of [Ghost], one was the leader, who died in a car accident in the outside world; one led a team to create another mercenary group; and the other inherited the former leader's position and continues to operate [Ghost]. Some say the leader was assassinated by the guy who split the mercenary group, but nobody knows if it's true."

"Many people left the split [Ghost], including me. Elegy, disheartened, chose to go into seclusion around that time, but she still kept in touch with us in the outside world. But one day, I heard that [Ghost] had suddenly lost contact with her. They went to her real-world residence to look for her, only to find she was dead."

Hearing others describe Elegy's death, a mix of unfamiliarity and familiarity mingled within me. I tried to recall Elegy's face, but I couldn't.

She died—in my world, in other people's worlds, in this world, and in the outside world. I thought I wouldn't grieve for this anymore, but that was just wishful thinking, a lie.

I now know who blew up my shop. The Ghosts… No wonder they tried to kill me with terrorist attacks; they are the embodiment of people like Melfis and Moth, a group of killing machines… just like me now…

“The one who killed Elegy was a subordinate of that Level Zero warrior who split off. His name is Runsian. His new mercenary group, the Shadow Eaters, while not as powerful as the Ghosts at their peak, has gradually swallowed up most of the Ghosts' territory in the underworld.”

Hearing the names Shadow Eaters and Runsian, my heart began to pound.

“Runsian… why did he kill Elegy?”

I asked, trying to control my trembling hands.

Moth shook her head. “I don’t know. Nobody knows. Except for him and her… maybe our leader, maybe the current leader of the Ghosts.”

It’s hard to imagine what happened to the Ghosts, who were once at the pinnacle of this world, when they disintegrated. All I know is that when I met Elegy, she had almost given up fighting. If someone who once loved fighting so much possessed a powerful force that made countless people envious, how desperate would their heart have to be before they put down their sword?

That's just how things are in this world. What you chase, what you crave, when reality is distorted by invisible forces before you, all you can feel is powerlessness. I've experienced this feeling countless times, and these new stories I hear only repeatedly depict the same old helplessness.

A slight energy vibration pierced through the darkness, and the three of us cautiously slowed our flight.

The other two immediately landed on the ground, and I, too, kept my legs off the ground as close to it as possible.

Moth immediately began drawing an array, but it didn't take long; this kind of array was probably only moderately effective. However, if triggered at the right time, it could often reverse a passive situation.

"They can definitely sense your levitation state; you can't hide it. Prepare for battle,"

Moth said in a low voice.

I nodded and then looked at Asaga. The girl stood beside me as always, looking indifferent. The darkness suited her well, even with her silver-white hair.

We had a general idea of their location, and they had the same idea of ours. So, I wouldn't be surprised if a bunch of energy blades or energy bullets flew in from that direction at this moment.

But what I expected didn't happen. I saw a man and a woman slowly fly towards me from the darkness, very calmly.

When I saw the man clearly, I felt things were getting complicated. He was wearing extremely heavy armor, his entire head covered by a full-face helmet, with a long lock of hair flowing out from the gap behind the helmet, floating in the air.

The armor was covered with faintly glowing magical runes, so it must be a high-level set of equipment. And that helmet… in my understanding, helmets greatly affect the perception of the environment during combat. If he chose to wear a helmet, it meant that the overall additional capabilities of his equipment were enough for him to willingly sacrifice battlefield control and agility.

What threatened me even more was that, judging from their position, this man was merely a follower of the woman in front.

The woman was in her twenties, wearing a small, delicate breastplate and a life-length dark purple robe. She carried a one-handed sword, her waist wrapped with a dazzling array of ropes and belts—not for decoration, but for adorned with spell wands.

The wands themselves possessed no power; their purpose was to pre-set specific runes. The user needed a great deal of time to arrange them in specific combinations and then recreate the runes to activate the spell. However, despite its cumbersome nature, the truth was that only the most advanced spells utilized such tools.

She wasn't a mage, because a mage's wand amplifies magic far beyond what a sword could provide. Her carrying a sword indicated she was a magic warrior, while those wands signified the terrifying extent of her magical power. I had never heard of a magic warrior using wand-level spell arrays, never.

Moth also realized something; as the enemy approached, he, like me, began to fully charge his energy.

"Should we turn back…?"

I wiped the cold sweat from my brow and asked Moth.

"Let's see what they're up to… There are only two of them; they might have other accomplices elsewhere,"

Moth said softly, his eyes fixed on the other man.

The woman stopped and landed about twenty meters ahead of us, and the man did the same.

"Looks like a high level, wanna have a one-on-one fight?"

I shouted, trying to gauge their strength.

But they ignored us. The woman reached for her magic staff at her waist, and we immediately began to reinforce our protective shields.

She didn't shoot the staff at us; instead, she planted it next to her companion. Moth and I frowned as she slowly bent down, smoothing the hem of her robe, and planted the staff in the ground, as elegant as a lady picking flowers, not a warrior preparing for a life-or-death battle inside a giant worm.

When she straightened up, all three of us tensed, fully prepared for an impending magical attack.

But nothing happened. To my astonishment, the man suddenly vanished from our sight.

In the instant we lost sight of the enemy, Moth yelled, "Retreat!"

I immediately grabbed Asaga and dashed back the way we came.

But as soon as I turned around, I felt something splash on my face.

The warrior seemed to have teleported there instantly; I had no idea how he appeared in that location. His greatsword had already cleaved into Moth's body, and I stared wide-eyed as half of Moth's body flew off.

There was no time for sentimentality or fear; all I knew was to escape.

The greatsword swung towards me, and I gritted my teeth, lunging to the ground. A gust of wind, carrying the stench of blood, swept past my scalp.

The residual energy I'd released to accelerate tore a deep gash in the worm's flesh, thick fluid gushing from the wound. Asaga and I accelerated with all our might, trying to leave the enemy behind.

After rushing several hundred meters, seeing no sign of pursuit, I slowed down slightly.

Moth was dead… I couldn't believe my eyes.

Just one strike, and that guy was in two… dead in a place like this…

A wave of fear washed over me. If that man's target was me, then…

I saw Melfis and Hoshimi; they were fighting someone. The guy didn't confront Melfis and Hoshimi head-on, but instead used energy blasts to distract them, seemingly trying to lure them away from the trap.

When he saw Asaga and me appear, he immediately used his instantaneous energy to escape. Melfis and Hoshimi, fearing another trap, didn't dare give chase.

"Where's Moth!"

Melfis shouted, seeing only the two of us return.

I shook my head at him. I don't know what expression I had on my face; probably ashen…

Hoshimi roared, slamming her weapon against the ground beside her.

"Impossible… You two weren't injured, but he's dead. This is the result of a surprise attack. Moth is very experienced; he couldn't possibly have missed the trap!"

Melfis said, frowning.

"Very strong… a man and a woman. The man was a high-level pure warrior, and the woman seemed to have incredibly strong magic. She seemed to know teleportation magic… The man suddenly appeared here and killed Moth…"

I struggled to breathe, recalling what had just happened.

"Bullshit! There's no such thing as instant teleportation in this world!"

Melfis cursed. "Teleportation spells require magic circles at both the starting and ending points, and they can only be achieved using energy rifts! If an energy rift were opened right next to you, you couldn't possibly not notice!"

"Then tell me how they did it!"

I yelled back.

"Stop arguing..."

Asaga suddenly interrupted, "They're here..."

We turned to look, and the three of them had regrouped and were approaching us from a distance.

"Damn it... be careful! That woman has a magic wand; after she used it, that guy teleported!"

I raised my knife, quickly warning my companions.

Hoshimi started casting protective shields on us, but she froze after only two.

Melfis did the same.

"Melfis, what are you spacing out for!"

I glared at him angrily, only to find an expression I'd never seen before on his face.

A murderous intent, a murderous intent that felt like it would burst my chest. A massive murderous intent, a mixture of countless complex emotions, pressed down on me, making it hard to breathe.

Melfis drew his Raven Feather Blade, holding it with both hands, and then began to chant something.

"Let our last words be our farewell, bird or demon! Go back to your storms, go back to the dark, dark banks of the Styx! Don't leave behind black feathers as symbols of your soul's lies! Don't disturb my perfect solitude any longer!"

"Don't be impulsive!" "

Hoshimi lunged forward to grab Melfis's hand, but Melfis unleashed a burst of energy from his left hand, blasting the unsuspecting Hoshimi away. He raised his Raven Feather Blade high with his other hand, head bowed, and began loudly reciting the incantation he had just performed.

'Do not linger on my statue any longer! Do not peck at my heart any longer! Tell the grieving soul, can he embrace in heaven the maiden called Lenor by the angels! And the raven will answer me: Never again!'

A piercing raven's caw rang out; this was the second time I had heard such a sound. But this time… it was even more desolate than in the Beast's Nest.

Black, fragmented energy gathered around Melfis, like countless black birds circling him. It was a black energy blade, an energy blade like wings…

Melfis was lifted from the ground by the powerful energy erupting from the sword, and he charged towards the woman before him.

'Go protect Hoshimi!'" "

I yelled at Asaga, then charged after Melfis. I didn't understand his impulsive reason; I only knew I couldn't watch him go to his death. A

rapidly spinning swarm of black energy blades indiscriminately sliced through everything around Melfis, large chunks of flesh and splattering everywhere. The two male warriors were forced to keep their distance.

I wanted to follow, but I couldn't catch up. It wasn't the energy difference that was too great, but my own body simply couldn't withstand Melfis's current acceleration…

The woman looked up at Melfis charging towards her, her composure astonishing. She threw down two magic wands and stood there motionless. A

raging raven's feathers shrieked, instantly shredding the ground beneath her feet, but the woman vanished.

Then a flash of sword light passed across Melfis's waist, and I saw blood.

My mind went blank, and the woman, seemingly out of nowhere, appeared behind me, holding a sword to my neck. I froze… This speed was absolutely impossible for a human; I couldn't imagine any other explanation besides teleportation.

"Let him go!" "

Ashaja roared and charged forward, but was stopped by the heavily armored warrior.

"If he comes any closer, I'll kill him."

The woman whispered behind me, but it was loud enough for everyone to hear.

Ashaja shook off the warrior and gritted her teeth, stopping in place.

Being a hostage for the first time, I felt that I probably wouldn't be able to finish this match alive.

Melfis steadied himself on the ground and turned around. He had a wound on his abdomen and was covered in blood, but thankfully it was only a muscle injury. The raven feather blade in his right hand emitted a thick black light, and there seemed to be residual raven feathers occasionally slicing through the air around him. Melfis stared intently at the woman who had taken me hostage, approaching step by step.

"Yamean..."

he whispered a name.

"As expected... without this method, the dead raven won't speak properly." "I never expected you to participate in the 'Battle of the Dome'..."

said the woman called Yameian. Her voice was soft and melodious, but in her current state, it only sent chills down my spine.

"You're really powerful now..."

the woman continued, "Even Toothmark and Reinz probably couldn't withstand that attack just now, but you were too impulsive... you wanted to kill me too much..."

"I won't kill you, I just want the answer to one question."

Melfis said slowly in a hoarse voice.

"What question..."

Before Yameian could reply, I seemed to hear a sigh from deep in her throat.

"Why?"

"What why..."

"You know what I'm asking!"

Melfis roared, and the raven feathers around him seemed to be affected by their master's emotions, suddenly trembling and leaving a bunch of new scratches around them.

"I've already said it, for money."

She answered quietly.

"I don't believe you!"

Melfis continued to roar.

"Then why ask me? Do you want me to tell you that I killed them because I had no choice? Because I was hypnotized?" "Is it because I was threatened? Okay, yes, and then what? Do you believe me?"

Yamei asked coldly.

"Bullshit..."

Melfis squeezed out a sound through gritted teeth.

I heard the woman behind me choke up, then laugh, "Hehehehe! Since you don't believe anything, what's the point of your question?"

"You didn't have to kill them... Back then... If you really wanted money, you could have just taken it! Why kill them! Why did you have to do that to Longque!"

The woman chuckled behind me, her laughter filled with despair and emptiness.

"Do you remember what you said before?"

Her tone suddenly changed.

"Then do you remember what Shifudiin said before he died! Do I need to remind you? He said to let Longque kill him with his own hands!"

Melfis laughed maniacally, her eyes burning with an endless, raging fury.

Yameian continued to laugh, but I heard a barely audible groan escape her throat. "

You said…no…alone…"

I wasn't even sure if it was my imagination, the sound was faint and indistinct.

"Your power now is far greater than I imagined,"

she concluded. "You are now qualified…if you want to kill me, come find me in the Demon Realm."

"You have no right to decide what I should do…"

Melfis said fiercely.

Yameian chuckled, grabbing my hair and aiming her blade at my throat. "Then kill another of your companions."

Just as she was about to exert force, I activated my Soul Redemption Armor, summoning bone wings from my back. The bony limbs, like sharp claws, creaked as they lunged towards her chest.

Hoping for someone else to save me was impossible; I had to save myself.

A tingling sensation ran down my neck, followed by pain. I lunged forward, touching my neck; there was blood, but not much. My life was spared.

Melfis lunged at me, firing an energy blast. I caught it with my shield, but was thrown aside by the impact. At the same time, Asaga charged at her from behind.

"Surrender,"

Yameian suddenly commanded the two people beside her, then was teleported away just as Melfis reached her.

"Aaaaah!"

Melfis roared at the spot where she disappeared, the raven feathers around him vibrating wildly, tearing the surrounding flesh into a bloody mess.

I clutched my throat and scrambled to my feet. Asaga rushed to my side to help me up.

Hoshimi, who had been knocked unconscious earlier, had also woken up. She walked towards Melfis, seemingly unconcerned about the rapidly floating raven feathers, not even bothering to activate her energy shield. At this rate, she would surely be torn to pieces.

Melfis glanced at her, finally regaining his composure. He sheathed his weapon, the Raven Feather Blade dimming as if it had been extinguished at his waist.

Hoshimi hugged Melfis from behind. Melfis, panting, slowly calmed down.

It was a victory, but an incredibly oppressive one…

************

After leaving the arena, Melfis said nothing and simply logged out of the game. Although I had many questions for him, I had no chance to speak.

Hoshimi stood there blankly, staring at the spot where Melfis had disappeared, her face filled with sorrow.

“Are you alright? About Moth… I’m so sorry,”

I said softly to her.

Hoshimi heard my voice, looked up at me for a moment, and slowly regained some consciousness. She shook her head.

“Everyone dies eventually… I just never imagined he would die at the hands of that woman…”

“Melfis, he…”

“I’ll go outside to find him, lest he do something foolish.”

Hoshimi sighed and then left.

I didn’t know what grudge Melfis held against that woman named Yamian, but I always felt that their relationship wasn’t just about revenge and being avenged. But I knew too little, so even my associations couldn’t lead to any creative conclusions.

He had always scorned my revenge for Elegy, but now it seems… it was just a disguised form of contempt for the hatred buried in his heart… I can’t explain it.

Yameian killed someone important to Melfis, and the rage Melfis unleashed upon seeing her made him seem like an ordinary person like me. Everyone has unspeakable words, things they can’t touch, and he was no exception.

“Greedy Wolf, your neck…”

Asaja pointed at me.

I instinctively wiped my neck and found the blood had dried, congealing there, and my collar was soaked with red.

Asaja used points to buy some random things and then began to clean my wound. I sat quietly, letting her wipe the blood from my neck with a cloth dampened with water.

Perhaps because she had never treated anyone’s wounds before, she was rough and clumsy, pulling at my wound and even rubbing it directly, causing me to hiss involuntarily.

“Does it hurt?”

she asked, tilting her head.

“Using this directly on the wound, of course it hurts,”

I said irritably.

Asahi looked at my expression, then pursed her lips. She leaned closer, sticking out her pink tongue and gently licking my neck.

The sudden lick sent a shiver down my spine; the soft, smooth touch shot from my neck all the way to my head.

Her tongue, mixed with saliva, brushed against the wound—it hurt, but it also made my whole body heat up. Asahi breathed on my neck, warming it, and I could clearly hear her sweet breathing.

My lower body instantly hardened; this kind of erotic scene wasn't something I could experience every day. This girl let me hug her however I wanted, and I could occasionally steal a kiss, but this had clearly crossed the line she had set for herself.

I reached out and gently touched her breasts, and surprisingly, she didn't resist. In the past, if I had done this, she would have killed me already. Seeing her like this, I didn't dare to do anything rash.

Asahi pulled back, and I could see the traces of my blood on the tip of her tongue. She gently tasted the blood in her mouth, looked up at me, her cheeks flushed.

"You almost died today,"

she said, looking at me.

“Unfortunately, no. The other party was careless, and I was lucky enough not to cut the trachea or artery…”

I subconsciously touched my neck. “If I died, I wonder if Melfis would come after that woman.”

“I would,”

she said quietly.

I frowned at her, feeling that she seemed to have something to say but didn’t.

“What do you want to say?”

I asked.

“When that woman made the cut, I felt like my heart was going to split open, I couldn’t do anything, I was desperate… But on the other hand, my body was excited, as if it wanted to see you die…”

She said these words very seriously, which sent a chill down my spine.

“Want to see me die? Why?”

“If you die, I can eat you,”

she said.

“Are you kidding me…”

I forced a smile.

“I’ve formed a unique emotional bond with you…”

Asaga placed her hand on her chest. “My heart tells me this. If you die, I will be very, very sad… But that’s how it is. As long as I eat someone I’m loyal to, I will gain almost endless power… The more loyal I am to you, the stronger the power I gain after eating you.”

“Would you eat me?”

I imagined my disemboweled corpse next to Asaga, her mouth full of blood. Strangely, apart from a slight shock, I didn’t feel disgust, which was odd.

“No. The thought of losing you makes my heart feel like it’s going to break.”

She spoke softly, a tear suddenly sliding down her cheek.

“I’m sorry, I can’t be eaten by you right now.”

I chuckled awkwardly. “I still have many things to do.”

“I know… I really want to sign a contract with you, so I’ll hold back until then.”

She said seriously.

I looked at her face and then reached out to touch her horn.

“Your Riolet contracts can’t be signed right now, but would you like to try a human contract?”

I smiled.

"Your human contracts? What are those?"

she asked, looking bewildered.

I grabbed her wrists, pulled them behind her back, and held her close, then began to wantonly violate Asaga's lips.

I ran my fingers through her silver hair, caressing her head. My other hand began to peel off her clothes layer by layer.

Asaga didn't resist; she seemed to know exactly what I was going to do to her. Long ago, the girl who had carelessly appeared in the tavern in tattered burlap had already learned shyness, yet she still didn't stop me.

A long, suffocating kiss; Asaga, like a greedy kitten, sucked on my tongue, licking my teeth and lips, as if trying to take everything from me.

Today we lost a companion, and I too teetered on the edge of hell. Was this intimacy a search for solace? I didn't know; I no longer had the energy to ponder the answer.

Her small hands broke free from my grasp, unfastening my armor and clothes. I kissed her neck, savoring the taste of her delicate, translucent skin.

Actually, I'd been coveting this feast for a long time, but I hadn't expected her to provoke me today.

"Are you sure?"

I asked, pinching her chin.

"If this is the contract you speak of,"

Asaga squinted at me, "I won't feel at ease until I completely possess you, at least until you die..."

"Your Highness seems to be in high spirits..."

I said with a wry smile. I don't know why she kept bringing up my death.

"Tonight you're mine, accept your fate."

Asaha giggled as she pushed me to the ground, licking the wound on my neck with the tip of her tongue, then slowly licking away.

The girl's tongue was very long, perhaps one of the characteristics of the Devourer Clan? And that little tongue was incredibly agile; she swept it back and forth across my chest, sending waves of tingling and numb sensations through my mind. Even the most professional prostitutes I'd ever encountered couldn't match half of her tongue skills. Asaha

sucked on my chest while looking up at my expression, trying to grasp my emotions. Actually, she didn't need to do that, because I had a special organ down there that could faithfully reflect feelings that weren't visible on my face.

I let her do whatever she wanted to me; Asaha looked like a curious child who had gotten a new toy, which made me want to laugh. However, when her breasts rubbed against my genitals, all I could feel was that my penis was so hard it felt like it was about to explode.

Asaka examined my penis, saying, "Yours is different from Shiron's."

"I'm a normal person! Not a monster!"

I was quite unhappy that she compared my thing to that of the royal family's Riolet.

She looked at me and smiled, "Yours is much cuter."

Before I could answer, she licked it, her long tongue almost coiling around the glans. The intense pleasure made me gasp for breath.

"Where did you learn that?"

I asked suspiciously.

"On the ship, Shiron did it with many women, and I watched the whole time."

She generously told me the answer.

"Then you should know this isn't the real deal."

Looking at Asaka's seductive eyes as she licked my penis, I had an urge to pounce on her, pin her down, and forcefully release my pent-up desire.

"This princess will personally serve you, and you still have quite a few quirks."

Asaka flicked my penis lightly with her finger, then sucked hard on my urethra with her cherry lips.

I don't know how she came up with this trick; the stimulation was just too intense. I felt like I was being electrocuted, and I grabbed her little corner, trying to pull her up. But Asaja looked at me teasingly, refusing to let go. Another intense tingling sensation shot through my penis, and the semen, which could no longer be held back, was sucked out in one gulp.

Asaja looked into my eyes and swallowed every last drop of what I had ejaculated, then greedily sucked a couple more mouthfuls. I was dizzy from ejaculation and lay on the ground, panting heavily.

"How was it? Comfortable?"

She smiled and snuggled up to me, pulling my hand under her head.

"That's not how you do it! Too much stimulation like that can be uncomfortable,"

I said helplessly. The enjoyment of oral sex is the warm, soft caress of the lips; her method, aside from the final climax, greatly diminishes the experience.

"Then~ one more time? You teach me?"

she asked with a smile.

I ejaculated so intensely just now; she even inserted her tongue into my urethra and sucked hard while I was cumming, causing me to orgasm three times in a row. I simply didn't have the strength to continue with her.

I reached down to her genitals; they were wet. I stroked her smooth, satin-like back, parted her labia with my fingers, and tried to insert them, but she shuddered, and I felt my fingers pierce something.

"You hurt me!"

Asajia bit me hard on the shoulder with her little teeth.

I looked up and saw my palm was covered in blood… How could this be? I clearly remembered that she had been raped, but…

could it be…

"Your genitals can heal themselves?"

I asked helplessly.

"Heal what?"

Asajia asked innocently.

"The place I… poked…"

She nodded blankly, and I covered my face.

God, is this a woman who will always be a "virgin"?

"Don't heal that place again… otherwise it will hurt every time we do it,"

I said.

Asaga nodded, then pulled my hand and placed it between her legs.

"It felt so good just now, keep going~" she said coquettishly.

I kissed her, then began to use all my strength to attack her nipples and vagina with my hands, making Asaga pant and her lower body wet. Her vagina was so tight that only one finger could fit in, and she could hardly move, so I could only use my fingertip to rub back and forth quickly, giving her some pleasure.

"Does it feel good? If it does, then moan,"

I said to her.

Asaga clenched her teeth, stubbornly looking at me, her throat unable to hold back her moans, but she just wouldn't open her mouth. No matter how I attacked, she trembled all over, but she stubbornly endured it without making a sound, until I brought her to orgasm. She

lay panting on top of me, and I played with her labia. She reached out and pressed my hand to stop me from moving.

"Why don't you make a sound? Why do you have to hold it in? Aren't you tired?"

I teased.

“I am…a princess…how can I call out like that in front of you…humph…”

she murmured, burying her face in my chest.

I adored her adorable stubbornness; this woman was endlessly captivating…

I didn’t sleep with her, but it seemed she considered me hers. My heart was willing, but my strength was insufficient; I never thought I’d be like this…I thought before falling asleep.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

When I woke up again in this buffer zone of the Arena, I found that Hoshino had already logged in. She was sitting not far away, but Melfis was still nowhere to be seen.

“Have you contacted him?”

I looked at the still-sleeping Asaga and went over to ask.

Hoshimi looked up at me. "He's alright. We'll set off once he logs in."

I nodded.

"That woman, what's going on with Melfis?"

I couldn't help but ask.

"Yamian?"

"Yes. They seem to have a deep-seated hatred..."

Hoshimi sighed.

"If you want to know, why don't you ask him yourself?"

I smiled helplessly. "Melfis? Do you think he'll tell me?"

"That's true..."

Hoshimi agreed with my assessment. "What I know is that their story is just another old tale of betrayal and being betrayed."

I sat down next to her.

"Yamian was Melfis's companion when they were out there, a companion who saved each other's lives. But one day, for a sum of money, Yamian killed Melfis's sister and another friend. And not with ordinary underhanded means; she controlled Melfis's friend and raped his sister alive in front of him until she bled to death."

My fingers trembled involuntarily when I heard this.

"Why did she do that?"

Hoshino looked at me and sneered. "If there were an answer, Melfis wouldn't be in this game. He chased Yameian to the [Divine Capital], initially just wanting to understand that so-called why..."

I looked at her wavering eyes and suddenly sensed something. "You like him?"

Hoshino's eyes instantly reddened, as if I had touched something untouchable.

She buried her face in her knees and sobbed, "That bastard! He only ever knows how to move forward! He never looks back at me following behind him!"

I didn't know how to comfort the girl in front of me; I was never good at this kind of thing, so I could only quietly watch her from the side.

"Does Melfis know?"

I asked after she calmed down a little.

Hoshino wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. "What good would it do if he knew? Do you think someone like him would stop and wait for me if he knew I loved him so much?"

"But you haven't tried,"

I advised her.

"I don't even need to try! I know him best! The women he likes are never like me, looking up to him! Dragon Sparrow... Elegy... the women he can never forget are the ones he can never have! And what am I to him!"

In matters of the heart, I can't help them. No one can help anyone else; people can only help themselves. The inability to change the other person's will is always the most hopeless dead end in a relationship.

"Don't tell Melfis these things. If he knew how much I still think about our past relationship, he definitely wouldn't let me follow him anymore... Moth is dead... I have no other companions..."

Hoshimi softly uttered words ashen and dejected, trying to regain her cold, calm killer persona.

I nodded, a promise to her.

I've made many promises; some I kept, some I didn't.

When Melfis landed, he acted as if nothing had happened. He never mentioned Amy and Moth, as if they had never existed.

This made me very uneasy because no matter what Melfis said or did, I sensed something was different about him.

Perhaps, as Moth had said, the enormous monster within him would break free of his control and be gradually released after his reunion with Yamian.

The five-person team was now down to four, and this was only the second battle. We had no reason to maintain our confidence in victory, because I felt that Melfis, the core of the team, seemed to be trapped in some kind of self-imposed predicament.

We switched to the main map detector of the [Dome] and began heading towards the capital of Acameroon. Melfis didn't say a word the entire way, which made me increasingly worried.

Hoshimi wanted to say something to him several times, but lacked the courage to speak. Melfis's personality meant he would speak hurtfully without hesitation. Someone like Hoshimi, who was completely devoted to him, was easily hurt, so she didn't dare…

Finally, I gestured to her, and then Hoshimi and Asaga slowly pulled back a little, allowing Melfis and me to fly side-by-side ahead.

“You should know…”

I began slowly, “Even if you win the championship, you won’t get the answer.”

The three prizes of the [Battle of the Dome]… equipment, the city lord, and the answer to one question. Melfis said he wanted the last one, and now I could roughly guess what he wanted to ask. Besides the reason for Yamean’s betrayal, I couldn’t think of any other possibility.

But that wasn’t a question for this game, so how could I get the answer?

Melfis turned to look at me, his expression unchanged.

“I didn’t expect to run into Yamean here…”

When he said that woman’s name, I clearly felt a strong killing intent. “I’m really sorry to have dragged you into this mess.”

Melfis never apologized, so his words annoyed me.

“Sorry? I didn’t think those words were in your vocabulary,”

I said.

“Yamean really wanted to kill you. If you hadn’t fought back, you’d be dead now,”

Melfis said.

“What? Feeling guilty for not being able to save me?”

I began to provoke him with flippant words.

"I didn't want to save you. I can't save anyone. Saving people is something I can't do."

I felt he was referring to the murder of his sister and friend. Although I didn't know exactly what happened back then, there was no doubt that it had become something Melfis could never let go of.

"If... I mean, if she killed me, would you avenge me?"

"I don't know... I really wanted to get an answer out of her, but it seemed she would never speak, even if she died. I also wanted to kill her, but that would mean I would never know why Longque died. I couldn't accept that her death would be so meaningless!"

"Human death is inherently meaningless; it's the law of nature."

"But it is for me!"

I knew Melfis's stubbornness very well. If I kept arguing with him about this, we wouldn't get anywhere even after a whole day. So I gave up and stopped trying to argue with him.

"Do you hate her?"

I asked.

"Ha! Don't you think this question is stupid?"

"Revenge? This doesn't seem to be the same as what you advised me before. The relationship between you and Ya Mei'an isn't as simple as I thought..."

"Hehe... Did Xingjian tell you all this?"

I nodded.

"She trusts you a lot. You've only known each other for a few days, and she tells you everything..."

"She's just worried about you."

"You're all worrying yourselves sick...you're no exception!"

he said coldly.

"I just don't want you to lead this whole team to their deaths!"

I was getting angry. "You think you can fight in this state?"

Melfis turned to look at me, his eyes filled with murderous intent. "What? You think you have the right to question me?"

I hadn't expected him to say something like that. Was I being looked down upon? Or had he never really taken me seriously?

After hearing those words, it was hard not to think that way. My wounded pride seemed to ignite my anger.

"Whether I have the right to question you or not is for me to decide."

I stared at him.

"I think some people are all talk and no action."

Melfis raised his chin, revealing his signature arrogant expression.

I couldn't hold back any longer. I reached out and drew my Divine Palace sword, and Melfis drew his Raven Feather Blade.

"What are you doing!"

Hoshimi saw us drawing our swords and immediately rushed over.

"If you think I'm still that rookie I used to be, you'll regret it."

I ignored Hoshimi's anxious shouts.

Melfis grinned wickedly. "I know every move you make perfectly well. Killing you would be too easy for me; you can't beat me."

"Then let's try!"

I unleashed my energy and charged towards Melfis's position.

Melfis waved his hand, and a semi-circular, opaque barrier enveloped us both.

After he finished, I immediately slowed down in mid-air, gradually stopping in front of him.

"What you said went a bit too far!"

I said, frowning in dissatisfaction.

Melfis laughed, casually tossing a few energy blasts that caused several explosions. "If you're going to put on an act, make it real. The people following us have likely set up tracking spells that can hear us."

Actually, while Melfis and I were talking, we both sensed a group of people following us. However, we couldn't pinpoint their location because of some unknown ability. After exchanging glances, Melfis and I began our act.

"What you said was really infuriating,"

I said, annoyed.

"Then let's really fight,"

Melfis shrugged.

“I’m not so stupid as to fight to the death with the person who saved me over a few words.”

“So you’re saying I can insult you all I want? Hahahaha!”

“There’s a limit to how much patience a person can have…”

I retorted angrily.

We used energy to create some signs of a fight on the ground, then both lay down and pretended to be dead.

If that didn’t lure out the people following us, it meant they didn’t actually intend to ambush us.

When the barrier dissipated, Hoshimi screamed and rushed towards us with Asaka. As expected, energy fluctuations immediately appeared around us.

Five guys burst out from somewhere hidden, drawing five blinding beams of energy in the air as they attacked us directly.

Just as Melfis and I were about to jump up and counterattack, we heard Asaka’s voice.

“You protect them, I’ll go.”

Hoshimi’s voice was full of unease, “There are five of them!”

Asaka didn’t say anything, but directly faced them.

At that moment, Melfis and I both had a rather wicked thought: since she seemed so confident, let’s see what she’s really capable of.

So we abandoned our original plan and squinted, ready to watch the show.

However, a few seconds later, Melfis and I sat up in shock, dumbfounded.

Asaga's arms began to multiply, and her legs too. Within seconds, she had transformed into a gigantic monster five meters tall. Limbs covered in thick armor sprouted from her back, supporting her in the air. Her

blade-like forelimbs gleamed with a pale white light. Her tail, layered with armor and several meters long, swept a large swath of trees to the ground.

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