Yena and I raced towards the Northern Continent at breakneck speed.
Given the amount of time we’ve spent here, and the fact that I’ve even turned on the broadcast.
The Grim Reaper’s team was undoubtedly aware of my position and situation, so there was a high chance they’d avoid me and target Leo next.
Of course, I don’t think the Grim Reaper could actually defeat Leo.
Leo is a user who ranked second overall and is still as strong and skilled as the very top rankers.
No matter how much the Grim Reaper has grown stronger, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where Leo loses.
There is one variable, though…
“Is that really the case?”
“It’s not impossible. After all, they swallowed similar powers.”
The Dark Priest said that the Grim Reaper has “Reverses.”
They are monsters with almost zero intelligence and are uncontrollable, but the Grim Reaper learned how to use the Reverses from the Priest.
Even Leo would find it challenging to deal with a Reverse easily.
Plus, many of the Reverses the Grim Reaper brought along were immune to the “Lightning” attribute.
“Lord Leo has probably been training related to lightning, so there’s a chance he could lose. He won’t be defeated easily, but we should hurry.”
[Ugh]
[I feel like Leo’s just going to win]
[Reverses are tough though]
[The Grim Reaper winning?]
[Yena also had a hell of a time with parrying, lol]
[Monsters aren’t that big of a deal]
[Lily just killed it, didn’t she?]
“Just in case…”
Kwahhhhhh!!!
“!”
“Meow?”
At the foot of the mountain on the Northern Continent.
Upon arriving at the battlefield, we witnessed a massive beam of light slicing through something.
Giant wooden monsters with a golden hue towered high, and the light was cutting through them like a storm.
The light twisted like water, creating a tempest.
Upon closer inspection, it was a sword made of light.
‘But the sword wasn’t the only thing that stood out.’
“Oh… Spirit Ascension.”
Spirit Ascension is a technique of spirit masters that allows them to become one with spirits.
Typically, normal Spirit Ascension involves one spirit. Two is usually the maximum.
To perform Spirit Ascension, one must connect with the spirit’s unique ‘link,’ which requires tremendous understanding and mastery.
The higher the tier and the more different the attributes, the exponentially more difficult it becomes.
Leo managed to embody three different attributes of spirits.
He couldn’t perform the Ascension with the Spirit King, but the power he emanated was even stronger than if he had succeeded in doing so.
Pitter-patter…!
The remnants of the golden tree monsters fell like rain, and among them, a small something spotted us and waved its hand.
“Hey! Lady Lily!”
[Oh]
[What? That wasn’t a big deal]
[Wow]
[Go Leo]
[Grim Reaper, cut-cut-cut!]
[Is Leo winning?]
[Nothing special, haha]
“Wow. Yena has come along too.”
“Hi, nya.”
“Are you okay? There must have been a lot of reverses.”
Despite appearances, they are monsters with the power of Intermediate Angels and Demons.
They have the drawback of extremely low rank and mental strength, but if you don’t know the strategy, even the highest-ranked ranker would struggle against them.
It was thanks to Yena’s upper-tier trait, ‘Parrying’, that she managed to face them, but it wasn’t enough to easily slice through them.
“Ah, no problem.”
“? Really?”
“Yep.”
Leo nodded as he retrieved the shimmering, flowing light sword with his short hand.
Now that I think about it, Leo didn’t show signs of being tired or injured.
If he had regenerated, there should be some traces left, but there were none visible.
“The Grim Reaper was acting so fierce when fighting Zeus, but when the battle started, he sneaked away. What’s his scheme…?”
“He disappeared?”
“Yep. While fighting the monsters, he just vanished… and now that I think about it, he seems weaker than before?”
“……”
[What the hell?]
[?]
[Wasn’t he captured?]
[I missed the Grim Reaper, haha]
[Where did he go again?]
[Did Lily come and run away?]
[Wasn’t Leo aiming for the Star Fragment?]
[Where’s the fragment?]
[Fragmentfragmentfragmentfragment]
While Leo and I were talking, Yena was wandering around the shattered monsters, poking her head curiously.
She looked just like a curious cat.
Yena suddenly turned her head and asked Leo.
“So, where’s the fragment, nya?”
“The fragment?”
“The old Star Fragment. I thought you might have received it through a sect episode.”
“Ah~ that? Of course, I kept it safe. It looks like a hidden material just by looking at it.”
“That’s a relief.”
“Why? Do you need the fragment?”
“The Grim Reaper’s purpose is the fragment. It’s highly likely that the attack on you, Lord Leo, was because of the fragment.”
“Ah, that’s why suddenly~ Zeus has it well…”
He froze.
Leo stopped.
His mouth slowly opened wide.
With a horrified expression, Leo suddenly summoned the spirit, Zeus, whom he had put in another space, and began shaking him up and down.
Compared to Leo, Zeus was in quite a hurt state, but it seemed he was already healed; there was no harm to his life.
Shake shake shake shake!!
—Ugh… you damn…
“Zeus! Zeus!”
—Stop shaking me like a madman and just talk!
“Where’s the fragment! The fragment!”
—The fragment? Of course, it’s in my hand… huh?
[?]
[What’s going on]
[Is that Zeus?]
[Stolen?]
[What’s going on?]
[??????????]
[Oh man]
[Was it stolen?]
Zeus fumbled around looking for the fragment, but it didn’t show up.
Leo, unable to believe it, searched his body despite Zeus’s objections, but nothing came out.
Just in case, Zeus rummaged through the spirits’ space, but it was the same.
In the end, even after completing the quest, Leo ended up empty-handed, plopping down as he put Zeus back into the space.
“I’m done for…”
“The Grim Reaper took it.”
“What a stupid mistake… I shouldn’t have left it to Zeus… ugh…”
“You don’t know where it went at all?”
“Ah, I did a triple divine empowerment, but it was harder than I thought… just dealing with the monster was overwhelming.”
“Hmm…”
So, Leo lost the fragment.
This was an unforeseen variable.
It was expected that Leo wouldn’t go down easily, but it was unpredictable that he’d lose the fragment to someone else.
‘Then the only remaining one is Light. I’ve heard that the Grim Reaper can’t obtain it through his power.’
According to the Dark Priest, to accomplish the plan, all seven fragments need to be gathered.
Even if I somehow manage to collect the other fragments, I must ultimately take the Earth from me and the Darkness from Yena.
In other words, the only place the Grim Reaper could go is Light.
‘He wouldn’t dare think he could defeat me, right?’
The Grim Reaper is a cunning user.
He has been the top and worst raider in Deoen, fighting against Deoen’s large guilds for a long time.
He’s not stupid enough to overlook the gap in power between us.
There’s no way the Grim Reaper would devise a plan to take us down by taking us down first.
In the past, he was cautious enough to kidnap Sre stealthily instead of facing me head-on.
And he even used his subordinates for that.
When I voiced my doubts to Yena and Leo, Yena responded with a “nyan?”
“Isn’t that guy lying?”
“The Dark Priest?”
“That’s right. He’s our enemy anyway, so there’s no reason to answer honestly.”
“That’s true, but… he didn’t seem to be lying.”
Over years of encountering various people and situations, I’ve naturally developed a ‘sense.’
The Dark Priest wasn’t lying.
In a life-or-death situation, it’s hard to lie, and even if he were to lie, he wouldn’t lie about ‘everything.’
“Even if it’s a lie, it’s a fact that the old Star Fragment is important. As stated in the system reward section, it’s marked 1/7. It’s one of the seven fragments, so it’s inevitable to gather them.”
“Hmm…”
“Leo, didn’t you hear anything specific? It doesn’t have to be about the Grim Reaper. Any information about the Northern Continent sect is good.”
“Hey, I’d like some info specifically from the Northern Continent’s sect too.”
“Huh?”
Leo, who had been wallowing in self-pity, lifted his head.
His hair, which had changed into three colors due to Spirit Ascension, had returned to its original dark blue.
Leo, while fidgeting with the five colored bridge, suddenly clapped his hands loudly.
“That’s it!”
[?]
[What’s that?]
[Leo is so cute, lol.]
“There’s one more! A ranker who’s officially here!”
“Huh?”
“A Knight?”
That’s right.
Currently, there were a total of five people who had entered the ‘official route’ in Teshiniria, not through the Crack in Space: me, Yena, Leo, the Grim Reaper.
And the last remaining one was the Knight.
Information I heard when I reunited with Yena in Teshiniria.
The Knight was the leader of the Guardian Guild and held the alliance leader position for the ‘Challenger’ alliance during the Kraken raid.
Moreover, he was a ranker who possessed an item imbued with the power of the ancient beast known as ‘Griffin’s Shield.’
“I heard from the Priest of Lightning that there are a total of four sects in the Northern Continent, three of which primarily use Lightning. And the remaining one is associated with ‘Light.’ There isn’t much information, but they probably didn’t head there…”
Kugugugu…!
[?]
[???]
[What’s going on?]
[Huh?]
“It’s already begun.”
The continent started to shake.
■
Tssuzuzut…
“Phew… why is everyone so strong? So annoying.”
The Grim Reaper glanced down at the Knight disappearing into blue particles, covered in wounds.
Leo had always been an insurmountable wall.
He borrowed the power of Reverse and the Nameless Man, but he never thought he could defeat Leo.
Even if the Nameless Man had been a tough fight, with Lily chasing after him, it felt burdensome to engage in a full-frontal confrontation.
Ultimately, the Grim Reaper decided to throw a few Reverse creatures as bait to divert attention and focus on obtaining the Piece of Light, the main goal.
The Grim Reaper couldn’t handle Light alone, but if there was a user targeting Light, then things would change.
“I didn’t expect to get Lightning too… Seems luckier than I thought.”
Now that all standards were met, there was no reason to hesitate.
As the Grim Reaper tapped the air, a blue spear reappeared.
─Did you call for me?
“Wake it up now.”
─Understood. Guild Master.
It was time to turn the tables.
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