<302 - The Longer It Drags On, The More Dangerous It Becomes>
Jezel realized that the situation was becoming extremely dangerous.
“Can you defeat the Other Self of the Warrior Candidate?”
“It’s tough.”
“Why is that? He’s a candidate and you’re the active warrior.”
“The timing is different.”
Ishtar couldn’t conceal her dismay.
“In my time, the one and only Sofemia picked me as the warrior without any other candidates, so there was no reason for the candidates to compete in adventures. Therefore, my growth rate isn’t as high as that of the Apostle of Anrage.”
“So you’re saying that guy has accumulated such incredible achievements that the strengths of an active warrior have disappeared?”
“On top of that, the techniques that the Other Selves possess are also mixing in. There’s no way for me to overcome it with my skills.”
The warrior was stuck.
Then, help from Oknodie was needed.
Let’s move the doll left on the uninhabited island and ask for help.
That was surely the plan.
But the situation of returning was just as dangerous for the other side.
Thud!
‘Are they trying to kill me?!’
At first glance, she doubted her eyes.
Icy shards flying from the darkness one after another and the glinting blade of a dagger in between.
Twisting her body in the air to deflect the dagger, another pitch-black dagger, which did not reflect the moonlight, shot out with a clang.
Harmless shards and harmful daggers.
Dagger that reflects light and one that doesn’t.
Reap mixed all her motions, adding danger to every movement and attack.
She couldn’t let her guard down thinking she could see them, nor could she feel at ease thinking they were harmless, for she could suffer a great blow from an unexpected strike.
She had to respond to every timing and every attack, and naturally, Oknodie lost both timing and breath, getting completely swept away by Reap’s relentless offense.
Clang!
Even close-combat knife fighting arose as daggers clashed in the dark!
‘All these suspicions of possible academic abuse surrounding Oknodie have been countless.’
But could the Foundation really be that villainous?
Could it be that we were mistaken about something because of Oknodie’s oddity?
Somewhere in her heart, a hint of restraint remained.
That hint of restraint disappeared.
The truth revealed itself, right beyond the cloth-draped doll under the spell of sight magic.
An eerily familiar response spoke volumes.
Oknodie must have gone through such brutal experiences as if it were day-to-day life during the time raised in the Foundation!
“What do you mean?”
The voice belonged to Hestia, who had returned to the warehouse after repelling the advance of the Warrior Candidate.
Her face hardened quickly as she was drawn into the sound of clashing weapons, looking through the sight magic like a mercenary.
“Is that Oknodie?”
“Correct.”
“You crazy bastards.”
To Jezel, it only looked like a fierce fight, but to Hestia, it appeared even more perilous.
“These bastards are using mana.”
“Excuse me?”
“Look closely at that dagger. It holds silver on the blade.”
“Wasn’t that just because of the moonlight?”
“It’s mana light.”
Mercenaries live on blood, and therefore their natures are rough.
When fights arise, it’s common for limbs to be torn off.
To prevent crossing the line even when genuinely feeling animosity and fighting, they often have an unspoken rule to fight without using mana.
Those who break the rule are considered the worst of trash.
They are seen as ticking time bombs and are subjected to rejection from other mercenaries.
No matter how confident one may be in their skills, unless one truly seeks to go all out, that boundary is the use of mana.
Yet the assassin easily crossed that line.
Oknodie also brushed aside that boundary without a care.
This means that Oknodie’s time spent in the Foundation was far more brutal than the rough world of mercenaries.
“I’ll go back into the field.”
Hestia picked up a hammer instead of a broken axe, opening the warehouse door.
“Where are you going?! You’re exhausted! Your arms are trembling!”
“Oknodie is enduring fights far worse than this. There’s something that must be obtained from the uninhabited island at all costs.”
Hestia was furious.
At the maid who was pushing Oknodie.
Even while she was going through such hard times, she resented herself for secretly wondering when she would return.
‘I promised to protect. So what am I doing?’
A berserker who gave her trust, became her friend, and showed her what friendship truly means.
That child, unable to keep watch over her, felt even more ashamed for having grievances when she fell behind at the very start of the uninhabited island auction.
“The Warrior Candidate won’t kill us. It’s hard to fight, but that’s all there is to it.”
It was different from Oknodie.
If it’s just enduring something difficult, she could do much more.
No, she must do more.
If that vow to protect Oknodie wasn’t a lie.
Even if she couldn’t be by their side, she had to at least protect her friends.
“If we can’t assist Oknodie, then let’s stop just looking through the doll. Let’s do what we can do.”
Hestia’s remark triggered a change in Jezel’s heart as well.
She didn’t want to show her true feelings, being conscious of the Foundation, but apparently had to reveal a bit of the reality of the underworld conglomerate.
‘Don’t regret it, Wahyhiemhai Foundation. You crossed the line first.’
The sluggish state of rebellion on the ship, which had been thwarted by the overwhelming force of the Warrior Candidate Kay, began to change.
Kay felt annoyance.
The Apostle of Anrage was a being completed with twenty personalities locked within one body.
Even if one personality was strong, if the others dragged it down, its identity would get pushed out, losing control of the body.
Like crabs trapped in an open jar, they were desperately pulling each other down!
Thus, persuading the Other Selves that there was a way out of this body, offering a sacrifice so that everyone could escape, was a necessity for Kay’s escape.
That way, he wouldn’t be met with obstacles when departing in the body of Sing.
Of course, he didn’t need a grand body for the others.
What if he gave that body up and they destroyed his new vessel?
The grudges that the personalities united under the command of the Apostle of Anrage held towards each other were profound.
The longer they repeated hindering each other’s actions, the greater the grudges grew.
Now it was at a level where they could be considered sworn enemies.
‘I planned to fill up with 19 decent vessels and proceed with the ritual.’
But a problem arose.
The students, even recognizing their strength, were not easily pushed away.
They broke down defenses, crushed resolve.
No matter what means were used to repel the stronger students, other stronger individuals popped up like substitutions and clung on.
It was easy to deal with them.
The problem was the gaze of the Other Selves.
– It is unforgivable to suppress and release.
– Are you planning to monopolize the best vessels?
– If not, we’ll drive you out and continue the great law.
Making them the sacrifice did not mean rendering them unable to fight.
Rather, they needed to be dispelled before they could rush in, considering the aftermath of the great law.
But that became challenging.
[Holy Sword Liberation]
Warrior Ishtar and Saintess Yufi.
Astoundingly, the self-serving and lone-minded Warrior Party began to help the students.
They fiercely battled not for their own sake but to assist others unrelated to them.
The vessel of the warrior was desirable.
It was pleasing that it was a woman of extraordinary beauty as well.
Life is easier for a woman than a man.
They would also receive less scrutiny.
Above all, the fact that as a Warrior ‘Candidate’ he could become a real Warrior was alluring.
However, to suppress Ishtar, he had to exceed the ‘suppression line’ of the output.
‘To bring the power used to restrain the Other Selves into combat.’
If the line maintained to avoid suppression was the first control line, and the line restraining from killing was the second control line, then the line maintained to secure his turn while preventing the Others’ openings was the third control line.
No matter how unskilled, he was still a warrior.
To defeat her, he had to surpass the third control line.
From Kay’s perspective, who wanted to lead the great law while escaping in Sing’s body, it was obvious that he couldn’t push past the third control line.
Thus, he couldn’t subdue the warrior.
That gave courage to the other strong ones in the upper classes as well.
Separately fighting, the students who could hold their own stepped in one after another.
To prevent the other students from being kidnapped.
To prevent himself from taking any other actions.
Kay was growing increasingly anxious.
His time was running out.
The force of the Other Selves dragging him down was growing stronger.
Some berserker who had just collapsed was becoming even more enraged and rushed again.
An unreasonable fight in which he couldn’t suppress them nor should he, control over himself was dwindling more and more.
Kay was forced to make a choice.
Either he could suppress the obstacles and hold the ritual, even if it meant denying chances to other selves, or he could give up his opportunity and frantically block the others so they couldn’t seize it.
Alternatively, everyone could get strong bodies, promising a new beginning, and he could take them all down in an instant.
“You brought this crisis upon yourselves. I’ll make you regret charging in heedlessly without valuing your lives.”
Just as Kay earnestly infused killing intent, the footsteps of all aboard the ship slipped.
The cruise ship lurched heavily as it began to turn.
The ship was moving now.
Towards the distant uninhabited island where a fight was happening.
“If a fight can’t be stopped, I told you to do something, and you plan to break the island?”
Hestia uttered, feeling despondent with all her might, and Kay realized.
Some insane student must have infiltrated the helmsman room while his feet were bound and turned the ship’s wheel.
They were trying to forcibly end the uninhabited island auction and call another executive of the Foundation, Jonnas, aboard.
‘No!’
Once the auction ends, a skilled person who can block his great law will return.
In his role as the Warrior Candidate, he couldn’t resolve this situation.
– Then let it go.
Twenty selves.
The entity that had been thoroughly restrained by the 19 selves lurking deepest within whispered.
– Now is the only chance for all of us.
Kay acquiesced.
The self of the Warrior Candidate sank, and a new self surged forth.
“Whew. It’s been a while since I’ve regained the sensation of a human body.”
As Ishtar was about to bear down on the fool who was looking at his own hands during the fierce fight, her killing blow was halted by a wall appearing in front of the man’s outstretched hand.
“Mana Shielding? You actually stopped my strike as a Warrior holding the Dark Attribute!?”
“What are you so surprised about, Ahaya? A demonic clan is one who has tainted their very soul with darkness. Isn’t it natural for one whose despair in the afterlife is guaranteed to possess this level of strength?”
Both the uninhabited island auction and the oceanic rebellion started to rise sharply in danger.
