《The Reincarnation of the Kingmaker》


 Chapter 1 The Truth

    ?Chapter 1: The Truth


    "How unfortunate¡­" Kayn muttered as he stared weakly in front of him while holding onto his sword. In front of him was thest remaining God that resides on the 1,000th floor of the ''Tower'' and was also in a simr injured state as him.


    At the moment, Kayn has already reached thest floor of the ''Tower, the 1,000th floor, and had also already in all the Gods except for just one single God, the God of all the Gods, Natas.


    "Kayn, Imend your strength and bravery. Throughout many millenniums that I live in this ''Tower'', you are the only person that has ever brought me into this miserable state,"


    "I don''t need the praise of someone like you!"


    "Hmmm, I understand. But I still can''t help myself from feeling admiration for such a praiseworthy warrior. What a real shame that the Humans on Earth are going to lose someone like you,"


    "Cough¡­ I hope you don''t lump me with the likes of them," Just the thought alone of being the same kind as the people living on Earth was enough to make Kayn feel unpleasant. Of course, there is a reason why he felt that way.


    "Oh, my deepest apologies. I have nearly forgotten just how ungrateful those people were to a great and honorable Hero like you. After all that you have done for them, those selfish people still decided to turn their backs on you in your times of trouble. If only they didn''t push you to enter the ''Tower'' ahead of time, then things would have developed differently. I feel pity for their foolishness and stupidity,"


    "Tch! Don''t act like it wasn''t done by you and the other Gods!"


    "Eh? Of course, it wasn''t our fault! At least not solely our fault,"


    "Don''t joke around with me! Then who the hell had tempted those people to betray their own kind for the pursuit of their personal interest and profit?!"


    That''s right! It was the fault of the so-called Gods why everything that he had worked so hard in his entire life to build was destroyed, and why he had to enter the ''Tower'' ahead of time and fought his way up from the 971st floor to thest remaining floors, 990th ¨C 1,000th, which are the floors that the Gods residing inside the ''Tower'' inhabits.


    "When I realized that something wasn''t right, it was already far toote for me to change anything and make things right¡­" Kayn whispered under his breath.


    How did all of this happen?


    Just where did it go wrong?


    As far as he could remember, he has done everything perfectly so as to prevent failing and wasting the effort that everyone had worked so hard to achieve.


    But still, why¡­ why did things not develop in the way he expected them to?!


    "Oh, I finally remember why!" Kayn started remembering the painful memories that he was trying to forget while fighting his way to reach this ce.


    He was the number one Hero of the Human race and was also bestowed the title ''Hope of Terran'' by everyone, which means the hope of Humankind living on Earth. In addition to that, he also carries in the palm of his hand the strongest Guild on Earth, ''Mischief'', that had sessfully defended the from the numerous invasions of the ''Tower'' for decades and had also led the clearing of the ''Tower'' along with thousands of powerful Heroes in their organization and their allies until the 970th floor.


    But one day, when he was out training in preparation to clear the 971st floor until the 980th of the ''Tower'', a tragedy suddenly urred inside his Guild without him getting informed.


    This tragedy started because of the greed of some of the members of his guild who, all of a sudden, strangely expressed that they don''t want to clear the ''Tower'' anymore because it would mean that they won''t be able to continue earning more profit. Simply put, some so-called Heroes, or more appropriately ''Fake Heroes'', weren''t climbing the ''Tower'' in order to save Humankind from the ''Tower'', but rather they were only doing so to benefit themselves.


    Honestly, he had already known throughout the years that there are many Fake Heroes and even ''Greedy Guilds'' that were displeased with him because of how fast he was clearing each floor in the ''Tower'', which resulted in their own interest getting hurt over and over again. Some had even openly expressed to the public that they want him to stop, or at the very least to slow down, saying that they should give the other Heroes some time to catch up to them using the pretense that they should be working together to clear the ''Tower'' as they believe that it is going to be next to impossible to do it with just their guild alone. Needless to say, that was obviously not the real reason.


    The guild ''Mischief'' has already grown far beyond the reach of every other Hero or any Guild. As a matter of fact, every Hero and Guild on Earthbined together still can''t even hope to contend against them, at least as far as he knows. That''s why the other guilds wanted them to stop or to slow down so that they can use that time to build up their forces and quickly catch up to them. By then, it wouldn''t be a problem for them anymore to openly fight against them.


    Unfortunately for those Fake Heroes, he didn''t care about whatever they said to him. Why would he? On top of the reason that he is fully aware of their original intention in mind before he actually became a Hero, he had watched his parents get killed by the monsters from the ''Tower'' right in front of his very eyes. That experience was what had awoken his powers and made him into a Hero. And from that day forth, he swore to save everyone and to destroy the ''Tower''. So, there''s nothing that can stop him from reaching thest floor of the ''Tower'' and ending everything for good.


    But what he never expected to happen was that even the Heroes from his own guild and his allies would actually also share simr beliefs as those Fake Heroes and those greedy Guilds that only care about the profits that they could get from the ''Tower''. After all, they had fought alongside him all this time, and if it wasn''t for them, it would have been very difficult for him to climb the ''Tower'' all alone. He trusted and put his faith in those supposedly friends and allies of his, that''s why he was never afraid to leave his back to them. Never once has he doubted them or even entertain the thoughts of them betraying him.


    Just how mistaken he was¡­


    In the end, they were easily tempted by the alluring profits and benefits that they could earn by agreeing to ally with the Gods of the ''Tower'', which is then what prompted them to not only betray him but also their own kind.


    If it wasn''t for the Gods, then¡­


    "I admit that we, Gods, have indeed intervened with your ns that''s why your friends and allies betrayed you and never once showed up when you called out for them. But you''re hugely mistaken if you thought that it was solely our fault why all of this has happened to you," Natas shook his head. "Remember, even to the very end, you didn''t enter the ''Tower'' and fought all the way up to thest floor all by yourself. In my opinion, it''s impossible for you to reach this ce alone, especially considering that your mental fortitude was greatly affected by a lot of negative emotions,"


    Hearing Natas'' words, Kayn''s expression instantly turned solemn as he remembered those mixed of joyful and painful memories that he had made with some newpanions that he never ever once expected in his entire life to be the people that will choose to fight alongside him till the very end of their life.


    "Your own kind had always believed and thought of them to be nothing more than trash and the cancer of the human society. Calling them with all sorts of names, including Viins. But in the end, those cruel, despicable, and evil people were the only Heroes that stood up when you called for help. Do you want to know the reason why?" Natas asked albeit he would still give Kayn the answer regardless of him saying yes or no.


    "Why¡­?"


    "Because they choose to! Simrly, those Heroes that betrayed you had also chosen to be tempted by us. Do you seriously think that we have not tried to tempt those newpanions of yours who decided to help you to betray you as well? We did, and we even offered more than what we had initially offered to those previous Heroes, even going as far as giving them an opportunity to be Gods like us. But in the end, they still choose to believe in you and not be tempted by us even to their veryst dying breath,"


    Kayn stood silently still after hearing Natas'' words. As much as he wanted to disagree, he has no words to utter in his mouth that can prove that thetter was wrong. And he''s also not someone who would mutter a response just for the sake of having something to say. Moreover, deep inside of him, he knew clearly well that Natas couldn''t be more urate.


    As a matter of fact, he already knew the answer to Natas'' question way before thetter had exined it to him. He simply asked ''Why'' because he was too afraid inwardly to believe that he was correct. He needed someone else to tell the truth to him upfront, otherwise, he will just continue denying it.


    Honestly, it is very funny. How he was still able to reach this far in the ''Tower'', even killing all the Gods until only one remains, despite feeling a lot of mixed emotions deep inside of him. If it was anyone else, just that weakness alone would have cost them their life in crucial situations.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Seeing your reaction right now, I guess you have already thought of the same answer as me even before this meeting,"


    As expected of Natas, he could easily see through the truth.


    "Hmmm¡­" Kayn uttered a sound of confirmation as he cliched his hands holding the sword tightly. He finally understood why some people would still choose to believe the beautiful lies rather than the ugly truth, why they would firmly choose to be fooled for many years and not open their eyes because there are times in life when deceiving oneself would save them from the painful reality.


    Truth be told, he had already found the answer to that question from the day everyone who came along with him had died. From that moment on, he felt mixed emotions of pain, regret, disappointment, and rage inside of him, until it all eventually boiled down together and became hatred.


    However, the mere thought of hating the people he had spent decades together with and experienced a lot of ups and downs in life wasn''t something that could just be done easily. No matter how capable he was, it was just next to impossible for him to do so. So, he kept on denying the truth.


    In his effort of refusing to hate them, he decided to express all of the pent-up hatred to someone else instead. And that someone else just happened to be the enemy he met along the way to this ce. He was so blinded by his own emotion of hatred that he practically killed everyone that dares to block his path, no matter how powerful they were, as he continued climbing the ''Tower'' higher and higher. And before he realized it, he is now standing in front of thest remaining God, Natas.


    After his mind was cleared, Kayn now has only onest remaining question left in his mind.


    "If it''s okay with you, can I ask you onest question?"


    After Kayn said that, he suddenly exerted force in both of his feet and arms with great difficulty in order to pull the sword out from the ground. He then held the sword up high in front of him while pointing the sharp edge of the sword straight towards Natas, as if telling thetter that after he answers his question, he is going to execute hisst attack using the remaining power that he has and end everything. Regardless of who will win in the end, it will not matter as he knew from the depths of his heart that he already did everything he could for the sake of mankind at this very moment.


    "Alright! This is the least I can do for the first person that I wholeheartedly respect," Natas doesn''t mind granting Kayn such a small favor. As a matter of fact, he was even willing to grant thetter more time to prepare for another fight. Sadly, Kayn seems to want to end everything right this very moment.


    This was one of the reasons why he respects Kayn. Thetter was determined and decisive. That''s why no Gods had ever thought of trying to persuade Kayn to stop even once because whatever he has decided on, he will see to it till the very end of his life. Only a man like him is worthy of his admiration.


    "Why did you and the other Gods make them betray me?" Kayn has already epted the truth now as to why all of his friends and allies betrayed him, but he is still unaware of why the Gods made them betray him.


    This was the question that Kayn has been asking himself after getting betrayed. Even when he was with his newpanions, he still continued to look for answers to this question. Why did the Gods do it? He just doesn''t understand the reason why. Needless to say, he naturally had some assumptions inside of his mind, but it''s much better to hear the answer from one of the Gods. That way, everything would be much clearer for him.


    Hearing Kayn''s question, Natas unexpectedly showed a regretful look on his face before he replied, "From the start, everything was nothing more than just a source of entertainment for us Gods. We look for Heroes that we deemed as fitting to our liking and then sponsor them in order to help them be much stronger. After they be strong enough, we will then give them missions to entertain us even more. Like for example, ying powerful monsters,peting with other Heroes, and even killing some people. This process continued for many years, and we thought that there might be a chance this time that it will continue remaining that way between your own kind and us,"


    "However, things started to change for the worst when you led some Heroes to reach the 900th floor. At that time, we Gods no longer view you as mere tools for entertainment, but instead swords hanging up above our heads with no way of possibly knowing when it would suddenly fall and kill us. What''s even scarier was, it was us who created these weapons and gave them the opportunity to bring the battle straight to us,"


    "And as if that wasn''t enough, some of the Heroes we have sponsored started to not listen to ourmands because of your influence. They even dared to openly challenge us by telling other Heroes who were under the same God as them to refuse to listen to any of God''s orders as well,"


    "From that moment on, we knew that it was no longer something that we can just simply treat casually, and for that reason, all the Gods decided to hold a very important meeting to discuss you. At the end of the meeting, it was concluded that your action was a deration of war to all the Gods and requires an immediate retaliation before it was toote,"


    "In other words, it has now be a battle for survival,"


    "So, how did you do it?" Kayn can''t help but interrupt Natas with another question as he was feeling really curious about the methods that the Gods had used in order to persuade his friends and allies. "I know that I only asked for you to answer onest question, but I want to know just how you Gods were able to make even the closest people in my life betray me,"


    "It''s fine, I was nning to tell you about it anyways. You deserve to know about the truth," Natas gestured using his hand that it wasn''t a big problem. He continued exining, "Unfortunately, with how huge your influence was, not only to all Heroes but also to the masses as well, we knew that it wasn''t going to be easy to defeat you, especially considering that we cannot leave our respective floors inside the ''Tower'',"


    "And just like what we have expected, we faced numerous difficulties in trying to get other Heroes to help us. Persuading them through force was proven to be ineffective since they have the upper hand against us during all negotiations by simply using your name. Neither can we easily entice them using items or giving them power. After all, they can get those things eventually just by simply climbing higher in the ''Tower''. But as we continued to negotiate with them, we slowly started learning about the fullest extent of their greed, thus allowing us to use it to our advantage,"


    "We started with the Viins, thinking that it would be easy to tempt them because of their evil nature. However, we soon realized just how mistaken we were when we found out that a considerable number of them were actually far nobler than even the so-called Heroes themselves, and the society they have created with each other was next to difficult to break as the consequences of not following the top of the hierarchy is death,"


    "With that discovery in mind, we decided to forget about persuading all of the Viins and instead focus on those Fake Heroes, you know what I mean. Honestly, it was quite easy to persuade them as long as we know about the extent of their greed. But even with their help, we were still aware that it won''t be enough to defeat you,"


    "So, using those Fake Heroes, we slowly started establishing connections with those greedy guilds that we already knew hated you. Tempting them was a bit of a challenge, to say the least, but as long as the agreement involves helping them to defeat you, they all unhesitatingly jumped onto our side,"


    "After getting the fake Heroes and greedy guilds that hated you on our side, it was then finally time to persuade ourst targets, the Heroes who were part of your Guild and your allies. We knew that unless we get some of them to go to our side and help us, even if our victory is still notpletely guaranteed, we could at the very least be able to dy you and buy more time for us. We will then use that time to prepare even stronger forces on the remaining floors so as to prevent any of your remaining forces from continuing to climb up the ''Tower'',"


    "In other words, since we can''t take back what we have already lost, we have no other choice left but to use every means necessary in order for us to keep what remains. That was honestly all that we were asking for after conceding a lot of things to ask for help from your kind,"


    "But what we didn''t expect was that it would actually be your guild instead who decided to approach us first, and even gave us the upper hand in the negotiation as if wanting us to ept it no matter what. Just when we thought that alone was unexpected enough, they surprisingly proposed to us that as long as we help them overthrow you from your guild, they will help us in return not only to defeat you but also in killing you as well,"


    "Oh, and that''s not all. Do you know who ordered them to approach us?" Natas'' regretful look turned slightly sorrowful, as he knew that this revtion is going to be the most painful part of the story for Kayn.


    "The Executives," This was what Kayn had heard after knowing about his friends'' and allies'' betrayal. When the members of the Guild were having an internal conflict because of their different beliefs and goals, the Executives suddenly disappeared. And when they returned after disappearing for many days, they unexpectedly announced to the entire world some made-up stories about him that was enough to drive him into a corner. In just a matter of a single day, he went from being the greatest Hero to the greatest Viin, even going as far as overtaking the number one Viin who had destroyed four organizations that were part of the World Leaders Alliance. And to make matters even worst, some of the Executives strangely died a few days after announcing those shocking revtions and all the me was put on him.


    "On the surface, it was indeed the Executives of your guild who had betrayed you. But in truth, they were nothing more but mere tools that the real masterminds had used," Natas shook his head to express that it wasn''t that simple. Without holding back, he revealed, "The true masterminds behind everything were your wife, Isabe, and her father, the President of the World Leader Alliance, Nics. Your wife was Nics'' daughter that he secretly nted by your side and whose real mission from the very start was to kill you one day if ever you went out of their control or once youpletely serve your purpose,"


    As if his entire world hade crashing down on him, Kayn''s body instantly turned weak causing him to let go of the sword that he was holding tightly just a moment ago. But before his weapon could go far from his fingers, a mysterious force suddenly lifted it back up for his hands to grab once again. In the next moment, his eyes stared widely in disbelief as he saw Natas who was just standing some distance away immediately appearing just a few inches from him while blood was now slowly oozing out from his lips that strangely looked like a smile of relief. As he gradually looked down at his hands, he saw that his sword has now stabbed Natas'' heart, causing gold-colored blood to gush out from the small gap in the wound.


    "Why¡­?" Kayn was unable to believe what just transpired in front of his eyes.


    "Now is not the right time for us to talk about this," Natas whispered into Kayn''s ears before the both of them were covered in white light.


    Whoooooosh!

 Chapter 2 Starting Over

    ?Chapter 2: Starting Over


    "Can you hear me?"


    "Where am I¡­?"


    "Hey, can you hear me?"


    "Yes, I can hear you, Natas!"


    "Oh great! I guess it was a sess!"


    "What do you mean a sess?"


    "Rather than exining it to you, it''s much better for you to see it for yourself,"


    Hearing Natas'' words, Kayn slowly opened his eyes and was soon immediately greeted by a bright lighting from the sun up above his head. He annoyingly raises his hand in front to block the bright light while at the same time blinking his eyes a few times to quickly adapt to it. The moment his sight became clear, what he saw next caused him to doubt something inwardly.


    "How strange¡­"


    At the moment, he is sitting on a wooden bench in the middle of a park where a huge fountain sprinkling water all over its basin could be seen in front of him. Needless to say, that clearly wasn''t the main reason why he felt that way, instead, it was the sense of familiarity he is currently feeling while being in this ce.


    "Why does this park feel so familiar to me?" Kayn can''t help asking himself while searching through his mind for any rted memories of this ce.


    Strangely enough, even without needing to look around his surroundings, he still knew extremely well the cement of the trees and other types of greeneries around him, the number of trash bins and benches nearby, and how many crosswalks there are to get to his location.


    "Eh, wait, wait!"


    Shortly afterward, he finally realized why he was getting a sense of familiarity in this ce.


    "If my memory serves me correctly, this park was my favorite ce to rest whenever I felt troubled during the times I was studying at a university as a student. The serenity I felt from this ce was simply different and would always allow me to clear my mind, making me solve all the problems I have a lot easier than before,"


    "But why am I here?"


    As far as he could remember, this park had already been destroyed for more than a decade after a dungeon that was managed by a nearby small guild unexpectedly broke out. At that time, he felt quite sad for failing to protect this important ce in his heart.


    Although back then he has every means to rebuild this park, he knew deep inside of him that even then it wouldn''t be the same park as before, but rather just a new park with the sameyout as its predecessor.


    "Wait, don''t tell me that some people had rebuilt it without my knowledge?" This was the only reason Kayn could possibly think about that can exin why this ce exists now. However, he suddenly thought of something really important.


    "Didn''t you just say that you cannot get outside the ''Tower'', then why are you here right now?" Kayn can''t help but ask Natas in confusion.


    At the moment, Natas is sitting beside him on the bench while looking around the park with a look of curiosity on his face. He was like a cat that visited the park for the first time in his life.


    "This is not as simple as simply getting outside the ''Tower''," Natas shook his head before looking at Kayn.


    "We are literally outside the ''Tower''. So, what do you mean about that?" Kayn doesn''t understand what Natas meant.


    "I told you already, it''s a lot easier for you to experience it rather than me exining it to you. Once you look around your surroundings long enough, you will eventually be able to understand what I mean," Natas decided to stop exining to Kayn and went back to observing the ce, evidently mesmerized by its beauty and serenity.


    "Okay¡­" Kayn could only helplessly follow Natas'' instruction as he started looking around the park like thetter. But all of a sudden, "Oh, I almost forgot, everyone currently hates me,"


    After abruptly remembering that fact, Kayn hastily jumped behind the bench where dense greenery was located and started hiding within it before continuing his observation of his surroundings.


    This time, he became extremely cautious in fear that someone will recognize him and report it to the authorities. By then, he would have no other choice again but to run away.


    "What you are doing right now ispletely unnecessary," Natas chuckled at Kayn''s action. But he soon noticed an arm grabbing onto his cor, and before he could even react, he was immediately pulled beside thetter as well.


    "You¡­"


    "You also need to hide. If I remembered correctly, everyone on Earth also recognized your face. More importantly, everyone hates you more than me," Kayn quickly cut what Natas was about to say.


    "Wasn''t that your fault to begin with?!" Natas rolled his eyes in annoyance. It was Kayn who showed everyone his face after he looted a detailed portrait of him from clearing thest dungeon on the 970th floor. He was so angry at that time because everyone turned him into a meme to make fun of and a way to express their anger. How dare these lowlife mortals, insult the perfect face of this God?!


    "Oh, is that so? But ording to one of the Gods I killed, it was you who secretly slipped your image in that dungeon, saying that everyone knows the faces of all the other Gods except for the almighty you, and you felt like it wasn''t fair," Kayn scoffed.


    "That¡­" Natas can''t believe that one of the Gods had actually dared to reveal one of his darkest secrets.


    "Hello, what are you doing?"


    All of a sudden, a man wearing a set of running gear appeared in front of Kayn and Natas while showing a look of wonder on his face, evidently showing that he is curious about what exactly Kayn was doing hiding in the bush.


    "And also, who are you talking to?" The man quickly added.


    "Ummm¡­" Kayn looked at Natas in bewilderment.


    "Only people I acknowledge can see me," Natas unhesitatingly stood up from the ground and returned to the bench again. Only a gush of wind could be felt as he made a move. After sitting down, he didn''t bother helping Kayn after thetter had insulted him.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Are you okay? You seemed like you have seen a ghost,"


    "It''s nothing, hehe¡­ I just fell from the bench and was ming myself for being so careless," Fortunately, he was able to quickly think of a reasonable excuse after that brief interruption from Natas.


    "Oh, then make sure to be extra careful next time since I just saw a huge and sharp rock behind one of the benches I passed by not long ago. With the size of that rock, there''s no doubt that it would cause a serious blunt injury to anyone''s head if they fell onto it," The man reminded Kayn before finally walking away.


    Seeing the man leaving, Kayn sighed heavily. He was very lucky this time that the man believed his excuse, otherwise that man would have mistaken him for a crazy person, or worst he would misunderstand him as a thief hiding in the bush and waiting for a victim. Regardless of how ridiculous thetter sounded, there''s no doubt that the man just now would have called the police or the security of the park to confirm his identity. That would seriously bring him a lot of trouble¡­


    However, Kayn''s thoughts were suddenly interrupted as he asked himself, "But why did that man not recognize me?"


    "Of course, he won''t, since he doesn''t know you, to begin with," This time Natas answered Kayn''s question.


    "Indeed¡­" As much as he hates to believe Natas'' words, the expression he saw on that man''s face indeed looked like he doesn''t have any sort of clue about his identity. That man''s expression was purely out of curiosity and concern. "Unless I was so unlucky that the person I met just now was some sort of professional actor that acted that way on the surface in order to hide what he really felt after seeing me,"


    "Wait here," Kayn hastily stood up from the ground and chased after the man. He suddenly had a thought inside his head and he wanted to confirm it through that man just now.


    On the other hand, Natas felt intrigued by what Kayn was about to do, so he turned his attention to thetter instead of continuing to observe the park.


    Since the man hasn''t gotten that far yet, it didn''t take that long for Kayn to catch up. Along the way, he decided to pick up a sizeable rock to use as a weapon in case something goes wrong and hid it behind his back.


    Kayn thought, "That man didn''t seem to be strong enough to pose that much of a threat against me, so if it reallyes to worst, this rock should probably be more than enough to make him lose consciousness and buy me sufficient time to run away,"


    "Excuse me," Kayn called out to the man.


    "Oh, it''s you again! Is there something wrong?"


    "I know that this might sound very strange to you, but do you really not recognize who I am?"


    "Don''t tell me¡­"


    Kayn started feeling nervous. Out of caution, he tightened his grip on the rock he was hiding behind him to prepare himself to swing once this man shows any sort of threat.


    "Did you hit your head so hard that you forgot who you are?"


    Bang!


    "I¡­" Because of disbelief, Kayn unconsciously let the rock that he was holding slip through his fingers, causing it to fall straight to the ground and create a muffled noise.


    Even though the sound made by the rock the moment it hit the ground wasn''t much, the man still heard it and instantly noticed the rock, thus making him look at Kayn strangely and suspiciously.


    Realizing that he had just made a foolish mistake, Kayn quickly picked up the rock while acting like he was muttering to himself, "How careless of me. I was supposed to show this rock to you since you just mentioned something about suffering a serious injury after getting your head hit by a rock. I don''t know much about rocks, so I was wondering if the size of this rock could also inflict the same as what you have mentioned?"


    While saying that, Kayn didn''t hesitate to openly show the rock to the man in order to defuse any sort of misunderstanding between the two of them.


    Fortunately, the man was easily fooled and believed Kayn''s excuse once again. Though the main reason for that was because of how harmless and young Kayn looked. If it wasn''t for that, he would have long run away and called for help.


    "Oh, so that''s why. I thought you were nning to hit me with that rock or something," The man said jokingly, "Sorry about that,"


    "I was," Kayn thought inwardly.


    "Well, I don''t see any blood around the rock, so I guess you''re fine. But do you want me to call an ambnce just to make sure that you are really fine?"


    "No need, I would just be causing trouble to the hospital. Instead, I have a better idea in mind. Can you tell me what time and date it is today? If it''s the same as what I am currently thinking, then I believe there''s nothing wrong with me," Kayn instead proposed another idea to dodge the man''s proposal.


    "Oh, what a smart idea! Let me check my phone," The man quickly took out a phone from his right pocket and turned it on to see the exact time and date.


    "It''s currently March 22, 2022, and the time is 1:31 PM). Did you happen to get it correctly?"


    "Yeah," Kayn nodded his head.


    "I guess you are fine then," The man said before bidding farewell to Kayn as he continued walking on his way.


    "Ha!" Kayn sighed heavily once again. He''s feeling really thankful for his past experiences in dealing with different types of people, problems, and situations. If it wasn''t for that, then things would have developed entirely differently from what happened just now.


    As soon as the man left, Kayn nkly returned to where Natas was sitting and sat beside thetter quietly.


    "I guess you understood now," Natas muttered after noticing Kayn''s expression.


    Kayn might have acted like nothing was wrong after hearing the date and time from that man, but in reality, he was utterly shocked and confuse. And now that the man is gone, his emotions are now apparent just from his expression alone. Deep inside, he can''t believe what he had just heard.


    Kayn slightly nodded in response. "But how¡­?"


    "It''s a very long story, so I hope you will prepare yourself to listen well because I don''t want to exin to you all over again,"

 Chapter 3 It Started From A Dead Man’s Wish

    ?Chapter 3: It started with a dead man''s wish


    Hearing Natas'' words, Kayn quickly pulled himself together from the feeling of disbelief he is currently experiencing and perked up his ears to listen closely to what Natas was about to say. He could already guess that it is not going to be simple just from looking at the former''s face alone.


    "Do you know why the ''Tower'' hade to Earth?" Natas asked.


    This was a question that Kayn honestly didn''t expect Natas would kick off with what he was about to say. He assumed that thetter would start off by telling that they had returned back to the past and slowly but surely make his way to this topic. Not like this where he immediately starts off with a st.


    While trying to remain calm and collected, Kayn shook his head and replied, "I don''t, and I have not found even a single clue about that after all these times,"


    To tell the truth, Kayn also wanted to know why the ''Tower'' hade to Earth, but the main problem was, there was no information to be found about that anywhere inside the ''Tower'', or to be more precise, the ''Tower'' itself is preventing anyone from finding any clues rted to that.


    Even after he spent many decades searching, there was still no hope of finding any. As a matter of fact, despite being blinded by hatred, he would still asionally ask the Gods about that before finally deciding to kill them. But every time that question was brought up to them, some of them would try their best to avoid it, while the others who were willing to speak would mysteriously get censored.


    The feeling he got from looking for anything rted to that matter was like searching for a needle inside a huge barn full of haystacks.


    "That''s to be expected since the ''Tower'' strictly prohibits anyone from speaking a single thing about it, even us, Gods, aren''t an exception to such rule,"


    Kayn nodded in understanding. That''s right, even though Natas has the title ''God'', he''s actually not excluded from any of the rules within the ''Tower''. To begin with, the only reason why they are called Gods is that they are more powerful than anyone else inside the ''Tower'', and above all else, they were also given a certain amount of authority depending on their rank among all the Gods to manage a few small things that the ''Tower'' couldn''t be bothered about. It was exactly because of that reason that even the mortals dared to look down on them and disrespect them every now and then, especially him.


    "The ''Tower'' is a veryplex¡­ I don''t know how to describe the ''Tower'' itself until now, but let''s just stick with calling it an ''Entity'', since it''s an independent living existence with a seemingly infinite world of its own inside. Anyways, the ''Tower'' is a veryplex entity in which no one knows how exactly it came into existence. The only thing we have found out so far is¡­"


    "What is it?" Kayn asked.


    "Whether you believe me or not, it wasn''t actually the ''Tower'' that chose toe to Earth, but instead it was your kind that asked the ''Tower'' toe to your own home,"


    "Ehhh! What do you mean¡­?" Kayn felt disbelief. Just who on Earth would ask for something as absurd as the ''Tower''?


    From the very first day that the ''Tower'' made its appearance on Earth, it had already taken the lives of tens of millions of people, the majority of them being the courageous soldiers sent by the ten World Leaders on Earth who fearlessly fought to protect the innocent and defenseless civilians.


    In his opinion, even the most insane person that exists on Earth wouldn''t wish for something billions of times more insane than himself.


    "It all started from a simple wish from a dying man to turn back time. That man was full of regrets in his life while on his deathbed which led him to make such a wish. Then after some time had passed, another man turned that wish into asking for another chance to start all over again as he had made plenty of mistakes that he wanted to correct. It continued to snowball from one generation to another, branching out into numerous forms of wishes but still with a simr meaning behind them. From merely tens of people wishing for it to hundreds, hundreds to thousands, thousands to tens of thousands, tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, to a million, then a billion, and a trillion, and so on and so forth, until time finally came that the number of people wishing for it reached the quota needed for the ''Tower'' to make its appearance on Earth,"


    "If that''s the real purpose for why the ''Tower'' was brought to Earth, then why did it make everyone suffer? Shouldn''t it be supposed to give people another chance and not strip them away of that?" Kayn can''t help but wonder.


    "Even though the ''Tower'' was meant to give people another chance to start again, not everyone deserves that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. As such, it created plenty of so-called necessary measures to cause numerous bloodsheds on your just so that it could achieve one simple purpose ¡ª to select only the deserving people. You heard me right! Those destructions and cmities that everyone fought so hard with their life on the line in order to survive were mere tests to select deserving people," Natas rified.


    "Yes, numerous people had indeed died because of the ''Tower'', I can''t argue with that. However, even more people on Earth had wished for this opportunity toe, the majority of them had even died waiting and fighting for it. So, the ''Tower'' deemed it unfair and unjust if it would just simply choose to leave because the minority wished for it,"


    "That¡­" Anger instantly boiled down inside Kayn after hearing Natas'' exnation.


    "An individual from your did warn everyone to be careful of what they wished for. All of you should have taken that seriously at that time," Seeing Kayn''s reaction, Natas quickly interrupted out of fear that the former is going to go into an outburst without caring about his surroundings. Once he does that, it wouldn''t be any different from announcing to the ''Tower'' their existence.


    "But who on Earth could even expect that such a simple wish would bring such devastating cmity to all of us¡­"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I fully understand what you are feeling right now. You think that the wish of those dead people shouldn''t have mattered because they are no longer alive and even if their wish is granted they''re no longer there to enjoy or benefit from it, so the only thing that should have mattered the most should have been the wish of people who are currently living and experiencing the pain and suffering brought by the ''Tower'' and the consequences of their wishes. As to how I''vee to know of this, it''s not because I am one of the Gods, thus I hear everything happening both inside and outside of the ''Tower'', that''s just partly the reason why,"


    Hearing Natas'' words, Kayn quickly turned quiet and continued to listen.


    "You might not know this, but a majority of the Gods that you have killed were actually also once someone just like you. They were an inhabitant of a certain across the universe where the ''Tower'' had suddenly made its appearance. And just like you, they climbed all the way up to the highest floor while carrying the burning desire of clearing the ''Tower'' and saving their. But in the end, due to different circumstances or personal decisions made along the way, they became a God just like me. Of course, I am not suggesting that you be a God as well like them since I already know that you are not someone who will wish for something like that. All I am saying is, don''t me those people who wished for the ''Tower'' as we all are just the same in some way. Each one of us has our own wishes in life, it''s just that in their case, they wished for another chance to start all over again,"


    "I understand," Kayn sighed heavily. But his expression remained unfulfilled. He now understands a few things about the ''Tower'', but he is still left wondering why Natas was doing all of this. "But you still didn''t answer the question about why we returned back to the past and how exactly did we return back to the past?"


    "I was about to get to that point now that I am finished exining to you about how the ''Tower'' hade to existence on Earth," Natas replied, a bit displeased since Kayn kept on interrupting him while he was telling him about the ''Tower''. He continued, "The reason why I made you return back to the past is that we Gods have chosen you to grant us our wish,"


    "And that wish is?"


    "Just like the reason why you chose to climb the ''Tower'', we Gods also desire freedom from it!"


    Natas'' face suddenly turned solemn. "I decided not to tell you this a while ago because we were still inside the ''Tower''. But now that we are outside, it''s now the perfect time to let you know the whole truth about us Gods,"


    "We Gods have been living inside the ''Tower'' for as long as we could remember. It''s even worse for those that were born at the same time as the ''Tower'' as we have forgotten a lot of things in our life. There are even times wherein we can''t help but ask ourselves why we exist in the first ce.


    "I am not going to lie, at first, we felt proud to be chosen by the ''Tower'', but as time continues to pass, things started to change among all of us. Some started developing strange obsessions, others became what they hated the most, and a few of us lost our way to what we wanted to be. In other words, remaining inside the ''Tower'' was slowly destroying who we really are,"


    "Unfortunately, no matter what we do, it is impossible for us to leave the floor where we currently reside. Though we could send incarnations to explore every floor of the ''Tower'', as time goes by, we were eventually able to explore everything of what the ''Tower'' had imed to be a never-ending space. From that moment on, the speed of us changing multiplied by hundreds of times,"


    Natas'' face suddenly turned sorrowful as he continued, "I told you before that everything we have been doing to your own kind was nothing more than entertainment. But just to be clear, there is a deeper meaning to why we were doing all of that. We kept ourselves entertained in order for the changes happening within all of us to be dyed,"


    "Turning into the worst version of ourselves was inevitable for all of us ¡ª is what we have already realized a long time ago.  Luckily at the very least, we have found a method to dy it. The time that we have bought ourselves every single moment the ''Tower'' visits another, we have used it in researching a way to stop everything,"


    "That was the main and real reason why we went into so much trouble in influencing other Heroes to stop you. It was so that you won''t ruin what we have researched and discovered so far. And moreover, we also don''t want to add even more Gods into our ranks because they represent an unknown variable due to the fact that they believe and experience different from all of us. We know this because we have already passed that kind of stage way before we have arrived on Earth, a battle between the ancient Gods and the new Gods,"


    "Eh, but you have mentioned that you have offered some people the opportunity of bing a God," Kayn can''t help interjecting.


    "An opportunity to be a God is apletely different story to making them into an actual God," Natas rified.


    "A wordy," Kayn quickly understood.


    To avoid any misunderstanding, Natas further added, "Exactly! Despite that though, we have still prepared numerous so-called challenges for them, albeit it''s expected that there''s only going to be one ending for them, which is none other than death. Needless to say, if they can still pass all of those challenges, then we will have no other choice but to make them Gods as we have promised, though they would be restricted in all sorts of different ways to avoid any unknown variables. I know it''s cruel, but what we were doing wasn''t only meant to give us Gods the freedom that we want, but to also free any otherster on from the influence brought by the ''Tower''. As such, we can''t avoid making any sacrifices, especially if it''s necessary to do so,"


    "However, as you can see, despite our best efforts, you still destroyed everything that we have worked so hard to build, simrly to how we did the same to you. Karma, you could say, hahaha!" Natasugh in self-mockery.


    "I am sorry¡­" If only he knew of this from the start, then he wouldn''t have been so persistent in reaching the top floor of the ''Tower'' to get his revenge. But then again, it''s next to impossible for him to know of this truth because once he does, the ''Tower'' would naturally alsoe to learn of it and as such prevent the Gods from continuing their research.


    No wonder the Gods were so desperate. It was because he was a threat to not only their freedom to the future as well.


    "No, it''s me who should thank you instead," Natas smiled.

 Chapter 4 And It Will Also End With A Dead Man’s Wish

    ?Chapter 4: And it will also end with a dead man''s wish


    "Why?" Kayn asked in doubt.


    "Because if it wasn''t for you, our situation right now would have been impossible to achieve," Natas answered.


    "What do you mean?" Kayn now understood the reason why Natas reincarnated him to the past, it was so that he could grant them their wish. But he is confused about how exactly this was only possible because of him.


    "We Gods have long already thought of returning to the past. But the only problem was this n requires a tremendous amount of sacrifices on our part. In addition to that, we need to have a candidate who is not only trustworthy but is also powerful enough to be able to reach the top floor of the ''Tower''. Sounds familiar, right?" Natas looked at Kayn meaningfully.


    "Me," Kayn instantly realized who Natas was describing.


    "Yes, you fit both of those criteria," Natas nodded his head, before quickly adding, "Not only that, because you were betrayed by your very friends and allies, there''s no doubt that your hatred for them would ignite you to do every means possible to get your revenge, and the only way to achieve that goal is for you to climb higher in the ''Tower'' and be strong enough to defeat all of them. Once you are done with that, we believe that you will then try to reach the top of the ''Tower'' to end everything for good,"


    "But how can you be so sure that I will do everything that you expected me to do?" Kayn peered at Natas strangely. Thetter should already be aware that it wasn''t only his friends and allies who betrayed him, but also all of the people who he was risking his life to protect. In other words, the majority of people on Earth weren''t innocent of the crime of betraying him. As such, why would he continue trying to save them, right?


    To tell the truth, inside his mind at this moment, he is thinking that now that he is given another chance to start all over again, after taking his revenge on those previous friends and allies who betrayed him, he will then live a peaceful life and will not care about anyone else other than those Viins¡­ No! Those newpanions, who chose to apany him to their deaths, and probably also the people who will help him with his revenge in the future.


    If ever everyone on Earth dies one day, which he is sure will eventually happen if they can''t sessfully clear the ''Tower'', then he will simply follow where the ''Tower'' would go next through some kind of method that he should be able to discover at that time and continue living a peaceful life until his death.


    "Because otherwise, history will just repeat itself," Natas turned solemn. With Kayn suddenly changing his tone of voice, he quickly decided to treat this matter a lot more seriously than he initially did, in fear that their only chance would fail and disappear. By then, he won''t have any choice but to helplessly ept Kayn''s decision.


    Of course, Natas had already expected something like this to happen. To begin with, this n is not foolproof and it also has no guarantee of sess, after all. Instead, it''s more like a gamble with a high chance of them failing. For instance, if the person who passed all the criteria became blinded by revenge, then it would no doubt spell failure for them.


    With a sneer, Kayn replied, "What history? The history I experienced previously or the fact that the ''Tower'' will just simply go to another once it''s done with this world? Whatever it is, I couldn''t care any less. The only thing that matters to me right now is having my revenge,"


    "I understand where you are getting at. But, do you seriously think the ''Tower'' is not aware that we have returned back to the past? After all, we have disappeared inside the ''Tower''. Even if it doesn''t realize now, it''s only going to be a matter of time before that happens," Natas warned with a threatening tone in his voice.


    Hearing Natas'' words, Kayn instantly turned serious as well. While feeling apprehensive, he asked, "What will happen then once the ''Tower'' realized what we have done?"


    "It will send its only incarnation to fix the problem,"


    "And who exactly is that incarnation?" This is the first time that Kayn had heard about the ''Tower'' having an incarnation. As far as he knows, it''s only the Gods that can choose incarnations so that they will have Heroes that they can control to help them entertain themselves in all sorts of different ways, just like what Natas had said a while ago.


    "The President of the World Leader Alliance, Nichs," Natas replied before looking at the sky and muttering, "The ''Tower'' is one of the most deceitful Entities that you will ever encounter in your entire life. Even for us Gods who have lived for a very long time, and some even living at the same time as it, still haven''t found anyone else that can outmatch or mislead the ''Tower'',"


    "How¡­" Kayn was rendered speechless after hearing Natas'' revtion. What he is feeling right now is even more than the feeling of shock when he suddenly stabbed Natas'' heart and discovers afterward that he had returned back to the pastbined together.


    "To tell you the truth, the life you have been living up until now wasn''t your first life. As a matter of fact, every single that the ''Tower'' had destroyed in the past was also not living its first life, but rather its second life. That''s because, in the first life, the ''Tower'' would always choose to sacrifice everyone else, excluding us Gods obviously, just to allow a certain someone to go into reincarnation. In Earth''s case, it was the President of the World Leader Alliance, Nichs,"


    "To simply put, everything you are seeing and experiencing right now, even at this very moment of us returning back to the past, is nothing more than just a repeat of what had previously happened in the first life. The only difference is, in this timeline, Nichs will not choose to join your guild, but instead he will build his own force that will help the ''Tower'' in case something like this ever happens. Just to be clear, I am not saying that the ''Tower'' expects us Gods to also choose someone to go into reincarnation, I am only saying that the ''Tower'' has long already made preparation for a countermeasure in case anything or someone will try to stop it from achieving its purpose,"


    Kayn felt surprised and had a slight headache after hearing such a shocking revtion, so he quickly decided to ask, "So, you''re telling me that the President of the World Leader Alliance, Nichs, was once a part of my guild?"


    "To be exact, he was the original guild leader of your guild. But because he didn''t choose to create the guild in the second life, the second most capable person in the guild instead became the guild leader and reced his ce instead," Natas rified.


    "If everyone on Earth was the price for the President of the World Leader Alliance to return back to the past, then what did you Gods pay to achieve the same?"


    It is no doubt shocking to find out that the ''Tower'' could actually let someone go into reincarnation. But what he is more shocked about is instead the fact that to do so, every living being both on Earth and also inside the ''Tower'', except the Gods, joint together would have to be sacrificed. In that case, where exactly did Natas and the rest of the Gods get such a huge offering to let him and thetter go into reincarnation?


    Were they hiding such a huge number of living beings? However, that''s totally impossible since something like that can''t be easily hidden from the ''Tower''.


    "It was my brothers and sisters that you have killed, including me as well. All of us were the price for turning back time," Natas replied, slightly sorrowful as he remembered some unforgettable memories he made not so long ago. He silently muttered, "Every time you kill one of them and leave, I woulde as quickly as I could and retrieve their bodies with a heavy heart and put them in a ce that was supposed to be a cemetery, but in truth, it was actually a sacrificial altar, which was also located at the ce where we fought against each other,"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Well, I won''t apologize for what I did since you Gods were still partly med for what happened to me based on what you have exined previously," Kayn didn''t feel the slightest bit of remorse for his actions. To begin with, he wouldn''t have killed them if it wasn''t them who destroyed his ns. In other words, they reap what they sow.


    Immediately, Kayn added, "Anyways, let''s say that I believe everything you are saying about how and why we returned back to the past and that the reason why you chose me to give this chance to go into reincarnation, was because I passed all the criteria and possesses even more reasons that had made you believed I can sessfully execute all of your expectations,"


    Kayn obviously won''t just easily believe what Natas'' was saying to him. After all, they were enemies just a few minutes ago. In addition to that, now that Natas has mentioned the word ''Deceitful'', he instantly felt suspicious of thetter after remembering plenty of records of the Gods deceiving and misleading the Heroes.


    "And because I possessed all of those traits, I seeded in freeing everyone, including all of you Gods, from the imprisonment of the ''Tower''. But what then?"


    Natas instantly disregard his emotions and asked, "What do you mean ''What then?''"


    "Obviously, you won''t just be doing nothing after you are free from the ''Tower'', right? So, after you are free, what will you be doing next?" Kayn rified.


    "Ah, so that''s what you mean. Quite simple, honestly¡­ we will just disappear,"


    "Don''t joke with me! With that much power in your possession, not to mention you are also immortal beings, I don''t believe that you will just simply disappear after bing free from the ''Tower''," Kayn said with a ridiculing tone in his voice. In his mind, he eximed, "Is Natas taking me for a child or something?!"


    "We have no other choice," Natas smiled helplessly.


    "You have no other choice?" Kayn narrowed his eyes.


    "From the moment we became Gods inside the ''Tower'', our entire being had also be tied with it. So, the moment the ''Tower'' disappears, we will also disappear along with it. In other words, everyone is not only going to be free from the ''Tower'', but also from the influence of the Gods as well,"


    "This¡­" Kayn was left agape.


    "No need to worry about me or the other Gods since we have already lived for far longer than what we have initially wished for. Furthermore, there''s practically nothing left for us to do nor to experience in life as we have done everything that anyone could possibly do throughout the many millennia of us being alive inside the ''Tower''. Rather, what you should be worrying about is what you will be doing next now that you have a second¡­ I mean, third chance in life,"


    "But why are you doing all of this? There shouldn''t be any reason for any of you to sacrifice this much for us, right? Especially if you consider the fact that all of you have fought really hard to be Gods. In my opinion, it''s only right for everyone to reap this much of benefits and there''s also nothing wrong with desiring to live forever," He seriously can''t understand why Natas and the rest of the Gods chose to do something like this. Maybe it''s because he has not experienced the same thing as the Gods that''s why he can''t rte to them.


    "Honestly, we were not so desperate in freeing ourselves from the ''Tower'', because even though we were changing extremely quickly, there was still enough time for us to enjoy our current life before everything bes toote. In our original n, we thought of living for onest millennium before finally choosing to do everything to be free from the ''Tower''," Natas paused to look at Kayn''s face as if remembering someone that looked almost exactly like thetter, except he was much older. "But due to an unexpected encounter during our first life on this, we met a man that made us change our opinions,"


    "Remember what I said just now that because Nichs did not choose to create your guild, the second most powerful member instead became the leader?"


    "Yes, and I am assuming that the second most capable person in the guild is none other than me, that''s why I became the guild leader,"


    "You''repletely mistaken for assuming that the person I am talking about is you," Natas shook his head.


    "I am just following your logic. If you say that I am wrong, then how do you exin the fact that I became the guild leader?"


    "I really didn''t expect that there would be a time wherein I will witness your foolishness, hahaha!" Natas chuckled. "How could the most powerful Hero on Earth, even beating a person who was given a chance to reincarnate, be the second most powerful person in a guild?"


    "Well, now that you mentioned that¡­" Even Kayn was unable to answer Natas. Indeed, just how can he be the second most powerful person in a guild when in fact even someone who had undergone a reincarnation can''t hope to defeat him without relying on tricks and schemes? If that were the case, then wouldn''t he be a much better candidate for the ''Tower'' to choose instead of the President of the World Leader Alliance, Nichs?


    "The second most powerful person that I mentioned was none other than your father,"


    "My father¡­ But how¡­? Didn''t you just exin that the second life is just a repetition of the first life, except for the fact that one person will do something else that is contrary to what he did before causing an unknown variable to be created in the timeline? Even though what that person is going to do would most likely change a few things that happened in the first life, however, it shouldn''t be to the extent of changing who lives and dies in my family, right?"


    "Yes, Nichs indeed can''t change who lives and dies in your family, even if he possesses prior information as to what will happen in the future as he was still inside the ''Tower'' when that event happened," Natas nodded his head. "But he has nothing to do with the fact that the two people who died in your family during the first life were you and your mother, and in the second life it became your mother and father,"


    "Then how is that possible?!" Kayn was shocked by this unexpected revtion.


    "Because your father had decided to wish for you to live instead in the second life, not to the ''Tower'', but to me, as he was my incarnation. And at that moment, I realized that if things had started from a dead man''s wish, then shouldn''t it be right for everything to also end with a dead man''s wish as well?"

 Chapter 5 The Only Flaw Of The ‘Tower’

    ?Chapter 5: The only w of the ''Tower''


    "If you put it way, then I guess it''s understandable why you wanted to end everything in the same way. But how did you fool the ''Tower'' though? Didn''t you just mentioned that even now no one could sessfully mislead the ''Tower''? In that case, even if you seeded in changing the fate within my family, it should still not be possible for you to keep it hidden from the ''Tower'', right?" Kayn doubted Natas'' words.


    "Yes, it wasn''t possible for us to hide your existence from the ''Tower''," Natas nodded. "Though, from the start, there was no need for us to hide that you lived in ced of your father since he had made that wish unto us inside the ''Tower'' after he had found out that the ''Tower'' ns on secretly sending Nichs into reincarnation. Knowing that, he thought of using the opportunity of Nichs returning back to the past to give his child a chance to experience life as he and his wife already had fair enough of it,"


    "Let''s ignore my father''s matter for the meantime," Regardless of how tempting the other side of the story was, Kayn decided to put a hold of it for now and focus on the main topic, "So, what you are trying to say to me is that the ''Tower'' was aware of my existence but it simply chooses to not be bothered by it?"


    Natas shook his head. "Not exactly. The ''Tower'' was very cautious of your existence from the moment it agreed on us granting your father''s wish, that''s why it ordered its incarnation to assign someone he could trust by your side so that if ever you started bing a threat against it, they will be able to easily eliminate you,"


    "So that''s the exact reason why the President of the World Leader Alliance and my wife plotted to kill me," Kayn finally understood why his wife and her father chose to approach the Gods first and proposed an alliance to eliminate him. It wasn''t solely because of any profits or benefits they could get by doing so, that was simply a bonus they will receive once he is gone. Rather, it was mainly their responsibility to eliminate him.


    "To be more precise, the ''Tower'' decided that it might as well help us in eliminating the unknown variable. By doing so, it would no longer worry about the possible trouble that you might bring to it in the still unknown future," Natas exined further.


    "So regardless of me doing anything that could pose a threat to the ''Tower'' or not, it still wanted me to be gone, is that what you are trying to say?" Kayn was in disbelief.


    "I am afraid so, but yes! That''s exactly what the ''Tower'' was thinking at that time,"


    Hearing Natas'' exnation, Kayn could only heave a long sigh at how unfair the ''Tower'' was to him and his family. It granted the wish of other people for another chance to start all over again, but it decided to ignore his father''s wish despite the fact that thetter is exchanging his life for another life. Not to mention, it was only a single life, too.


    "How ironic," Kayn muttered silently. In a sense, this is actually within expectations since this was exactly the same as what the ''Tower'' had done in order to select people who deserve to get another chance. Therefore, he can''t help but assume that maybe the real reason for the ''Tower'' to try and kill him was because it wanted to see whether he had the rights to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity or not, as well. If that''s indeed the case, then why did it let him live for so many years? The ''Tower'' could have just made him go through a challenge anytime in-between the time before he entered the ''Tower'' for thest time and when he was given the chance to live in ced of his father by the Gods.


    There were just so many moments where the ''Tower'' could have chosen to make him go through a challenge, but it still chooses that time when the Gods plotted to kill him. This is so suspicious¡­ There must have been another reason for the ''Tower'' to do that.


    "However, that wasn''t the only case" Natas abruptly interrupted Kayn from his thoughts. "The real reason why the ''Tower'' decided to help us wasn''t only because it wanted to use us in eliminating an unknown variable,"


    "What other reason did you find?" Just like what Kayn had expected, things indeed weren''t as simple as him being an unknown variable. If it was only because of that reason alone, then the preparation the ''Tower'' had prepared against him should have been more than enough already to deal with him. After all, the ''Tower'' could easily kill him anytime it wanted to by simply using his wife whom he still didn''t know at that time was thinking maliciously against him. An assassination attack from her would no doubt serve a significant amount of danger to his life considering that he would never expect the woman he loved and cherish more than his life would all of a sudden try to kill him. Even if the assassination attack fails due to some unforeseen events, he should still be more or less injured, which the President of the World Leader Alliance, Nichs, could easily use as an opportunity to kill him for good.


    However, despite having that plethora of opportunities, the ''Tower'' still decided to go as far as proposing cooperation with the Gods to eliminate him.


    "For the first time ever, we witnessed the ''Tower'' expressing ack of confidence and fear. A w, you could say,"


    "Fear¡­" Kayn fell into thought. There was a saying that he once heard that states, "Only the weaker side would use tricks and schemes to defeat their opponents. The true strong ones would rely solely on their own strength and power alone to defeat whoever and whateveres in their way,"<novelnext></novelnext>


    That''s right! The only reason why an Entity as powerful as the ''Tower'' would choose to not trust its own incarnation and the preparation it prepared itself beforehand, and would even go as far as to propose cooperation with other people, was because it didn''t believe that it could defeat him. And in most cases, the reason why someone is not confident is that they are afraid that their own abilities alone won''t be enough to deal against someone.


    "Why was it afraid of me?" Kayn can''t help but ask Natas.


    "Because you became an existence that it had never ever once encountered throughout the many millennia of its existence. In the millions ofs that it had visited and destroyed in the past, only you reached the point where you have the potential to kill everything inside the ''Tower'', including all the Gods who were once the strongest of their respectives, and even the Gods that existed at the same time as its creation, which obviously includes me. To make matters even more dangerous for it, you also have the capability to kill everyone on your, and could even go as far as destroying Earth,"


    "Impossible! I was clearly unable to defeat you. If it wasn''t because of you suddenly teleporting in front of me and stabbing yourself with the sword I had already let go, then I would have never won that fight," Kayn was having a hard time believing Natas'' im.


    "I know," Natas agreed. "But just like what I told you back then, things would have yed entirely different if you weren''t affected by a lot of things, take for instance, the negativity affecting your mental fortitude at that time. One of the reasons that I also believed has affected you greatly was that you weren''t given an ample rest on every floor you have cleared, as you have been continuously charging from the start of the 971st floor to the 1,000th floor,"


    Kayn became silent once more. Now that he''s seriously thinking about this matter, he indeed forgot to take enough rest after all of the people who came along with him had died. Just like what he had mentioned previously, he was blinded by hatred and was thinking of nothing else but to kill all the Gods.


    "Anyways, that''s all in the past, let''s not dwell any deeper. There''s no need to consider anymore what''s the best option you could have taken during that point in time for you to achieve a better oue,"


    "You''re right," Kayn immediately stopped reminiscing about the past. But quickly, another thought came into his mind, "Last question,"


    "As if," Natas chuckled. He had watched what happened to Nichs after he reincarnated into the past. That man asked the ''Tower'' and even all the Gods who were also present during that time so many questions that their question and answer portionsted more than a week. And even after that time had passed, Nichs still asionally asked questions to the ''Tower''. If only the ''Tower'' didn''t mention that he will eventuallye to know the answers to all of his questions, then there''s no doubt that Nichs wouldn''t mind asking questions for more than a month, or worst, even a year. After all, anyone who is reincarnated in the past would have numerous, or even infinite, amount of questions that they wanted to be answered.


    "Hehehe," Kayn could only scratch the back of his neck awkwardly. It''s seriously difficult for him to hide things from Natas since thetter has extremely sharp senses that could detect even the tiniest of details from him.


    "Ask away. I''m willing to answer all of your questions until you are satisfied¡­" Natas replied before quickly adding an extra precaution to avoid the worst situation, "¡­or until when I am tired,"


    Kayn breathed in relief knowing that he was given consent, "How exactly did you trick the ''Tower''? I asked you about this just a moment ago, and you still didn''t give me any answer,"


    "Oh, that''s quite simple," Natas didn''t have to think long for him to respond to Kayn. "If there''s no one else that exists who can outmatch and sessfully trick the ''Tower'', then let the ''Tower'' trick itself,"


    "Oh¡­Eh¡­ Wait! Why didn''t I think of that¡­?" Kayn started pondering inside his mind. Indeed, if no one can defeat an undefeatable Entity, then simply let that Entity defeat itself. But, just like what Natas had told him, achieving such an impressive feat wouldn''t have been possible if it wasn''t for him. After all, the only reason why the ''Tower'' showed its w was due to the threat he brought to it. Though he doesn''t know yet whether this was really the truth or not based on the information he had heard so far, especially considering the fact that he hasn''t fully trusted Natas yet as of this moment


    "Because of you being blinded by your own hatred to all of us Gods, it gave us a perfect excuse and opportunity that prevented the ''Tower'' from finding out that we were secretly nning on sending you into reincarnation by sacrificing ourselves. Of course, this wouldn''t have been madepletely possible if it wasn''t because the ''Tower'' itself was intending to use everything in order to eliminate you, thus it didn''t mind all the sacrifices made in the process. That was the exact moment when the ''Tower'' didn''t realize that it actually tricked itself," Natas exined with a smile of triumph.

 Chapter 6 So, What’s Going To Happen Now?

    ?Chapter 6: So, what''s going to happen now?


    Seeing Natas'' expression, Kayn lightly chuckled and casually muttered, "I believe that achieving such a great feat hadpletely overshadowed everything that you have done so far, am I right?"


    "You couldn''t be more correct," Natas didn''t hide the truth as he wore a bright smile on his face.


    "That''s to be expected," Kayn turned to look at the sky in front of him where he could see a vague image of the ''Tower'' covered by numerous clouds at a great distance. The height of the ''Tower'' couldn''t be seen regardless of how much he tried to look up. Well, as a matter of fact, it was even said that one won''t still be able to see the top even by looking from outer space. "After all, it took many millennia for all of you to achieve this,"


    "It''s not about how long it took us to achieve this, but rather it''s about finally seeing hope in achieving our dreams, even though it''s nothing more than a wisp in the darkness," Natas exined.


    Slowly turning his head to look at Natas, Kayn then asks, "So, what''s going to happen now?"


    After hearing Natas'' exnation, he nowpletely believes that they have indeed returned to the past. And to further confirm that, during the time they were talking he was also checking the condition of his body, which he quickly found out to have turned extremely weak and fragile.


    Anyways, now that they have returned back to the past, he believes that things shouldn''t y the same exact way as how it was before. Otherwise, they won''t have any chance of defeating the ''Tower''.


    However, the big problem is he doesn''t know how especially after knowing that the ''Tower'' had prepared something in case he became a threat to it. Probably every single move he would make, the ''Tower'' will order the President of the World Leader Alliance, Nichs, to also make a countermeasure against it.


    Moreover, it was already proven that all of those people he had once trusted would betray him in the future, so he obviously can''t rely on them for help. Even if he tried to, it would be next to impossible to pretend he is friendly with them after all of what they have done, he might not even be able to hold himself back and kill them outright.


    The only thing he could rely on at this moment is his experiences, prior knowledge of the events that will take ce in the future, and numerous methods that could quickly make him strong. Nevertheless, Nichs surely also possesses the same advantages as him. Even worse, thetter has theplete assistance of the ''Tower'', which had already shown that it won''t mind sacrificing everything in its arsenal just to stop him.


    "I also don''t know," Natas shook his head, but he quickly added, "However, one thing is for certain, you can do whatever you want to do without any limitation or caution since this ''Tower'' doesn''t possess any prior knowledge of what you would be doing in the future,"


    "But didn''t you just mention that it''s only going to be a matter of time before the ''Tower'' in the 2nd life would realize what we have done? By then, the ''Tower'' in the 3rd life would alsoe to know of it and would no doubt do everything in its power to immediately eliminate us,"


    "You''ve misunderstood," Natas interjected. "Even if the ''Tower'' in the 2nd life realized what we have done, the only thing it could do is to believe that the countermeasure it had prepared beforehand, which is Nichs, would be enough to deal with everything. Moreover, even though it has the power to send someone to follow after us, however, due to what you have done, it no longer has enough power to do it or to be more precise, it doesn''t have enough sacrifices,"


    "Oh," Kayn quickly understood what Natas'' meant.


    Kayn and his guild nearly emptied out all the floors inside the 2nd life ''Tower'', the only thing left there are those that still haven''t been discovered and those that won''t pose that much of a threat to anyone thates overter on. There were also others that swore allegiance to them and so they were left alive.


    Moreover, the amount of poption left on Earth after decades of continuously fighting against the 2nd life ''Tower'' has already reached an all-time low. ording to thest research conducted at that time, the amount of people left on Earth is less than two billion people.


    Lastly, the 2nd life ''Tower'' can''t sacrifice the Gods since he had basically killed all of them already.


    To simply put, even if the 2nd life ''Tower'' wanted to retaliate, it''s now helpless to do anything as it doesn''t have the sufficient number of sacrifices that it could use in order to execute a powerful skill that will send a man that it trust toe and stop them.


    "Don''t let your guard down though, since now that the future ''Tower'' doesn''t have any choice left but to watch as its own timeline slowly gets destroyed by us, it will no doubt do everything in its power to tell its other self in the present timeline to eliminate us," Natas warned. "So, everything we will do should all be in preparation for that event in the future,"


    "I understand," Kayn nodded his head.


    Kayn stood up from the bench before trying to look for his phone in the pockets of his jeans. As he was familiar with his behavior during this time, it didn''t take him that long to locate his phone in his left-side pocket.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Normally people would put their phones in the right-side pocket, especially right-handed people, which includes him, but he still preferred his left-side pocket out of caution.


    As someone who grew up as an orphan, he learned the hard way how to value everything in his possession, especially the expensive items, and most importantly those things that will provide him convenience, such as a phone. Once he lost them, it would take him more effort just to get them back, which would then hinder him from doing better on other matters.


    Take for instance this phone he had actually took him an entire summer break to afford, and that was under the condition of him working three part-time jobs. If ever he lost this or a thief stole it from him out of carelessness, he would have to repeat his efforts to afford it again. That would have been fine during the summer break, but at this time of the year when he has to focuspletely on school, doing so would cause him a lot of trouble.


    By putting his phone in his left-side pocket, as a right-handed person, he would be able to easily guard anyone who tries to steal it from him. How? He could simply swing his waist to the left side to give his right hand an opening to defend himself. This was something he had learned after three of his phones that he had worked extremely hard to afford were stolen. At that time, he could only cry at his loss.


    Contrary to Kayn, Natas viewed his behavior differently. For him, what the former was doing is very inconvenient. Wouldn''t he be able to take out his phone easier if it was in the right-side pocket?


    Noticing Natas'' strange gaze, Kayn defended, "Being practical is much betterpared to experiencing small inconvenience,"


    "I guess so," As someone who has a lot of experience in life, Natas was quickly able to understand what Kayn meant with his words.


    "So, where do you n on going?" At this point in time, Natas was still not paying that much attention to Kayn, as thetter couldn''t get inside the ''Tower'' yet. It was onlyter in time when Kayn started showing his potential that he remembered that he was one of the Gods that granted him life. Because of that, he doesn''t have a single clue about what is happening in Kayn''s life right this instant.


    "Considering the time, I n on going home to rest," Kayn said before he started walking in a specific direction.


    ? "Are you serious?!" Natas eximed while following behind Kayn.


    "Yeah, I am dead serious," Kayn nodded his head.


    "That¡­" Natas felt disbelief.


    Honestly, there''s nothing strange with Kayn''s decision. As a matter of fact, a lot of young men of his age would do the same as well. Even worse, they would spend the entire day just staying inside their house in front of aputer while ying video games or watching television, instead of going out socializing or training in preparation for when they could finally get inside the ''Tower''. Although a considerable number of people have been recorded to be doing exactly that after the ''Tower'' made its appearance on Earth. Still, the behavior before the ''Tower'' came seems to still be deeply carved onto their minds.


    The only problem, however, is the fact that the Fate of all the Gods, and even all of mankind included, is resting on Kayn''s shoulder right now. So, he doesn''t have the leverage to pick any of the two.


    In his opinion, Kayn should be doing something important instead of wasting his time.


    "I know what you are thinking," Kayn waved his right handzily and unbothered before continuing to mutter, "But think about it, I barely had any rest while climbing from the 970th floor to the 1,000th floor of the ''Tower''. If there is anyone in this world right now that deserves to rest, that is none other than me,"


    "And besides, you don''t even know what exactly we should do in our current situation, right? After all, you only told me what my goal should be, and not how to achieve that goal,"


    "You know better than anyone else right now that it will take time to decide about what I should be doing from now on, especially considering just how heavy my responsibilities are plus what I just went through. But rest assured, with my knowledge and experience about the future, and with your help as well, it shouldn''t take us a lot of time toe to a conclusion. No one knows, maybe at the end of the day we would already have the solution we are looking for,"


    Hearing Kayn''s exnation, Natas felt that it indeed sound reasonable. "Now that you''ve mentioned that, I also think that I deserve a rest,"


    "We''re finally on the same page. That''s an improvement," Kayn said jokingly.

 Chapter 7 Reminiscing Past Memories And Natas’ Unknown Identity

    ?Chapter 7: Reminiscing Past Memories and Natas'' Unknown Identity


    As soon as Kayn and Natas exited from the gate of the park, they were immediately greeted by numerous lines of huge buildings, each reaching different heights.


    "Even after seeing it numerous times already, I still can''t help myself but be astonished at the architecture designs of your," Natas expressed his amazement while they continued walking along the sidewalks.


    "Why so?" Kayn felt curious as he followed the direction where Natas was looking at. To his surprise, thetter was simply looking at all the buildings they passed along the way. "After traveling to millions ofs for countless millennia, shouldn''t Natas have seen everything that one could discover already?"


    Natas cleared his throat and replied, "Actually, in most of the worlds I have visited in the past, they either stick with temple-like designs, designs resembling your pagodas, or just simply use the natural environment without destroying it, albeit only improving on some certain areas to solve the increase in poption,"


    "While in other worlds, problem-rted to poption almost doesn''t exist as the size of their is thousands or even millions of times bigger than yours, so they have more than enough space to the point that even if all of their poption creates hundreds of houses each, it still would barely cover theirs'' surface,"


    "Of course, there were also civilizations living ons much smaller than yours. To solve the increase in their poption, they decided to explore the universe to search for inhabitables, which some seeded, while others failed and could only decide to build ships in outer space to inhabit the rest of their people or build underground while continuing their search,"


    Natas stared at the buildings with numerous floors and spoke his admiration, "It is only in the case of your where the people have decided to make the houses taller to save up space, thus housing dozens or even hundreds of floors that can be used by tens of thousands of people while exhibiting a wall-like structural design,"


    "That''s interesting¡­" Kayn felt intrigued. He really thought that the designs of the buildings that he had seen from the moment he was born in this world looked basic andmon, and can almost be used as a synonym for the word ''Normal''. But to his surprise, it''s actually one of a kind.


    "It has always been this way on every we have visited in the past. Each of them would have one unique aspect about them that separates them from the other civilizations," Natas added.


    "It''s really unfortunate though¡­" Natas sighed in regret. "No matter how amazing these structures are, all of them will still crumble and fall a decade from now. No one is excepted from this fate as long as the ''Tower'' continues to exist,"


    "¡­" Kayn silently agreed.


    In the future, as the years continue to go by, the destruction caused by the ''Tower'' on Earth would slowly be more apparent for everyone not only to see but to also feel the difficulty of continuing to live every single day.


    This was one of the main reasons why he was in such a hurry to clear the floors to reach the top of the ''Tower'' and end everything for good. Otherwise, even if they could indeed stop the ''Tower'' yet there''s no longer a to live on, then it would have been much better for him to just let the ''Tower'' stay and everyone would transfer their residence inside.


    As Kayn continued walking past buildings after buildings, memories of the previous future would asionally pop up in his head to rece his surroundings.


    He still remembered vividly how the sky around this ce would always be dark regardless of the time and gloomy as if a heavy rainstorm was going to fall any second.


    Below the gloomy dark sky were the damaged roads and copsed buildings all over the ce, which are covered by moss, and overgrowing weeds and trees because of how long it has been abandoned by mankind.


    Traffic lights, different street signs, and light posts have fallen to the copsed ground or are buried underneath piles of debris.


    Dozens of sinkholes and craters were everywhere as the result of numerous fights that happened in this location before they finally decided to give up fighting to reim this city.


    Lastly and the most horrifying truth, different monsters from the ''Tower'' are roaming freely and unhindered on the streets.


    Just reminiscing the scenes of the future was already enough to send shivers down Kayn''s spine.


    Although he was the number one Hero already at that time and was even the guild leader of the most powerful guild with dozens of powerful allies in his beck and call, he was still helpless to change everything.


    As a matter of fact, he wouldn''t even dare im that he''d be able to clear all the monsters that had escaped and roam free in their home world. The number of monsters roaming on Earth was just too innumerable and impossible to count.


    That''s how scary it was in the future.


    Of course, it wasn''t solely the fault of the ''Tower'' that numerous monsters were able to inhabit their freely.


    In the first ce, there only exist two reasons why monsters from the ''Tower'' could enter Earth. One of that is that they are brought from the ''Tower'' after being captured by the Heroes, and the other reason is a dungeon that appeared on Earth broke out after it wasn''t cleared on time by the Heroes either because no one bothered clearing it or that it will give more profit to them if the monsters are allowed to break free. For both of those reasons, the one to be med is obviously not the ''Tower'', but instead, it''s them, including Kayn himself.


    As such, now that he is given another chance in life, he''d make sure that the same event wouldn''t happen again, or if that is impossible, he will try to minimize the damage to as little as he possibly could.


    Seeing Kayn''s solemn expression, Natas decided not to interrupt him from his deep thoughts and just continue trailing closely after him towards the location of his home.<novelnext></novelnext>


    After tens of minutes had passed, Kayn suddenly asked, "By the way, if I am now back to my 18 years old self, then what are you?"


    It''s already a known fact to everyone that Gods cannot escape from the ''Tower''. So, if he is reincarnated back to his younger self, then shouldn''t Natas also reincarnate back to his body during this time? Instead, what happened is Natas had broken the rule of the ''Tower'' and appeared right beside him.


    "Sorry for asking all of a sudden, I am just confused," Kayn rified.


    "Honestly," Natas slightly hesitated before eventually continuing to talk, "I also don''t know for sure¡­"


    After all, this was the first time they have done this. So, it''s only natural for even the knowledgeable and almost all-knowing Natas not to know the answer to Kayn''s question.


    "Even I am confused as well,"


    Although he was feeling that way, Natas still pondered hard on how he should describe his current identity through words.


    "For the first time ever, a God had sessfully escaped the ''Tower'', but the ''Tower'' itself seems to not notice such an important incident or to be more precise, it doesn''t seem to notice your very existence¡­" Kayn stares at Natas from top to bottom, and only then did he finally notice that thetter was actually still wearing the same attire he wore during their fight before he was sent into reincarnation.


    As if to confirm Kayn''s suspicion, Natas said, "In your dictionary, you can call my current identity, or you could also say the current state of my entire being, as nothing more than a soul or a wandering spirit,"


    "A wandering spirit¡­" Kayn repeated while pondering something inside his head.


    "Well, at least that''s how I view myself at this very moment. I would have to further study my new identity in order for me to know more about it and give you an urate description of what exactly I am right now," Natas expressed his helplessness.


    "Wait¡­"


    A thought suddenly came into Kayn''s head.


    "So, does this mean that another Natas also exist inside the ''Tower'' right now?" Kayn felt eager to know the answer. If that is actually the case, then things would be much more advantageous for them, especially considering the fact that the ''Natas'' inside the ''Tower'' can easily confirm the truth.


    "I know what you are thinking, but that ''Natas'' won''t be able to help you that much because once he does, there''s going to be a huge chance that the ''Tower'' would learn of my existence and our n," Natas made sure to warn Kayn about the risk. He solemnly reminded, "Time will eventually intertwine both your fates together, so until then, I suggest you don''t do anything that will endanger ourselves,"


    "In other words, I can still ask for help from the other you, but we both have to make sure that the existence of another ''Natas'' from the future would not identally getpromised," Kayn nodded his head repeatedly to express that he understood clearly well what Natas meant.


    "Now you''re getting it," Natas made an ok sign with his fingers as if to confirm Kayn''s assumption.


    "Another improvement," Kayn felt slightly ted.


    In the next moment, both Kayn and Natas started chuckling.


    "If only we had met each other under different circumstances, then for sure we would have hit it off right off the bat and be the best of friends," Kayn can''t help imagining the thought of him and Natas being ssmates in school instead of being a God and a Hero with the same intention of bringing down an evil ''Tower'' that had caused so many lives to suffer and destroyed millions ofs.


    "Yeah," Natas could only let out a half-smile since he knows for certain just how impossible that was. Well, there''s nothing wrong with just imagining it.


    "Anyways, we have finally arrived in my humble abode," Kayn stopped as he proudly presented his house to Natas.


    Turning his attention in front, Natas finally saw with his own eyes what Kayn described as his house. Rather than calling it a house, it''s more urate to call it a room, a really small one on top of that.


    Although Natas already knew beforehand that Kayn is an orphan, it is still beyond of his expectations that the future number one Hero on Earth actually started from such a humble and modest beginning. No wonder Kayn never expresses any arrogance despite possessing almost everything in life, because even if life itself takes everything away from him and leaves him with nothing, barely anything would change since that is where he started from.


    "Come on in," Kayn didn''t hesitate to invite Natas inside his room after he opened the door using the key that he took from the top of his door frame. "I hope you don''t mind how small and untidy it currently is,"


    "I am totally fine with that," Natas willingly entered Kayn''s room without showing any disgust or hesitation.

 Chapter 8 The President Of The World Leader Alliance

    ?Chapter 8: The President of the World Leader Alliance


    "So, you''re telling me right now that not only does the President of the World Leader Alliance have the support of the ''Tower'', but the majority of the World Leaders as well?! On top of that, he has a secret force that is actually equal or more powerfulpared to my previous guild and allies just hidden in secret waiting for the right opportunity to make a move?" Kayn eximed in shock after Natas exined to him who he was dealing with.


    At the moment, Kayn is inside his room sitting on a shabby couch and staring at hisptop on top of a tattered table in front of him while trying to search for any helpful information he could possibly find on the inte about the President of the World Leader Alliance, Nichs. On the other hand, Natas is lying on his bedfortably.


    Not so long ago, he was trying his best to sleep and take a rest upon arriving inside his room, but heter realized just how impossible it was with all of the thoughts currently running wildly inside his head. After all, he had just learned the truth behind almost everything. Because of that, he decided to ask more questions to Natas in order to satisfy more of his own curiosity and for the sake of having rity and peace of mind to finally go to sleep.


    How stupid his decision was¡­


    He started by asking about why hisrades and also all of his allies betrayed him, thinking that there should be a deeper reason behind it.


    As expected, there was indeed more to it than what Natas had initially exined to him before.


    The truth was, there was actually one more reason for why they chose to betray him. Unlike Kayn, hisrades and allies have far too many things to care about and protect in life, for example, family, which is something he never truly experienced in his life, especially as someone who grew up as an orphan.


    Nevertheless, the main motive for their choice to betray him remained undeniably still the pursuit of their own interest and profit.


    Why?


    Well, ording to Natas, they didn''t actually threaten anyone using one of their family members or someone important and close to them, not even once, or even any sort of threat at all, as they were clearly aware already at that point in time of the negative side effects it would bring in their negotiation. Rather, it was Kayn''srades and allies themselves that used their so-called care for their family as a means of gaslighting themselves in hopes of avoiding guilt in their minds after they betrayed him and at the same time cleaning their own consciousness from any consequences or responsibility they''d be med of afterward.


    It is truly unfortunate as he was honestly hoping deep inside of him before deciding to ask the question about their betrayal that there might be something else that can, at the very least, redeem them of their mistake to him.


    Completely knowing everything about the betrayal of his previousrades and allies, Kayn has here on out fully decided that there''s no possible way anymore that he will ever forgive them, not even the slightest bit of chance for redemption. Now that he is given another chance in life, they will and would eventually pay for all of their crimes. Sooner orter, all of them will experience tenfold the pain and suffering he had to go through after they betrayed him.


    His next question was about what happened after he was forced inside the ''Tower''. He was so curious if the people he fought so hard to protect and save even cared about him or if they just immediately moved on and went with their own lives.


    To his surprise and disbelief, a significant number of people, especially those that he had once saved, actually went to the streets and cause trouble for the World Leaders by rallying and asking for transparency about the so-called betrayal of the greatest Hero to the human race. A terrorist organization demanding justice for him was even created, albeit their methods were too extreme to his liking as they started killing all the people that went against their beliefs.


    Some Heroes also started investigating the truth as they became curious and suspicious after seeing an immediate powershift within his guild the very next day after he was forced inside the ''Tower''. It was almost like losing the number one Hero of Earth and their previous guild leader was not a big deal for them at all.


    Moreover, numerous unfamiliar faces unexpectedly became the new higher-ups of his guild, immediately recing the previous ones that suddenly retired and those that were thought to be killed by Kayn, causing even more suspicion for everyone.


    Just when he thought that was all, Natas quickly added that the number of people investigating the truth multiplied even further after discovering that the supposedly uncleared floors of the ''Tower'' were suddenly cleared. As more and more floors were cleared, people started believing that some kind of injustice had befallen their beloved Hero, Kayn.<novelnext></novelnext>


    In the end, however, a lot of those Heroes who were investigating the truth were ultimately found dead either outside or inside of the ''Tower''. With the threat of death, the majority of the Heroes who were investigating became discouraged to continue. Though there was still the remaining minority who continued to investigate, they have no other choice but to do so in secret in fear of having the same fate as the others, thus greatly slowing their pace and hindering the progress of their investigation.


    All of that had transpired while Kayn was focusing on climbing to the 1,000th floor of the ''Tower'', as such he waspletely clueless about all of this. Though, even if he actually happened to learn of what the people were doing, he would still not go back as his judgment had been deeply clouded by hatred and he also doesn''t want to waste the sacrifices made by his newpanions just go back and confirm the result of all his effort in the past couple of years.


    Nevertheless, after learning about their actions at this present moment, he sighs in relief as he concluded that, at the very least, the people were not as hopeless as all of his previousrades and allies.


    There were still a few more questions Kayn had asked Natas after that which were all personal questions and not rted to the ''Tower'', such as the story about his father during the ''1st life'', how it felt being a God, and what it was like living for eons inside the ''Tower''.


    After satisfying his curiosity about those matters, Kayn finally asked about the President of the World Leader Alliance, Nichs.


    Nichs, the President of the World Leader Alliance, didn''t just be the person who possess the power to control the direction of the entire world just because he had the support of the ''Tower''.


    When the ''Tower'' first came to Earth, Nichs was amongst the first group of people who first entered the ''Tower'', one could say that he is one of the first-generation Heroes.


    After secretly receiving power and support from the ''Tower'', Nichs performed extremely well and saved countless lives to the point that he was bestowed the first-ever recognition of being the number one Hero of Earth, getting the title Martial Emperor. To simply put, Nichs was Kayn''s predecessor.


    That wasn''t all. Nichs continued to achieve numerous great feats thatter on paved the way for him to be the Leader of the Dragon Beast Republic, one of the ten World Leaders on Earth.


    The Dragon Beast Republic wasn''t only a top organization that governs one of the prosperous territories on Earth. It was also the gathering of the topbatant from the three other World Leaders, respectively the Tiger Beast Republic, Phoenix Beast Republic, andst but certainly not the least, the Tortoise Beast Republic, which forms the Four Beast Alliance.


    With the support of three World Leaders, Nichs slowly climbed his way up until he finally became the President of the World Leader Alliance. And with that power in his hand, he tried to rece the previous Leaders of the other remaining six World Leaders, albeit he was only sessful in recing two of them, the Pope of the Church of Fate and the Pope of the Church of the Messiah. Despite that failed attempt though, he is still not someone to be underestimated ording to the four World Leaders who fought so desperately just so that they won''t be reced by one of his people.


    To be honest, he actually only met Nichs a few times in his entire life. The first time he met thetter was when he had personally received the recognition of being the number one Hero on Earth. Then the next time he met him was when his guild was publicly recognized as the number one guild on Earth. Simply put, if there was nothing of much importance, he won''t be able to meet the President of the World Leader Alliance, despite his status.


    "It seems like letting you know more about your enemy is causing you more harm than good," Natas abruptly sit upright on the bed and turned his attention to Kayn.


    "More or less, yes. But rest assured, I am not discouraged to face Nichs and his hidden force," Kayn smiled calmly at Natas.


    "Would this affect your performance in the future?" Natas quickly followed up another question, still concerned about Kayn.


    Shaking his head, Kayn replied, "This was something I honestly already expected from someone who has 10 years of a head startpared to me,"


    "Fair enough," Natas finally stopped pestering.

 Chapter 9 The 10 World Leaders

    ?Chapter 9: The 10 World Leaders


    Shutting down hisptop, Kayn decided to change the topic and asked, "ording to the information you just told me about, the main reason why Nichs was able to sessfully rece the Leaders, which are the Popes of both the Church of Fate and the Church of the Messiah, was because of the help of his hidden force, right?"


    "I am afraid to say this, but yes, Nichs'' hidden force indeed helped him greatly in his n," Natas nodded his head in confirmation.


    "So, what type of rtionship does Nichs have exactly with his hidden force? Are they his subordinates, or are they standing on equal footing? Or is it a mix between the two?"  Kayn wondered as he felt curious about the possibility of taking advantage of Nichs'' allies, just like what thetter did to him.


    "Based on what we have gathered so far, it seems to be a bit moreplicated than that. The majority of those people are no doubt extremely loyal to Nichs, but the minority of them seems to be thinking otherwise, probably due to the power they have received through his help,"


    "Finally, something good to hear," Kayn felt a slight relief knowing that Nichs'' rtionship with his hidden force isn''t as strong as he initially expected. As long as there exists a gap between them, he would be able to use that to destroy his hidden force from the inside.


    "Not exactly," Natas shook his head, abruptly breaking the look on Kayn''s face.


    "Wha¡­ what do you mean?" Kayn asked, a bit anxious.


    Natas quickly rified, "Even if those people aren''t loyal to Nichs, there''s still no possible way for you to destroy their rtionship with each other, no matter what you do,"


    "Why?"


    "Because the main reason why they are allies with Nichs in the first ce is that they knew of thetter''s rtionship with the Entity known as the ''Tower''. If it wasn''t for that, those people would have long already betrayed him, especially those that have gained a lot of power,"


    "That¡­"


    Kayn could only sigh in regret after Natas informed him of how impossible his n was. "And there goes my hope¡­"


    Honestly, his purpose in asking for information rted to Nichs from Natas was in hopes that he would have a direction of where he should attack the President of the World Leader Alliance because, at this very moment, he still doesn''t have the means on how to deal with him. However, he finally realized right now that not only is his information about Nichs little to none, but he also doesn''t have a single clue about the people around thetter as well.


    In a war, having a minuscule amount of information about one''s opponent is a really dangerous situation. So dangerous that the majority of the generals andmanders who faced such a problem would order a retreat to their troops or be in a defensive position in order to observe more about their opposition, otherwise, they''d just be blindly charging at their enemies.


    That''s right, if he isn''t careful with his move, then he''d be no different from charging blindly toward Nichs and his hidden force.


    "How about the ten World Leaders? After all, his control hasn''t reached unto all of them yet," Natas suggested another direction to Kayn that they could try to use to fight against Nichs.


    "Hmmm¡­ Well, as you''ve mentioned, six out of the ten World Leaders are allies with Nichs, thus leaving me with only four World Leaders to ask for a possible alliance," Kayn muttered as he started pondering in his head.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Currently, the Dragon Beast Republic, Phoenix Beast Republic, Tiger Beast Republic, Tortoise Beast Republic, Church of Fate, and Church of Messiah are allied with Nichs. In the future, their alliance would only get stronger and tighter to the point that in every event that took ce inside the ''Tower'' these six World Leaders would assist each other to gain most of the profits and benefits.


    The Phoenix Beast Republic is an organization that majors in cultivating Heroes who are adept with the use of different Magic Art and Mana Maniption techniques, and their forces put a heavy emphasis on training Battle Mages, a type of Mage that possesses versatility inbat.


    The Tiger Beast Republic is an organization that cultivates Heroes who focuses solely on Swordsmanship, Spearmanship, and other forms of martial arts that are used for meleebat. Simply put, their forces all consist of meleebatants.


    The Tortoise Beast Republic is an organization that cultivates Heroes who are extremely talented in protecting people or also moremonly known as Tanks.


    All geniuses from the forces of these three World Leaders would then be gathered together andpete with each other in the territories of the Dragon Beast Republic, thus the reason why it''s the leader of the Four Beast Alliance. Needless to say, there are more reasons why it''s the leader aside from the fact that it gathers all the geniuses of three different organizations. Unlike the Phoenix Beast Republic, Tiger Beast Republic, and Tortoise Beast Republic, the forces of the Dragon Beast Republic are trained to be the best Commanders, Generals, Executives, and Strategists to ever exist in their generation. Above all else, the President of the World Leader Alliance and also the first former number one Hero on Earth is also their leader.


    Lastly, both the Church of Fate and the Church of Messiah is known to be the two biggest and greatest religions that exist on Earth. Their forces are made up of a mix of a little bit of everything, only the difference is that they have to be devoted believers of their respective Gods.


    The Church of Fate is a religion that believes and faithfully serves the God of Fate. The God of Fate is actually not a God inside the ''Tower'' nor is it even a real God. Instead, it is said to be the inevitablew and order that all living beings in the entire universe must follow. They preach about not interfering as everything has its deeper meaning and reason behind why it happened, including the massacre and sufferingmitted by the ''Tower'' to the inhabitants of Earth. Regardless, they aren''t as pure and neutral as how they imed themselves to be.


    Alternatively, the Church of Messiah is a religion that believes in the so-called Messiah. The Messiah they meant about is not a real God as well nor is it necessarily a Human being, as it could be anyone or even anything. Rather, this religion was created with the hopes and sole purpose of finding the Hero that will save Earth from the ''Tower'', thus all members that join them fall under two different categories, either iming to be the so-called Messiah that will save everyone or someone who helps look for the Messiah.


    With the forces of these six huge organizationsbined together, Nichs is no doubt unrivaled at the present.


    On the other hand, it goes without saying that hope still exists for Kayn, as there are still the remaining four world leaders he could anticipate to help and assist him in his goal of bringing down Nichs and his hidden force. These four world leaders are respectively the Kraken Republic, Genesis, Pandora, and Mercenary Nation.


    Firstly, Kraken Republic is well-known to be the biggest rival of the Four Beasts Alliance, due to its having control of the eight oceans of Earth which represents the eight different directions of thepass. The majority of their forces andbatants are made up of people that are experts in naval warfare. As such, it''s very difficult to defeat them due to all of their territories being located right in the middle of the ocean.


    Secondly, Genesis is the leading organization for all the merchants on Earth, which includes all scientists, inventors, and craftsmen, hence they control the economy of all territories, including the territories of Nichs'' forces and allies. They might not have that much of a forcepared to any of the nine World Leaders, but regardless of that, they aren''t being looked down upon by any of the World Leaders. That''s because once they offend them, their source of ie would no doubt plummet to rock bottom in a matter of just a single day. One could summarize them as a seriously scary foe to be an enemy with.


    Thirdly, Pandora controls the entire underworld of Earth, with most of its members being assassins and bounty hunters that work in all three areas, which are the white area, gray area, and ck area. In other words, they are made up of both Heroes and Viins. What''s scary about this organization is the fact that no one exactly knows its location. Yes, everyone knows about the territories that they manage, but the truth is, that''s actually just the surface level of their force.


    Last but certainly not least, is the Mercenary Nation. Unlike the Kraken Republic, Genesis, and Pandora, the Mercenary Nation is an organization that wees everyone and will not care about whatever background an individual has. May they be Heroes, Viins, Most Wanted Criminals, or whoever they are, all of them are wee toe to their territories. Moreover, they don''t need an organized force to protect their territories, and if ever they are under attack, the people inside there have all the right to run like the coward they have always been or to stay and fight for their second home. That''s because they are under the leadership of a great Hero that has received the recognition of being the number one Hero on Earth after Nichs announced his retirement and became the president of the World Leader Alliance. This Hero was one of the newpanions that followed Kayn when he entered the ''Tower'' for thest time and was also known as a one-man army, the Mercenary King Grey.


    Although these four World Leaders aren''t officially allying with each other, Kayn is aware and has witnessed that they have worked together on numerous asions to deal with the forces of the Church of Fate and Church of Messiah, or in general, the forces of Nichs. This means to say that there''s at least a level or state of cooperation between them when ites to dealing with people that dare to hurt their interests.


    "We can start with them," Kayn flicked his fingers as he felt d that they have finally found a direction to start with in their goal of taking down Nichs. Though the main reason why he was happy is that he could at longst go to sleep with his mind at ease.

 Chapter 10 Walking A Different Path

    ?Chapter 10: Walking A Different Path


    The next day, Kayn woke up really early in the morning to prepare to go to school. As he got off his bed, he immediately went to the bathroom to take a bath and do all of his morning routines.


    At this present moment, Kayn still isn''t recognized as a Hero; despite the fact that he has already awoken his ability. He''s nothing more than a kid that possesses almost nothing in his name. Of course, possessing nothing is not the reason why he isn''t a Hero yet.


    In reality, before being recognized as a Hero, one needs to fulfill two difficult requirements.


    The first requirement is they have to be granted ess by the ''Tower'' to enter its floors.


    Only when one could enter the ''Tower'' would they be called a Hero, otherwise they''d just be an individual that possesses an ability or also known as a Superhuman.


    In order to gain ess to enter the ''Tower'', they must first have to do something that will get the attention of the ''Tower'', and that so-called something is by clearing the Dungeons and performing extremely well during the operation.


    Unlike inside the ''Tower'' where there exist different floors that the Heroes must clear in order to go to the next higher level, outside exist numerous portals or gates that are called Dungeons.


    In reality, dungeons are just a part of the ''Tower''. As a matter of fact, people that enter a Dungeon could sometimes be seen by the people inside the ''Tower'' as long as one knows the location of the portal from the other side. The reason for this is because it''s the inhabitants of the ''Tower'' themselves that open up those Dungeons in order for them to make a path to invade Earth.


    During the portal creation, a small rift will form on Earth which the Superhumans and Heroes could use to get inside ahead of time to stop the monsters who are trying to make a path to connect to their. If this portal getspleted because no one was able to clear the Dungeon in time or no one wanted to clear the Dungeon, an urrence called Dungeon Outbreak will happen.


    Once a Dungeon Outbreak urs, no one will be able to stop it from continuously spawning monsters on the side of Earth, that''s because once a Dungeon isplete no one will be able to destroy it and it will forever continue to exist as long as no one clears the ''Tower''. This was the main reason why Kayn is so adamant about stopping the ''Tower'' so that no more monsters will invade Earth.


    The only way to stop the monsters from invading Earth through the use of the Dungeons is to find the exact location of the Dungeon inside the ''Tower'' and establish a fortress on that side in order to stop the monsters from continuing to enter the portal they have created. To do so, they will first send a Hero inside the Dungeon to scout the location and thenmunicate to theirrades who are inside the ''Tower'', that is if no one knows its whereabouts yet.


    It might sound easy, but in truth, this expedition actually requires a tremendous amount of resources and manpower to achieve. Not to mention, countless lives would certainly be sacrificed during the remation. Moreover, Heroes need to be stationed at the fortress all the time to defend the portal from any monsters that intend to enter it. As such, it is of utmost importance to clear a Dungeon to prevent a Dungeon Outbreak.


    The second requirement is they''d have to graduate from a Hero Academy that teaches all potential Superhumans how to be real Heroes.


    To graduate from a Hero Academy, they''d have to study extremely hard in order to pass all the subjects and challenges rted to the ''Tower'' that takes a total of around two to three years toplete. Of course, it''s also possible for one to graduate in a shorter period of time, though rarely would there be cases like that since that only happens when an individual has shown great potential and received the attention of guilds.


    The reason for all of that is because being a Hero is not a job where as long as a person has the ability or is being recognized as someone more powerful than ordinary people, they can immediately be called one.


    Bing a Hero requires one to walk an arduous path, since with great power naturallyes great responsibility. They might be considered strong, but simrly, their enemies are strong like them as well. Not only that, every single day is considered theirst day unless the said day has finally ended. That''s because life inside the ''Tower'' is utterly differentpared to life on Earth. And it''s exactly because of that reason why people have to study about the ''Tower'' before entering its floors, otherwise, it would be akin to suicide.


    All the teachings taught by Hero Academies are real-life experiences and lessons learned through numerous blood, sweat, tears, and sacrifices shed by the Heroes that have already entered the ''Tower'' throughout the years, thus it''s a given just how important knowing about this information is beforehand. Without it, Heroes would have to undergo the same fate as the first generation of Heroes where they had to explore everything inside the ''Tower'' blindly.


    "You have already graduated from a Hero Academy, so are you nning on graduating again?" Natas can''t help asking while eating his breakfast. Apparently, although he is a Spirit, he still feels hungry. Maybe this is because he still hasn''t gotten used to being a Spirit yet or perhaps, he is not an actual Spirit, but something different instead. Only time would be able to tell him about that as he continues to study his new unknown identity.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Of course not," Kayn shook his head. "Continuing to study in a Hero Academy is just a waste of time for me. After all, my knowledge about the ''Tower'' is something that even all the Hero Academiesbined together can''tpare to,"


    After all, Kayn has reached the top floor of the ''Tower''. Not only that, but he had also led countless Heroes on numerous expeditions to clear the floors. If there''s anyone that canpare to him, it''s probably only Nichs, who had also undergone a reincarnation just like him.


    "Exactly," Natas agreed. But he quickly added, "Then how will you solve the other requirement in bing a Hero?"


    "There are many ways to tackle that issue. Problem is, we need to consider everything thoroughly first before jumping to conclusions," Kayn exined. As he had mentioned previously, walking on the same path as he had walked in his previous life is not going to help him that much in his goal of fighting against those people that betrayed him, Nichs, and the almighty ''Tower'' itself. Of course, he could still do what he had done before since there are still a lot of things in his previous life that can help him in achieving his goal in this current life. However, he can''t inly stick with only doing the same thing. Simply put, he needs to walk apletely different path than what he had walked in the second life.


    "In that case, should it not be much better staying in your house than going to school?  We could use the time you will be spending in school to decide on how we can solve our current problem instead," Natas expressed his opinion.


    "That''s exactly what I am about to do," Kayn said as he grabbed his bag by the side and walked to the door.


    "What do you mean?" Natas asked, curious at what Kayn meant with his words. He might be a God, but that doesn''t necessarily mean he knows everything. Yes, he indeed knows a lot, that''s an undeniable fact, especially information rted to the ''Tower''. But just like what he mentioned before, he didn''t pay attention to Kayn during this time because he wasn''t a Hero yet. In other words, he doesn''t pay attention to anyone who hasn''t entered the ''Tower'' or those that haven''t received the title ''Hero'', or in general life on Earth. As such, he isn''t familiar with any events that transpired during this moment in time.


    "Rather than exining it to you, you should see it with your own eyes," Kayn grinned at Natas.


    "You¡­!" Natas eximed in disbelief.


    "Besides, I believe you don''t like people telling you stories of what they have experienced. Instead, you prefer experiencing it yourself," Kayn added as he stepped past the door of his house. He had noticed yesterday that Natas was so focused on observing his surroundings in the park and while they were walking to his house. The only exnation for this is that Natas have heard stories and even seen life on Earth from the ''Tower'', but he prefers to experience living such a life himself.


    "Fair enough," Natas nodded his head in eptance. Indeed, he likes to experience things rather than simply hearing or looking at them. After all, where''s the fun in doing that? It''s like watching reaction videos when he could instead just watch the videos himself or even do the same as what the videos did.


    As soon as Kayn walked outside, he tightly closed the door and locked it before starting to walk in the direction of the school he was studying.


    Studying was one of the greatest hobbies that Kayn has cultivated throughout his life as it was something, he needs to have in order to turn his life for the better and climb out of poverty. Because of that, he was able to pass the entrance exam of one of the top academies in the world, the Starlight Hero Academy.


    The Starlight Hero Academy ranked 5th out of the top 10 Hero Academies on Earth. The reasons are that numerous great Heroes on the top of the pyramid inside the ''Tower'' had graduated from this Academy and are actively providing resources, chances, mary gifts, and opportunities to their juniors who study in the Academy and perform excellently. Through this, they were able to provide top-notch knowledge and experiences to all Heroes that will graduate from their school.


    Moreover, the Starlight Hero Academy is located in the Moon Dragon City, which is the capital city of the Dragon Beast Republic, the organization that governs all the geniuses of the Phoenix Beast Republic, Tiger Beast Republic, and the Tortoise Beast Republic, which means to say that its where numerous geniuses are gathered together.


    That''s right, Kayn is literally living in the same territory as Nichs, the President of the World Leader Alliance and his nemesis, and at the same time is actually also studying in the same school as thetter. This means that not only is Nichs his predecessor as the former number one Hero on Earth but his senior in the same Hero Academy as well.


    What a really strange coincidence¡­ or is it?

 Chapter 11 Finding Allies

    ?Chapter 11: Finding Allies


    Along the way to the Starlight Academy, Kayn and Natas arrived at a busy circr junction where all roads are connected together. This circr junction, which is also known as a roundabout, is called ''Moon Core'' because of how it connects everything in the Moon Dragon City, seemingly acting as its core. Anywhere in the Moon Dragon City, where one is currently staying, standing, strolling, or walking, so long as they follow one of the main roads, then they would find their way either towards the end of the city or at the Moon Core.


    Although it is still early in the morning, a significant number of people could already be seen walking around the ce, either going to work or returning home. Students could also be asionally seen going to their respective schools, but there were only a few of them around, obviously because the majority of the students would only start hastily moving around when it is almostte. Whereas some would take a bus or personal car to go to school.


    As Kayn and Natas were walking by the sidewalk, a voice from one of the big screens mounted on a tall building nearby caught their attention, making them instantly turn their attention toward it.


    On the big screen, a beautiful blond female journalist could be seen standing in front of the gate of the ''Tower'' while talking to the camera in front of her.


    "Today marks the history of the Human race finally entering the 201st floor of the ''Tower''! To tell everyone the truth, it almost felt like it was only yesterday when the ''Tower'' brought devastation and helplessness to everyone on Earth, yet now we are one step closer to the faithful day when we will ultimately be clearing all floors and be free!"


    Hearing the journalist''s line, Kayn and Natas couldn''t help but secretly snicker under their breaths as they both thought inwardly, "Wait until you find out about the truth. By then, you''d no doubt feel the true horror and despair of the reality,"


    The female journalist continued to talk, "As you can see, behind me are the countless Heroes from the high-ranking guilds of the Dragon Beasts Republic who intends to be the first ones to experience the 201st floor,"


    As the camera moves around to get a closer look at the surrounding area, a man with scarlet-colored hair immediately caught the female journalist''s attention.


    The eyes of the female journalist instantly lit up brightly as she prompted the cameraman with her hand while saying, "Wait¡­ I think that''s Joseph! The Guild Leader of the Red Wing Guild that ranks 48 in the Dragon Beasts Republic! Let''s go and interview him, quick!"


    In a brief moment, the view of the camera shook profusely as it hastily moves closer to the man named Joseph.


    "Excuse me! Excuse me,ing through!"


    The female journalist smoothly weaved through the dense crowd of people before finally arriving in front of Joseph and seeing the man up close. On the other hand, the cameraman tried his best to squeeze through.


    As soon as the cameraman caught up, the female journalist didn''t waste any more time as she called out to the man with scarlet-colored hair, "Sir Joseph! Sir Joseph! Please look over this way, Sir Joseph!"


    Because of how loud the female journalist was shouting, plus the cameraman filming behind her, her presence was quickly made known to Joseph by one of the members of his guild who noticed her.


    "Oh, beautiful woman, what can I help you with?" Joseph asked as he smiled at the camera behind the female journalist, evidently showing that the camera is more important to him than the woman herself.


    "If you don''t mind, can I ask you a few questions, sir Joseph?" The female journalist replied enthusiastically.


    "Ask away," Joseph finally turned to look at the female journalist.


    "As one of the Heroes that will be entering the 201st floor of the ''Tower'', what are your current thoughts about entering a new floor?" The female journalist spoke with a professional tone in her voice. She might have been so excited before interviewing Joseph, but as someone who has been working in this industry for a long time now, she knows when''s the right time to show personal feelings and professionalism.


    "My current thoughts?" Joseph started pondering inside his head.


    The interview between Joseph and the female journalist quickly became the main attraction for the people nearby.


    "Hehehe¡­" Joseph scratch his head awkwardly before replying to the female journalist, "Although I have experienced this sort of event plenty of times already, I still can''t help myself from feeling excited about entering a new floor inside the ''Tower''!"


    "Is it because you''re about to enter a new floor, a new beginning, and a new start for everyone?" The female journalist quickly assumed.


    "That''s just one of the reasons," Joseph smiled again before finally walking away.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Currently watching the interview between the female journalist and Joseph on the big screen, Kayn and Natas quickly realized what Joseph intended to say but choose not to omit it.


    "Greedy Bastard!" Kayn was unable to hold himself from swearing at Joseph''s disgusting action.


    "You mean that damn idiotic psychopath?!" Natas turned to look at Kayn, a bit in disbelief.


    What Joseph is excited about was clearly the thought of earning more profits and benefits for his guild, not the sugar-coated thought that the female journalist spoke about just now. Of course, this isn''t necessarily a bad thing, since more resources for the guild means their overall strength would increase by another fold. By then, they would be able to clear more floors in the ''Tower''.


    The only reason why Joseph or anyone else is not willing to mention the truth is simply that everyone already had a tacit understanding with each other to lie to the masses about this sort of matter. After all, no good wille when they know this kind of truth. Instead, they''ll just receive a negative image and public bacsh. Not to mention, not a single party would be treated as a Hero if they tell the truth to the entire world, even the one who revealed the information.


    However, that wasn''t the main point as to why Kayn called Joseph a ''Greedy Bastard'' and why Natasbeled him as an ''Idiotic psychopath''.


    Kayn and Natas are both aware of what sort of character Joseph has. That guy is so greedy that he once sacrificed an entire floor just so that he could get a single item with a one-time use. And what did he use that item for? Well, he used it to wipe out another floor that was owned by an enemy guild. In other words, he wiped out two floors in the ''Tower'' for something as minuscule as that.


    That tragedy waster called the ''Greed''s Carnage''. After that catastrophic event, the public immediately went into an uproar and gave Joseph the title ''Greedy Bastard''.


    "If I remembered correctly, everyone gave Joseph such a title in order to annoy and enrage him, right? Since he was so proud of what he did, thus everyone decided to might as well belittle and undermine his actions," Natas slightly chuckled.


    "Well, Joseph did have the right to be as proud as he could be of what he did at that time," Kayn''s expression quickly turned from a look of disgust to a look of respect.


    "Indeed," Natas nodded in agreement.


    What the public didn''t know at that time was that Joseph actually had a heroic reason for why he wiped out everyone on those two floors.


    "The biggest misunderstanding of all time," Kayn felt pity at Joseph''s fate after he saved everyone from a potentially even bigger crisis that could have brought a catastrophic event that would take countless more livespared to what was already taken.


    Truthfully speaking, Joseph actually only wiped out one of the two floors he allegedly massacred. The first one wasn''t his doing, rather he was just at the wrong ce at the wrong time. It just so happens that when the Heroes entered that floor and find out about what transpired, they then found Joseph all alone on that floor while standing on top of the countless corpses and acting as if he was some sort of heroic figure that just saved the world from its doom. He even announced to those Heroes that found him, "Don''t thank me, I''m just doing my job as a Hero!" before suddenly disappearing.


    "Just whose fault was it, to begin with?" Natas shook his head as he remembered just how ridiculous and humorous everything was.


    ? What exactly happened at that time was, Joseph arrived while a group of Viins was in the midst of wiping out everyone on that floor to create an item that supposedly possesses the power to erase every living organism on any floor inside the ''Tower''. Well, that item indeed possesses such power, but it wasn''t as absurd as being able to erase everything. The truth is, it could actually only wipe out everything on the floor that is five levels higher than the floor where it was crafted and is only limited to the floors below the 600th floor. Its overall power anywhere above the 600th floor would be greatly limited.


    Anyways, instead of reporting such an event to the World Leader Alliance, Joseph took matters into his own hands. ording to him, there was no time to bother about reporting as everything was already taking ce.


    So, Joseph tried his utmost best to stop the Viins, but the only thing he could do was kill all of them after everything was alreadypleted. After all, he was all by himself against a group of Viins.


    That was the true reason why Joseph was seen alone standing on top of the corpses.


    However, because Joseph did not bother to make a report once again after doing all of those, but instead he disappeared to take matters into his own hands, just like what typical Heroes in movies do, and was only seenter on in an event with simr fashion to what transpired the previous time, which he again did not rify. Hence, in the end, he was wrongfully med for everything and was forced to take responsibility by the World Leader Alliance for the countless deaths that happened on those two floors, whereas the real perpetrators were long already buried six-feet underground as thatst floor that got wiped out was their headquarters.


    As for how Kayn and Natas know of this information, the former heard of it from the man himself when he was running away from the World Leader Alliance after experiencing the same fate as Joseph, while thetter watched everything transpire with his own eyes.


    While reminiscing about that, Kayn and Natas'' eyes lit up brightly as they immediately stared at each other.


    In the next instant, both of them muttered, "We first need to find allies!"

 Chapter 12 The Nemesis Of The Four Beasts Alliance

    ?Chapter 12: The nemesis of the Four Beasts Alliance


    That''s right, their first step shouldn''t be how to fix their problem on how to be an official Hero since that can be easily fixedter on, especially with Kayn''s current capability plus Natas'' knowledge about the ''Tower''. Any time they want to, they could just show a little bit of their ability and sooner orter, Kayn would be able to graduate from Starlight Hero Academy in a shorter period of time, or even in a matter of an instant. Instead, they should be looking for potential allies that can help them in achieving their goal.


    "If Nichs already has his own force, shouldn''t they start building their own as well?" Kayn thought to himself.


    "So, Joseph is now considered as our potential ally," Natas said as he began pondering inside his head on who else they could try to recruit to their team. Honestly speaking, there are actually not that many Heroes who had the same quality of character as Joseph inside the ''Tower''. That''s because the vast majority of the Heroes are two-faced or what is also moremonly called Fake Heroes. As for the Viins¡­


    With that thought in mind, Natas quickly asked, "How about those newrades of yours? Wouldn''t it be better to gather them now as most of them haven''t started walking on the path of bing a Viin yet?"


    "Hmmm¡­ that''s a good idea!" Kayn didn''t hesitate to agree. He had already seen for himself that the moral qualities and type of character of his newrades are trustworthy, though with a tinge of malice due to the fact that their identities are Viins, and additionally because of their painful and despairing past, and regardless of the temptation being thrown at them by the ''Tower'' they would never bend to it as their goal of destroying the ''Tower'' is the same as his unwavering will. Such people would no doubt be tremendously helpful for him, especially since he expects troubling moments in the future where he would need their help more than anything else.


    "If we could change the direction of the path they walked in the future, with their potential, it wouldn''t be that challenging anymore for us to help them be influential and powerful Heroes," Natas shared his n with Kayn.


    "I know, and it''s honestly a very great n. I''ve had the same idea for a while now as well. The only problem is, I don''t know where to find them," Kayn sighs heavily.


    Those people weren''t just any normal and ordinary kinds of Viins. Take for example, Mercenary King Grey. At this moment, he is still known to be a Hero and the Leader of the Mercenary Nation, so it''s to be expected that just by going to that ce he would be able to easily find him. But that''s actually not true since that guy is known to never stay in a single spot. Mercenary King Grey could be either enjoying vacation somewhere that no one could easily find on Earth or that he is simply out there inside the ''Tower'' single-handedly massacring numerous monsters on an unknown floor and location.


    Not to mention, he has no means to reach the Mercenary Nation, or even if he could, he isn''t capable enough of staying alive for long as everyone in that ce lives by following thew of the jungle; the strong eat the weak, while the weak eat the weakest.


    Even if he has prior knowledge of the future, it''s just next to impossible for him to know where his newrades are located exactly at this moment simply because he doesn''t have any memories or experiences of what they were doing right now.


    "There''s also the question of whether they would believe me or not," Kayn added as he felt even more upset.


    In conclusion, it''s impossible for Kayn to find them, let alone recruit them with his current state. After all, who would even bother believing an eighteen years old young man who hasn''t even been recognized as a Hero yet nor has been granted ess to enter the ''Tower''?


    Unlike the future him who hadn''t only proven to everyone his goal of destroying the ''Tower'' but had also shown his great capability in numerous different important matters and in achieving countless great feats, the current him still hasn''t contributed anything to society to be recognized by the masses, not to mention get recognize and receive the approval by those newrades of his.


    While Kayn was deep in his thoughts, Natas suddenly interrupted him and proposed a n, "If I remember correctly, one of yourrades is actually currently studying at the same Hero Academy as you at this moment in time. We could start with him, and then slowly build our way up,"


    Kayn was instantly pulled out from his thoughts after hearing Natas'' information. Indeed, they could just slowly build their way up, albeit they shouldn''t forget that they are still pressed for time since there''s no telling for certain yet when exactly the future ''Tower'' would inform the present ''Tower'' about what they have done. But he felt curious about one thing, "How do you know about this? I thought that you are not the type that pays attention to events that happen outside the ''Tower'',"


    "It was one of my brothers that told me about that. He was always proud of that incarnation of his since although he became a Viin, he still retained the true heart of a Hero," Natas replied. If there''s any information he is aware of that is rted to Earth, it would only be through two things. One, he heard of it from one of his brothers and sisters. Second, he heard Heroes talk about it a lot inside the ''Tower''. So, even if he doesn''t pay that much attention to anything outside the ''Tower'', there would still be times when he can''t avoid listening to them.


    "Are you sure you didn''t hear it wrong? Since if there''s one of them in the same school as me, then I would have long heard of that already," After all, Kayn''s newrades were pretty much infamous Viins in the future.


    Although he doesn''t have any knowledge about what they are doing right now, information about where they have previously studied would be simple to find. That''s because information ranging from when they were still kids to adulthood has be public knowledge for the masses to easily ess; not to mention, he was the guild leader of the most powerful guild on Earth, so he has far greater ess to information about them.


    If he remembered correctly, none of his newrades had a history of studying in the Starlight Hero Academy. As a matter of fact, most of them couldn''t even study or afford it due to how difficult and extreme their living conditions were, while others couldn''t graduate because something unfortunate happened to them that ultimately changed and turned their lives upside down.


    "It''s only natural for you not to know about it since his identity became one of the darkest secrets of the Starlight Hero Academy, so everything rted to it was deleted with its content only being passed from one person to another verbally and amongst the higher-ups of the school only," Natas exined the possible reason why Kayn haven''t heard about it.


    "I guess that''s indeed reasonable," Kayn understood a thing or two after learning about the hidden forces of Nichs. He realized that there might be more information that he hasn''t heard of nor learned about back then due to various variables including but not limited to the possibility that the vast majority of information he is allowed ess to are only those that he should be allowed and permitted to learn. Fortunately, Natas came along with him to fill in the missing pieces of the puzzles, otherwise, he would have made his move without considering those kinds of information.


    "There''s no time to waste," With the new information in hand, Kayn promptly decided that they have to go to the Starlight Hero Academy quickly and meet with one of his newrades and try to recruit him before something bad happens to him.


    However, just when Kayn and Natas were about to leave, they suddenly heard the female journalist on the big screen screaming frantically.


    "It''s World President Nichs!"


    "What?! World President Nichs!"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "World President Nichs!"


    "Oh wait, I don''t want to miss this part," Kayn muttered as he stopped in his tracks with a wide grin formed on his face.


    The camera quickly turned its attention towards a man who is slowly walking towards the front of the huge gate of the ''Tower'' while being surrounded by powerful Heroes that act as his bodyguards in case some insane Viin would try to pull out some dangerous stunts to the most important person on Earth.


    Nichs'' figure was somewhat vague due to the far distance of the camera. But as the cameraman steadily got close to the front, Kayn and Natas were slowly able to clearly identify the man who made countless legends but with a secret identity of being the incarnation of what he imed to be his enemy, the ''Tower''.


    At the moment, Nichs is still in his mid-fifties. Despite that though, there''s no sign of aging to be seen on his face and it''s as if he is only in his early thirties. Though some streaks of white and gray-colored hair could be seen from the side of his head, which centers the ck hair in the center; nevertheless, it doesn''t seem to show that he is old and fragile. His body was also huge and muscr for his age, evidently due to him being a Hero and that he constantly maintains a healthy diet and exercise despite how focused and busy he is with his current job as the President of the World Leader Alliance.


    What''s really unique about Nichs though wasn''t all of that; It was his gold-colored pupils that looked like a life-like realistic version of an image of the sun burning ever so brightly regardless of what, expressing his full of vigor, passion, and desire, which actually also reflects his ability to manipte fire and light element.


    As time slowly passed, Nichs finally stood on a podium and was soon after handed a microphone to start his speech.


    "I know that all of you can''t wait anymore to enter the 201st floor of the ''Tower''. Even I want to see it with my eyes this instant and not stay to listen to an old man''s speech,"


    Laughter instantly issued from everyone after Nichs'' humorous introduction.


    "So, to do everyone a favor of not taking so much of your precious time, I will immediately begin to convey the summary of all the messages from the ten world leaders," Nichs paused in his speech as he took out a piece of folded paper and unfolded it to see and start reading its content. However, before he could even try to do that, his face suddenly turned ugly.


    "Do you know why his expression turned like that?" Kayn wondered if Natas also saw this scene.


    "I am interested to know why," Natas felt intrigued by the sudden change of atmosphere.


    "Wait for it," Kayn turned his attention again back to the big screen with a wide grin on his face as if knowing already what is about to happen.


    Realizing his mistake, Nichs quickly coughed and pulled himself together, "It seems like my assistant gave me the wrong letter to read. But anyways, what I was about to say¡­"


    Before Nichs could even finish his line, the number up above the gate of the ''Tower'' suddenly change from the 201st floor to the 202nd floor seemingly in a blink of an eye.


    "Look over there!"


    "What just happened?!"


    "Did the ''Tower'' malfunction or something?"


    "Just how the heck did you even think of that?!"


    "Just a thought. Who knows for certain if that''s possible or not, right?"


    In the next moment, the entire scene shown on the camera instantly went into an uproar.


    Meanwhile, on the dozens of big screens around the Moon Core, numerous scenes happening all over the world were abruptly being broadcasted live showing simr dumbfounded expressionsing from the countless Heroes who were waiting for the go signal to get inside the 201st floor of the ''Tower''; except for one, the scenes around the Kraken Beast Republic.


    Contrary to the territories of the nine world leaders, the Kraken Beast Republic was instead celebrating and showing an excited expression rather than being in doubt, confused, and suspicious of what just took ce around the globe.


    All of a sudden, the scenes on the big screens changed and showed a man who was wearing the attire that a captain of a navy ship usually wears.


    Without the need to introduce himself, both Kayn and Natas immediately recognized the man on the big screens as Admiral Robert, the Leader of the Kraken Beast Republic, the greatest nemesis of the Four Beasts Alliance.

 Chapter 13 The Great Liberation

    ?Chapter 13: The Great Liberation


    That''s right. Admiral Robert alone is the greatest nemesis of an entire alliance made up of four different world leaders who are all under the leadership of World President Nichs.


    No matter how much the Four Beasts Alliance denies this im, almost everyone on Earth knows the fact that up to this date their entire alliance still can''t get out of their respective territories without the permission of the Kraken Beast Republic that controls the oceans that surrounds their continents. Because of that, they are constantly on the disadvantageous side whenever they have any negotiations together.


    Although when ites to the forces beingmanded by the two organizations, the Four Beasts Alliance has the advantagepared to the Kraken Beast Republic. That''s because thetter''s territories are in the oceans where living is very difficult and there''s hardly anynd to build as their base to train soldiers and increase their manpower. Their best way to ess hugends is through the ''Tower'', where it just so happens that the Four Beasts Alliance held more advantagespared to them.


    Nevertheless, that still doesn''t change the fact that on Earth the Four Beasts Alliance can''t defeat the Kraken Beast Republic as they aren''t as adept in naval warfarepared to thetter and there is no possible way for them to effectively train soldiers in that certain aspect as every move in the ocean would be noticed by the Kraken Beast Republic, including inside the ''Tower'' since they also held control of almost every oceans at that side as well.


    "It''s really strange and somewhat weird to see the famous Heroes in the future being young again," Kayn expressed his thoughts as he observed Admiral Robert''s appearance.


    Looking at the man that appeared on the big screens, it could be seen that Admiral Robert is of the same generation and age as World President Nichs, both Heroes belonging to the first generation. Well, truth be told, ever since the appearance of the ''Tower'', these two great figures have actually constantly butt heads against each other almost on every single floor.


    Simr to World President Nichs, Admiral Robert also doesn''t show any signs of aging in his overall appearance and body despite his age. But unlike the former who constantly maintains an upstanding and unstained aura, thetter doesn''t bother to hide his fierceness and untamed nature around him. Every time this two are put in the same picture together, World President Nichs would always look like a docile dog, whereas Admiral Robert is the wild wolf.


    "Good day everyone!" Admiral Robert greeted with a smile reaching on both ears, evidently expressing just how proud he was right now.


    "No need to be afraid, because I mean no harm to anyone. As a matter of fact, I actually brought all of you good news from the inside of the ''Tower''," Admiral Robert paused as he took out a blue-colored crystal from under his table.


    In the next moment, a scene was transmitted by the blue-colored crystal that shows a group of Heroes that just yed a knight wearing golden armor.


    The golden knighty on the ground with its head separated from its body as its neck constantly spews out a fountain of green-colored blood everywhere nearby. Meanwhile, the group of Heroes surrounding it were celebrating their triumph.


    Suddenly, as if receiving some sort of signal from Admiral Robert, the leader of the group stepped forward to grab the head of the golden knight and remove its helmet for the entire world to see its face.


    What appeared in front of everyone was a face of a living being that they have never encountered before inside the ''Tower''.


    It was a Humanoid face that has a pointed head with whiskers on both sides of its nose, that hasrge eyes that is entirely red in color, thinly furred ears, and its mouth had two protruding razor teeth sticking closely together on top.


    After showing the head of the golden knight to everyone, the transmission was immediately cut off and returned to Admiral Robert.


    In the next second, everyone who saw the scene started expressing their own opinions with each other online.


    "What on earth was that?!"


    "A rat?!"


    "That was a seriously huge rat!"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "No way¡­ That''s a Ratman!"


    "It seems like the monsters that will be appearing on the 201st floor to the 210th floors are going to be Ratmen,"


    "¡­"


    It was exactly as everyone was saying; Ratmen, one of the tribes that belong to the Beastmen race, are the monsters that all Heroes would have to fight on the 201st floor of the ''Tower'' to the 210th floor.


    Ratmen are filthy, disgusting, and foul creatures that live in unpleasant and almost unlivable ces, which is what the setting of the 201st floor until the 210th floor of the ''Tower'' would be like. They are the most hated enemies since theirbat style is as dirty as who they are. Fortunately, the majority of them don''t have any extra outstanding traits amongst them other than what''smonly found in rats and mice.


    As he saw the scene that was transmitted by the blue-colored crystal, also called Transmission Crystal, Natas finally realized the reason why Kayn doesn''t want to miss this part. In his head, he finally remembered that this was actually the day when the Kraken Beast Republic pulled a huge stunt that ultimately changed the approach of every Hero and even Viins in clearing the floors inside the ''Tower''. This day is known to be the ''The Great Liberation'' as everyone became free to some extent from the tight limitation that World President Nichs implemented with the approval of six world leaders, respectively the Four Beasts Alliance along with the Church of Fate and Church of Messiah.


    Before ''The Great Liberation'', the clearing of each floor inside the ''Tower'' is conducted in an organized and coordinated manner to avoid any disorder and disarray from happening. This was good asw and order are important to have so as to achieve unity amongst all the Heroes, and also restrict the Viins to some degree from creating more chaos and anarchy.


    However, in reality, this so-called organized and coordinated manner is actually a pretense. In truth, it is a method for the big guilds and powerful Heroes to use in order to suppress the sprouting guilds and force the casual and weak Heroes into bing cannon fodders.


    That''s because in this system; money, items, and other types of currency became the means in order for Heroes to gain any sort of benefits and profits from the territories found inside the ''Tower''. Without it, Heroes would have no other choice but to pick up scraps frommunity territories where it''s always packed to the brim with countless Heroes, including Viins as well that constantly hide in the dark, patiently waiting for a perfect opportunity to strike.


    In that kind of poor and substandard scenario, if Heroes want to grow even more powerful and stronger, they''d have no other choice but to join powerful guilds and be the dogs of powerful Heroes in order to receive the required standard to have the hopes to keep up with the demand for the Heroes. Otherwise, they''d be living worse than trash because at least trash is being picked while they aren''t due to how weak and useless they are.


    Moreover, because of such an unfair system, the clearing of each floor of the ''Tower'' became very slow. How slow exactly? Well, it took everyone ten or so years just to reach the 201st floor, whereas Kayn in the future alongside his guild was able to reach the 900th floor given the same span of time.


    At this moment, Kayn finally understood why that system was introduced by World President Nichs in the first ce. It was so that they will be able to dy the clearing of the ''Tower'' while simultaneously buying some time for themselves to be much stronger than the majority in a short period of time due to them abusing the system. With the current power they possess afterward, it''s only natural that they are almost unstoppable and could eliminate virtually anyone that would potentially pose a threat to the ''Tower''.


    "No wonder I wasn''t able to notice how World President Nichs trained his hidden forces," Kayn thought to himself. In that span of ten years or so of time where he wasn''t hugely involved in anything rted to the tower, World President Nichs probably used it to build his forces and made them stronger. And after ''The Great Liberation'' was announced, every single Hero, including Viins as well, frantically started racing in gathering resources and bing powerful in fear that another system is going to be established in order to maintain order. Not only that, but everyone on Earth was also using that opportunity to earn as many benefits and profits for themselves in order to be rich and hold more authority and power. It should be during that time that all the information rted to the n of World President Nichs was burned and buried six feet underground to clear every piece of evidence about it and prevent him, or anyone else, from possibly finding anything about it in the future.


    "How cunning¡­"


    Fortunately, all of that is about to change today and the opportunity to see the truth before it eventually gets hidden in the dark is presented in front of him.


    "To be honest, I am very grateful to Admiral Robert. If it wasn''t because of ''The Great Liberation'', then I would have stayed picking up scraps for a long time just so that I can afford to buy the rights to raid a territory and get resources to grow stronger and more powerful," Kayn expressed his appreciation of Admiral Robert''s efforts of changing the system.


    Every single Hero started from scratch, and he wasn''t excluded from that fate. The only difference is, the time it took for him from picking up scraps to officially bing a Hero was much shorterpared to the majority of Heroes as he benefited a lot from ''The Great Liberation''. Thetter generation after him also experienced the same, as everyone finally has almost equal chances to be powerful and stronger.


    And all of that happened because of Admiral Robert, that''s why Kayn doesn''t want to miss this scene.

 Chapter 14 Admiral Robert’s Plan

    ?Chapter 14: Admiral Robert''s n


    Kayn''s thoughts was immediately interrupted as Admiral Robert continued with his speech.


    Seemingly like Admiral Robert realized that he had probably given enough time for everyone to take in what they had just seen, he then carried on with what he was about to say, "As you have seen, the 201st floor of the ''Tower'' has already been cleared by the Robinhood Army of my Kraken Beast Republic,"


    "As the world continues to burn down and invaded by the countless different monsters with varying levels of strengths from the ''Tower'' in every passing minute of the day, I instead saw the Heroes wasting their time having pleasantries and holding useless and unnecessary events with each other. It''s as if they hold their public image and what benefits and profits they could get from this dangerous and troubling times with more regardspared to the devastating situation currently on hand,"


    "So, I took it upon myself the responsibility to change the current system of the world and break it down into a much more effective method,"


    All of a sudden, the air around Admiral Robert changed from the untamed nature of a wild wolf into a suppressed state but exaggerating pressure felt from a predator trying to hunt down a prey.  It was like the calm before the storm.


    Although everyone was watching from the screens behind the television in front of them or the big screens mounted on top of the tall buildings nearby them just like Kayn and Natas'' situation, a minority of the people still weren''t spared from the mercy of the chocking feeling and atmosphere of what they were watching.


    Some really weak and fragile regr people can''t even help themselves but kneel on the ground while having trouble breathing. Seeing this, the Heroes nearby who could withstand the pressureing from Admiral Robert quickly stood in front of them as a shield. But despite that, those people still need emergency treatment to prevent them from potentially incurring internal injuries.


    "At a time where the world was pointlessly announcing the opening of the 201st floor of the ''Tower'', one of my strongest army was already able to clear the requirements to enter another floor. And as I am speaking right now," Admiral Robert paused as if already expecting that something was about to go down.


    To the surprise of everyone, the number ''202nd floor'' on top of the gates all over the world suddenly went up one floor after another. From 203rd floor, it instantaneously went up to 204th floor, then in short moment after that it went to 205th floor, and finally it reached the 206th floor before finally deciding to stop.


    In just a span of less than an hour, or even half an hour, four floors inside the ''Tower'' were cleared consecutively and almost without any dy.


    It was a scene that would undoubtedly go down into the history of the world.


    "One floor after another is being cleared in the ''Tower''," Admiral Robert wickedly smiled at the camera in front of him as if he was trying to pass a message to a certain someone.


    Even without the need to mention anything, the entire world was able to easily guess who exactly Admiral Robert was trying to point out.


    Who else was there topete with Admiral Robert other than World President Nichs?


    "All I am saying is, I am not against you people holding festivities before entering another milestone. However, it''s seriously slowing us down from finally reaching the top of the ''Tower'' and stopping all the destructions it brought onto our world," Admiral Robert continued.


    "How about we cut all the unnecessary things short so that the process of clearing would simrly be much more direct than what it is now? Like for example, if a group of Heroes or a guild could clear a floor in the ''Tower'', then why bother holding them back from doing it just because they don''t have enough money or items to exchange so that they can afford the contract to clear it, right?"


    Finally, Admiral Robert revealed his true intention behind his action.


    "Instead of having the World Leader Alliance control the territories in each floors of the ''Tower'', why not let the guilds or Heroes who found and can clear it have all the rights for it? Because at the end of the day, we all know that all the profits and benefits the World Leader Alliance earned from it, would all just go straight into the pockets of the world leaders instead of the world that we are living in,"


    "Although I am also one of those world leaders, I just beg to differ from the majority since I believe that we can''t afford having only ten organizations to be the Heroes of the world when there are also others out there somewhere we probably don''t or know about who can also pull the same stunt as us,"


    "Right here, right now, I am proposing these changes in front of the masses to see. I have already presented the likely oue of these changes. Now it''s up to the other world leaders to decide whether to apply these changes or not," Admiral Robert concluded his speech.


    As the speech of Admiral Robert ended, the camera also turned off and returned back to the scene of World President Nichs on the podium.


    At the moment, World President Nichs is showing a solemn and ugly look on his face. Even as someone who has undergone a reincarnation, he still wasn''t able to expect that Admiral Robert would pull something like this. After all, he had already changed a lot of things in these past ten years or so to the point that he hardly knows the events that would unfold in the future.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Nevertheless, Nichs somewhat already expected that something unpleasant was about to happen the moment he opened the letter and read its content. He just didn''t expect that it would be this worst. He could only grit his teeth and try his best to show a calm look on his face. But no matter how he tried, it was proven futile in the end.


    "This bastard seriously never fails to get in my nerves time and time again!" Nichs muttered to himself with his head lowered down to hide the look on his face. Though deep inside, he knows that Admiral Robert and those in cahoots with him are probablyughing out loud right now after seeing his reaction. After all, they aren''t fools not to see what he''s truly feeling. Rather, he just doesn''t want the public to see him.


    However, as someone who has dealt with numerous difficult situations throughout his entire life as a Hero in both the first life and in this current life, Nichs is naturally able to quickly pull himself together.


    In the next moment, Nichs raised his head with a confident look of someone who is unbothered and nonchnt on his face from the sudden and unexpected turn for the worse.


    "I honestly didn''t expect that Admiral Robert would further enliven the atmosphere of this joyous day with such an overwhelming proposal that can surely give benefits to all Heroes of our world," World President Nichs sang praises to Admiral Robert without feeling any sort of shame and embarrassment.


    "Now that Admiral Robert have mentioned it, I also can''t help but agree to make changes with our system. I have been thinking of doing this for a long time now, but the only problem is I always encounter obstruction every single time I try to propose this within the world leader alliance. But now that Admiral Robert have the same thoughts as me, there''s no doubt that we would be able to implement changes to the system. What do you say, Admiral Robert, should we join hands for the sake of the world?"


    As easy and simple as that, World President Nichs was able to instantly pass the me to someone else, while simultaneously clearing his name and poor performance just now in the process, and also improve his image to the public. By making himself agree with Admiral the Robert, majority of the Heroes would no doubt believe that he is on the same side as them and someone who thinks of their wellbeing.


    "With everyone as my witness, right here, and right now, I will also make an announcement that I will be holding a meeting between all the ten world leaders on this month or as soon as possible to discuss and implement some new changes to our system. Hopefully, we could reach a satisfying conclusion that will benefit the entire world," World Leader Nichs ended his speech before stepping down from the podium.


    Although it seems like World Leader Nichs agreed with Admiral Robert, but in truth, he actually only agreed with holding a meeting to make changes, not ept the changes that thetter spoke about. In other words, it''s not for certain nor definite yet, that everything would go as what Admiral Robert nned on doing. And deep inside, he swore to do everything in his power to prevent Admiral Robert from getting everything that he wanted.


    Except, there''s actually someone who know exactly what is going to happen during the meeting¡­


    "In the end, Nichs would lose, and Admiral Robert would win and get what he wants. After that, the event knowned to be as ''The Great Liberation'' would go down in history along with the process of how it all happened," Kayn spoke with certainty of the future.


    As for how exactly World President Nichs lost against Admiral Robert, Kayn didn''t know since the content of the meeting wasn''t released to the public nor records were even made. The only thing that was made known to everyone was the conclusion and the result of the discussion. And because of how good the end was, no one bothered to question the process.


    "Don''t look at me. Even I don''t know what happened. I only saw that the Kraken Beast Republic, Genesis, Pandora, and Mercenary Nation worked together to clear all those four floors one after another," Natas quickly rified after noticing Kayn''s look on his face and understanding what he wanted to know.


    "It seems like there was an unknown variable during that meeting that might or might not affect the future," Kayn muttered as he finally decided to continue on his way towards the Starlight Hero Academy.


    "No need to worry about it, as we could try to investigate thatter on. As of now, we need to find yourrade quickly and redirect his path," Natas prompted Kayn.


    "Why the rush? It''s not like the birth of one of the greatest Viins in the future is going to take ce today,"


    "That''s exactly the reason why I am in a rush,"


    "Eh¡­ Don''t tell me it''s going to happen today?" Kayn felt something strange after noticing Natas'' look on his face.


    "I am afraid to say, but yes. It''s my bad, and I am sorry since I just remembered that exactly 6 hours from now, thatrade of yours wouldmit a huge mistake that will be one of the dark secrets of the Starlight Hero Academy. If my memory serves me correctly, as of this moment, he should be in the process of deciding whether to do it or not," Natas didn''t hold any information back from Kayn as he is well aware that it would be much better to have thetter as well informed as possible of the event that''s about to unfold.


    Hearing about this, Kayn could only click his tongue in frustration and annoyance. If only Natas had informed him about this a while ago, then he wouldn''t have decided to stay and waste his time watching again the scene of World President Nichs and Admiral Robert bantering with each other. Although the show was one of the unforgettable moments written in the history of Earth, it still isn''t as important as their current goal of taking down the ''Tower''.


    "Next time, make sure that you recollect all useful information from your memories so that we wouldn''t be pressed on time like this moment," Kayn reminded Natas before starting to hasten his footsteps.

 Chapter 15 Starlight Hero Academy

    ?Chapter 15: Starlight Hero Academy


    Since the distance between the Moon Core and the Starlight Hero Academy wasn''t that far away from each other, Kayn and Natas were able to quickly reach their destination after half an hour or so of walking.


    The moment Kayn and Natas entered the gate with a huge sign that says ''Starlight Hero Academy'' on top, a huge and wide space ofnd with dozens of different aesthetically pleasing designs and grandiose buildings located in various areas of the campus ground greeted them. The distance between one building to another was as long as six basketball courts, evidently showing just how huge the entire Starlight Hero Academy was.


    Without wasting any time, the duo started walking on a yellow concrete pathway located in-between small well-trimmed birch trees.


    Eventually, they reached a fountain where all paths toward the dozens of buildings in the school connect together, seemingly acting like the Moon Core of Starlight Hero Academy, which is called the Core Fountain.


    From this design alone, one would be able to realize that probably every architectural design around the territory of Dragon Beast Republic follows theyout of Moon Dragon City, where all buildings and infrastructure are connected into a single focal point.


    There''s actually a reason for this; ording to legends, all dragons have a Dragon Core which is the source of their overwhelming power and is hidden underneath a so-called reverse scale, which is apparently said to be their one and only weakness, and also the trigger that will enrage a dragon. This means to say that both the Moon Core of the Moon Dragon City and the Core Fountain of the Starlight Hero Academy represent the source of their power and their weakness as well.


    Needless to say, that is nothing more than just a representation of art from the people who worked on the designs. It''s not necessarily true that the Moon Core and the Core Fountain are really a weakness or a source of power.


    "So, where to now?" Kayn muttered silently to Natas who appeared to be momentarily upied in observing his surroundings as they were walking like what he always does.


    "Oh!" Natas quickly pulled himself together after hearing Kayn''s question. "I honestly also don''t know. All I know is, he is someone being targeted by bullies and the leader of the bully is the son of the Headmaster of Starlight Hero Academy. Apparently, thetter is jealous of the talent that yourrade possesses, as such he is trying his best to suppress him from growing even stronger and developing his ability. Unbeknownst to the son of the Headmaster, despite all the suppression he received, he was still able to slowly and secretly cultivate his power. And now, yourrade is thinking whether to use it against his bullies or not,"


    "Don''t you have anything else that could at least minimize the scope of our search?" Kayn sighed heavily out of dissatisfaction.


    The son of the Headmaster of Starlight Hero Academy, Carlos, is known to be the greatest bully in their school due to the fact that he doesn''t possess the same level of talent that his father has, and on top of that, he is also extremely weakpared to the majority of his peers, not only in their school but also in the entire world as well. In other words, he has an inferiorityplex.


    Of course, it wasn''t always that way. There was once a time in the Starlight Hero Academy''s history when Carlos was known to be a kind- and good-hearted young man. However, because he is the only child in their family, as such, he is receiving a tremendous amount of pressure from his parents and rtives every single day because a weak person like him is the only individual in their household that has the right to inherit everything his father had built when he eventually dies, whichter on caused him to release his pent-up emotions on his schoolmates.


    That was what sparked Carlos'' jealousy and hatred of those with more talentpared to him. And with the authority his father possesses plus the background of the family he came from, he has all the power in the world to gather goons amongst the students of Starlight Hero Academy and bully their schoolmates to some extent without being punished for it. Moreover, not many students would dare to fight back.


    Almost everyone that shows more potential to Carlos but is still in the sprouting stage of their growth would receive his bullying. As a matter of fact, even Kayn wasn''t spared from Carlos'' actions in the past as well. The only difference is that he is one of the brightest stars in the school, so bullies are strongly discouraged to do anything bad against him. Otherwise, they would incur the wrath of the school board and the chairman of the school for the crime of suppressing potentially talented Heroes.


    That''s right! Kayn isn''t just any run-of-the-mill kind of student of the Starlight Hero Academy or someone who simply got lucky in life to hit a jackpot. Obviously, that''s to be expected since in the future he would be the number one Hero of Earth. An incapable genius or a tiger that hides his fangs to eat a pig isn''t something that the world wants nor needs, so naturally, Kayn puts all that he got in order to be noticed and earn the chance to change his fate.


    Though, honestly, this was one of the major mistakes hemitted in his youth. He only realized it today. If at that time he didn''t show his potential, then there might have been a chance, even just a tiny bit, for World President Nichs to simply ignore him.


    Unfortunately, in order to get out of poverty, he decided to show the world what he could do. Hence, prompting World President Nichs to make a move against him. Anyways, there was no way for him to know his future. If he did, then he would have probably handled the situation differently. Albeit there is still no telling for certain whether the same fate awaits him at the end of the road or not.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Back to the main topic. Almost every single victim of bullying by Carlos would have the same, or rted to the background of what Natas'' described; a talented student and has the potential to grow much stronger than Carlos, which in short simply means every single student of Starlight Hero Academy.


    Moreover, the backstory is also almost entirely the same as Carlos'' previous other victims who still grew more powerfulpared to him which in turn repaid all the pain and suffering that they have received from him. What else is expected when they bully a smart and talented individual? To cut the story short, it''s always just going to be either they would end uppletely destroying the lives of those geniuses, or they wouldter on grow prominent and powerful enough to take their revenge. In the case of his newrade, he was going to choose thetter option¡­ or it should be if Kayn doesn''t do anything to stop him.


    "How about his appearance? What does he look like? Also, his gender, is he a boy, or a girl? Age? Height? Name? What section and grade?" Kayn started drowning Natas with themon questions asked during interrogation in hopes of getting more information out from thetter.


    "He is a boy, his name is Rowan, has red-colored hair, wears eyesses and has one earring on his right ear with the shape of a cross, he is the same age as you, I don''t know his height, but he''s probably a bit shorterpared to you. That''s all I got since he wasn''t my incarnation in the first ce," Natas answered after remembering everything he could about that certainrade of Kayn.


    "Hmmm¡­ Rowan¡­" Kayn suddenly paused on his footstep as he tried to recollect his memories of the name of all his newrades. But, no matter how hard he tries, he just can''t seem to remember someone with such a name, "Did he perhaps change his name to something else?"


    "As far as I could remember, he did not," Natas shook his head, but he quickly added as he understood Kayn''s concern, "It''s only natural that you don''t know him since he was the guy who inconspicuously gathered your newrades together. I''ve heard that he decided not to enter the ''Tower'' with you. Otherwise, there would be no one left on Earth to continue what you have worked hard to achieve. Oh, I finally remember, he was the one that hugely influenced the world to investigate the truth behind what happened to you,"


    "In short, he works as my shadow without my knowledge?" Kayn asked, a bit doubtful. He has heard a few times of Heroes working as shadows of other Heroes in order to make thetter''s work much easier. However, those Heroes are aware of their presence as they were the ones who assigned them to such a job, to begin with. This is his first-time hearing someone working as someone else''s shadow without that certain someone knowing about it.


    "More or less, yes,"


    "Wait, I have a more appropriate name for him ¡ª a fan," Kayn can''t help but think that Natas was trying to ridicule him. The behavior described by thetter of this supposedly one of his unknownrades is no different from those shown by the fans of Heroes; working their asses off regardless of their idol knowing about it or not.


    "Well¡­" Natas scratched his head awkwardly.


    "Are you seriously telling me that all we are doing right now is just to save one of my fans?" Kayn felt like hitting his face with his hand out of dismay.


    "I don''t know if this is your definition of a fan. But that person did something that no other Heroes out there could do or are even willing to do, let alone their fans, just to help you when you needed it the most. If for you he is not one of yourrades, but simply a fan, then it can''t be helped, and I feel pity for that guy because the Hero he believes in didn''t think of him as important as those that fought and died for him," Natas sneered as he felt disdain at Kayn''s action.


    "Okay, okay¡­ I am sorry," Kayn quickly raised his hand to yield to Natas'' argument. Thetter was correct. When the world decided to give up on him, this Rowan guy was one of the only few that kept on believing him. If that sort of action couldn''t even earn him a ce as his newrade, then who else could? The very least the people he is going to recruit should have is determination and relentless belief in him.


    "Don''t apologize to me, apologize to that guy¡­ that is if we could find him before it''s toote,"


    Once again, they are stuck with the problem of looking for Rowan.


    "At least we now have more clues and could further minimize the scope of our search," Kayn is now relieved.


    Without wasting any time, Kayn started walking towards a particr building on their campus, the faculty building; where all teachers stay during and after ss, and also where all records of every single student in the Starlight Hero Academy are kept.

 Chapter 16 Rowan Starlight

    ?Chapter 16: Rowan Starlight


    It didn''t take that long for Kayn and Natas to reach the faculty building.


    As he was someone that all teachers pay a lot of attention to due to his status as one of the brightest stars of their school, Kayn was easily able to gain ess to the list of every single student of Starlight Hero Academy after briefly exchanging some pleasantries to the teachers he met along the way.


    "I guess being famous has its own merits," Natas can''t help but admire how easy it was for Kayn to get ess to the student''s list. If it was any other ordinary student, there''s no doubt that they''d be stuck at this first obstacle and be unable to move any farther.


    "Isn''t that a given? Even inside the ''Tower'', there is this thing called ''Fame''. As long as your ''Fame'' is high enough, it would be easy for you to move around in every territory," Kayn smiled in response.


    After a few minutes, Kayn was finally able to find the list of names for the students that starts with the letter ''R''.


    Without wasting any more time, Kayn opened the list and quickly looked up every student with the name Rowan.


    "Rowan D Cruz¡­"


    "Rowan Rodriguez¡­"


    "Rowan¡­"


    "Rowan¡­"


    "Rowan¡­"


    Kayn started reading all the students with the name Rowan while waiting for Natas to tell him to stop.


    "Rowan Sam¡­"


    "Rowan Smith¡­"


    "Rowan Starlight¡­"


    "That''s the one!" Natas quickly interrupted Kayn.


    "Rowan Starlight?" Kayn turned to look at Natas in doubt. "Are you sure?"


    "A hundred percent!" Natas nodded his head with certainty.


    "Let''s take a look first," Kayn put the list he was holding on the side as he started searching for all files rted to Rowan Starlight in another drawer.


    Knowing the name of their target further made the search quicker and easier for Kayn.


    "Here!" Kayn smacked a folder with a bunch of files inside on the table before swiftly opening its content and spreading it all over the ce to specifically look for what they needed ¡ª Rowan Starlight''s picture.


    Shortly after, Kayn and Natas were eventually able to find what they were searching for.


    Looking at the image of a young man with red-colored hair and a single earring on his right ear, Kayn finally confirmed that Natas was correct.


    "We have our guy," Kayn looked at Natas with a smile. "Now let''s clean up all this mess to make it look as if we weren''t here from the beginning before we start searching for Rowan Starlight,"


    ¡­..


    After secretly asking around the campus for tens of minutes, Kayn and Natas finally have some clues as to where Rowan Starlight is at right this very moment. And apparently, Carlos and his goons are also making their way towards that ce.


    Along the way, Natas can''t help but asked Kayn in curiosity, "I forgot to ask you about this since we were preupied with something else a moment ago, but what''s up with this Rowan Starlight guy? Why does he have the same family name as the school? And why is he a subject of immense bullying?"


    "Hmmm¡­ Rowan Starlight¡­" Kayn paused for a brief moment to arrange the thoughts in his head. "You could say that he is the same as Carlos but had chosen apletely opposite path to that of what Carlos decided to walk,"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Despite being one of the children of the influential Starlight Family of the Dragon Beast Republic, Rowan Starlight wasn''t born with talent, not literally. In all honesty, his talent is actually stillmendable. Unfortunately, it just didn''t meet the Starlight Family''s standards. He was weakpared to all his brothers, sisters, and peers who belonged in the same family as him; thus, he was pushed aside by everyone in his household."


    "But contrary to Carlos who gave in to the pressure of his family and developed an inferiorityplex. Rowan Starlight, on the other hand, decided to give up on his family instead, and ended up secluding himself from the rest of the students of Starlight Hero Academy,"


    "Quite a daring young man," Natasmented.


    "Indeed," Kayn agreed. "However, because Rowan Starlight chose apletely opposite path to Carlos who experienced the same fate as the former, thetter decided to force Rowan Starlight to walk the same path as him, describing it as birds of the same feathers should flock together in order to protect each other''s back,"


    "Sounds fair to me," Although he doesn''t like Carlos'' character, Natas still thought that the former was correct. When animals gather together to form a group, especially those animalsbeled as prey, regardless of them still being weak, no predators would easily or casually try to hunt them down as they fear getting outnumbered and ending up reversing the status quo. This kind of logic has already been proven effective numerous times in thew of the jungle. So, the idea that Carlos had proposed to Rowan Starlight wasn''t all that bad, at all.


    "Not likely," Kayn shook his head. "When Carlos expressed that opinion to Rowan Starlight, thetter sneered at him and insulted him by calling him a small-minded person. Saying that he is weak and afraid, and someone who can''t walk independently and without relying on his family,"


    "I guess, it''s a matter of perspective," Natas was easily able to understand the point of view of both parties.


    Kayn didn''t mind Natas interrupting him as he just continued with his story, "Everyone admired Rowan Starlight for his belief and principle after that. But in the end, that small fiasco of Carlos onlysted a short period of time. After being insulted in public, Carlos swore to destroy Rowan Starlight''s life one way or another,"


    "From then on, not a single day passes without Rowan Starlight getting humiliated and receiving Carlos'' all-out bullying. And because there''s no one in his family who cares about Rowan Starlight, hence no one bothered to stop Carlos, which just further added even more fuel to Carlos'' ego and goal of burning the former down to ashes,"


    "It seems like it was Rowan Starlight that brought such trouble to himself," Natas expressed his thoughts after hearing Kayn''s story about Rowan Starlight.


    "Well, who am I to judge?" Kayn decided to stay neutral on Rowan Starlight and Carlos'' problem. After all, both sides have their own fair share of mistakes, so there''s no telling for certain who is really at fault. "By the way, just from the fact alone that Rowan belongs to the Starlight Family, I could already guess to some extent the reason why it became one of the dark secrets of Starlight Hero Academy. But what exactly happened?"


    "I honestly don''t know," Natas was also clueless about the event that happened to Rowan Starlight. "That brother of mine didn''t tell me about it, saying that it''s much better to have as few people knowing about it because his incarnation doesn''t want to constantly remember about what happened,"


    "I guess it was devastating and painful for him," Kayn understood the likely reason.


    "Probably,"


    A few momentster, Kayn and Natas finally reached their destination ¡ª the Technological Building of Starlight Hero Academy, which is located at the very edge of the campus and in a secluded spot, as it wasn''t as important as the other departments. Despite that though, sufficient funds seemed to still be flowing enough into the development of the Technological Building since everything around it looks new and up to thetest trends of technological development and changes happening all over the world.


    Unlike the other buildings of Starlight Hero Academy, the Technological Building reflects quite evidently the meaning behind the word ''Technology''. To describe it simply, it looks high-end and high-tech. Almost every single area they looked at, they could see some sort of gadget or technology. For instance, motion detector sensors, holographic images, and dozens of automated stuff. There were even robots roaming around that acted as the staff that maintain everything around the ce.


    However, one thing was unique about it; the Technological Building is a very quiet and inconspicuous ce, that''s probably why Rowan Starlight choose this as his secret hideout, and why the news of what happened in this ce never became widespread on the campus as it could be easily suppressed by the Starlight Family.


    The reason why Kayn and Natas were easily able to confirm it is the Technological Building when they were out searching for clues about the location of Rowan Starlight a while ago was that almost everyone knows thetter likes gadgets and technology. Above all, his power is also rted to this matter. So, if there is anything that Rowan Starlight could use to cause something bad to happen, it''s probably found at this ce.


    Moreover, the movement pattern of Carlos and his goons also seems to lead to this ce, which is highly unlikely for him as he was never the type of person that prefers to spend time with the sort of stuff found in the Technological Building.


    "I believe that we are in the right ce since it''s strangely tranquil out here," Kayn muttered. Although sses have long already started, which could exin why it is quiet out here, weirdly enough there are actually no students nor even teachers, or Human beings in general, to be found walking outside the Technological Building. It almost felt like this ce has been abandoned.


    "I don''t know what exactly is happening right now, but we still have less than four hours left before anything goes wrong in this ce. So, let''s take advantage of that opportunity to make some preparations," Natas proposed to Kayn.


    "Okay, so what''s your n?" Kayn readily agreed to Natas.


    "Since no one can see me, I''ll scout the inside of the Technological Building first in order to provide you with relevant intel afterward, that we both can use to deal with what willeter on. In the process, I''ll try to locate Rowan Starlight if possible, and Carlos and his goons as well, that is if they are already inside,"


    "I understand. Meanwhile, I''ll secure us all the possible escape routes that we could use to get away from here after solving the problem with Rowan Starlight,"


    "Sounds good to me,"


    "Let''s meet again at this location three hourster. Let''s move out!"


    In the next moment, both Kayn and Natas immediately went into separate ways to take care of their own responsibilities.

 Chapter 17 Think About The Future

    ?Chapter 17: Think about the Future


    Contrary to Natas who can''t be seen by anyone, Kayn had to take all measures necessary to not look like a suspicious individual as he moved around the perimeter of the Technological Building trying to look for escape routes that they could use.


    ? Honestly speaking, with the Technological Building covered with CCTVs and motion detector sensors in almost every corner of the ce, it''s only natural for Kayn''s presence to be caught by whoever is managing the security room of this building.


    In addition to that, this ce is currently devoid of any people, which just made it even stranger for someone to be here. As such, Kayn decided not to bother covering his tracks and just act like he was casually walking around. Furthermore, every now and then he would act like he is contemting something while looking like he was deep in thoughts, seemingly showing that he is dealing with some kind of problem in his head.


    This kind of method might feel stupid, but considering that Kayn is one of the brightest stars of the Starlight Hero Academy, it won''t feel odd at all to see him being alone in a quiet ce while having a deep contemtion. Almost all geniuses and capable people would have times when they do something like that since when they are alone they can easily pull themselves together and no one will be able to disturb them whatsoever.


    Just like that, three hours passed, and as they have previously agreed, Kayn and Natas returned back to their spot before.


    The location wasn''t really that well-hidden, but it was good enough for them since they don''t want to act suspicious.


    Kayn sat on a bench that overlooks the front of the Technological Building seemingly looking like he was contemting something inside. In reality, he was waiting for Natas as he had to listen to everything he had found in his reconnaissance.


    "You won''t believe what I found inside," Natas expressed his disbelief in his discovery. "Currently, Superhumans in ck suits are guarding almost every corner of the ce, from the ground floor up to the top floor. As I continued searching, I found a door leading to an underground basement, so I went inside to check the ce as I''ve not found any traces of Rowan nor Carlos anywhere else,"


    "As I expected, Carlos was indeed inside the underground basement, including his goons and a few more Superhuman bodyguards. But there was someone else that I can''t recognize along with them,"


    "How about Rowan Starlight, did you find him?"


    "Currently, Rowan Starlight has locked himself inside a vault. And for the time being, that unknown person is trying to talk to him in hopes of making him get out of the vault peacefully. Believe me, that will never work,"


    "Considering how things seemed to be looking out there, I don''t think Rowan Starlight is going to get out any time soon," Kayn expressed his thoughts. After all, the moment Rowan Starlight gets out of the only thing that''s separating him from Carlos and his goons, and that unknown person and his dozens of bodyguards, there''s nothing left to protect him anymore.


    "I am just wondering who is that second party joining in with the already messy life of Rowan Starlight? Is he someone who is gunning to rece Carlos once thetter graduates from Starlight Hero Academy? In fairness, he actually seems to be a lot more talented, since he has Superhuman bodyguards with him, dozens to boot, which is nothingpared to the students that Carlos has," Kayn said in a joking remark.


    "It seems like it wouldn''t be long from now before the vault is destroyed," Natas said as he pointed at a group of newly arrived bodyguards who seems to be releasing an overwhelming aura around them.


    "What are Heroes doing here?" Kayn felt shocked. As a Hero before, it''s simple for him to recognize that those new bodyguards are Heroes and not merely Superhumans like those that Natas said to be currently inside the Technological Building.


    However, that wasn''t the reason why he is shocked. It''s because, with the presence of Heroes here, things aren''t looking too good for him.


    If it was only the Superhumans, then there is still a considerable chance for him to defeat them, especially considering the fact that he is a Superhuman himself. In addition to that, he has learned a plethora of skills and techniques when he was still the number one Hero, which he could use to some extent as long as it doesn''t go beyond what his physical body could possibly handle at this point in time.


    But Heroes are stupendously different whenpared to Superhumans. The main reason for that is because Heroes could freely ess the resources from the ''Tower'', whereas Superhumans could only buy or receive them.


    In the first ce, the reason why they are called Superhumans is that they only have strength above those of ordinary Humans. Contrary to them, Heroes are called in such a way because they have the ability to fight against the ''Tower''. The difference between these two is just like a mountain and a hill.


    Now imagine a group of individuals with the ability to fight against the ''Tower'' working together. Regardless of how capable a Superhuman is, it''s almost impossible for them to defeat those kinds of people.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "It seems like things aren''t as simple as bullying anymore," While saying that, Kayn observed the uniform that the Heroes are wearing in hopes of finding the logo of what organization they belonged to. Unfortunately, in the end, he didn''t find any. But he did realize the reason for that is because this is a covert operation. As such, they can''t afford to reveal their identities and what organization they are a part of, "Something like this is definitely not the work of an ordinary individual,"


    "I thought so as well," Natas agreed.


    Kayn turned to look at Natas and asked, "How much time is left before Rowan Starlight does anything to these people?"


    "Less than twenty minutes,"


    "We have more time than I expected. The only problem is, I am not confident that we could do anything to help Rowan Starlight from his predicament," Kayn was worried.


    "Not necessarily," Natas disagree. "Those people are undeniably in the level of Heroes, but I can sense that their strength is only on par with Superhumans still. It''s probably because they are rookie Heroes,"


    Rookie Heroes are the type of Heroes who have just gained ess to enter the ''Tower''. In other words, beginners.


    "I''ve tinkered with their security room a bit, so there''s no need for you to worry about getting caught by the CCTVs and motion detector sensors," Natas hurriedly informed Kayn as he noticed there''s still hope for them to save Rowan Starlight.


    Unbeknownst to Kayn, What Natas actually meant about ''A bit'' is an understatement. To be more urate, thetter had destroyed everything in the security room since he doesn''t have any knowledge of how exactly it works due to it having so many buttons, that''s why until now no one came looking for Kayn.


    Although he is a spirit, Natas discovered that it''s possible for him to intervene in the physical world.  That''s the reason why he could destroy objects. Albeit, because he is weak, there is still a limit to his strength. But this also means to say that it''s possible for him to grow stronger, and probably reach his prime once again if there''s an opportunity.


    "You want me to go in now?" Kayn felt a bit hesitant at what Natas wanted him to do. Even if those are only rookie Heroes, they are still called Heroes for a reason, and he doesn''t want to be the example as to why that is the case.


    "What else? Do you seriously think Rowan Starlight could defeat all of these people?"


    "But you expect that I could save him? Just what kind of logic is that?" Regardless of how powerful he was in the future, that doesn''t apply to the current him anymore. Also, this is no longer a question of having the courage or not, since the moment he enters that ce there''s a significant chance he''d just die. Moreover, there''s that unknown person, as well. A variable that he couldn''t take lightly.


    "You don''t have to necessarily save him; you just have to do something so that he will recognize you and hasten the process of getting him to your side!" Natas interrupted.


    "You mean that I don''t have to change his fate? But wasn''t that the main reason why we came here from the start?"


    "Change of ns. It''s also better this way since we don''t want to affect his future that much, otherwise there''s a significant chance that he will not be who he is supposed to be in the future,"


    "If it''s only that, then I guess I could do it," Kayn believes that as long as he doesn''t have to fight to win against all of those people, then things would still be alright for him. "By the way, let''s take note of that in the future,"


    "Of what?"


    "That we shouldn''t do everything with mainly the intention of changing everyone''s fate. If we keep on doing that, then there is no telling for certain if myrades are still going to be the same as who they are supposed to be in the future," He thought before that as long as they could get his newrades to his side as soon as possible, then things would be good for him. But now he finally realized that on top of that he actually needs to consider their future growth as well. Without the challenges and pain they have suffered along the way, they''d never be the same as those people he had met and fought side by side together in the second life.


    "I''ll bear that in mind," Natas understood.

 Chapter 18 Sneaking Around

    ?Chapter 18: Sneaking around


    In the next moment, Kayn prepared himself before finally moving inside the Technological Building with Natas who is moving ahead of him to act as his scout.


    Since he doesn''t have to worry about the CCTVs and motion detector sensors anymore due to Natas'' meddling with the security room, Kayn was quickly able to reach the corridor that leads towards the underground basement of the Technological Building after sneaking with some slight difficulty from the Superhuman bodyguards along the way. During the process, he learned of their location, their strength, and possible escape routes he could exploit to get out of this building once he is done with the matters rted to Rowan Starlight.


    The ce where the corridor with the door leading to the underground basement was the only location in the Technological Building that is important to Kayn, thus he didn''t bother to waste more time checking the other ces. Moreover, Natas already did a rough search on them a while ago and he had informed him while he was sneaking around that there is nothing much to be found other than high-tech stuff and even more high-tech stuff, which he mentioned that he doesn''t know what for because of hisck of knowledge about them. Anyways, he also couldn''t care less about confirming their function and purpose, so he doesn''t bother.


    Upon arriving, Kayn sneaked a short nce at the two Superhuman bodyguards who are blocking the door to the underground basement before returning to where he was hiding, to discuss with Natas what they should do.


    "Every ten minutes, the guards in front of that door would be switched to another group. During that time, there is a two minutes gap for you to move and get inside without anyone noticing. Don''t worry about the door, it has no lock nor any security measures installed, so you can just go and open it to get in," Natas informed Kayn.


    "Understood," Kayn nodded his head as he checked the time on his phone. In the process, he made sure to turn off the notification sound in case his phone would suddenly make a noise at the wrong time. "How long has already passed since thest switch?"


    "Seven minutes or so,"


    "Oh, around two minutes before we move," Kayn said as he decided to wait patiently.


    In that span of two minutes time, Kayn spent it calming himself and preparing mentally for every possible scenario that could happen. He also checked on himself to make sure he''s in the right condition to fight.


    As time continued to tick, the anxiousness that Kayn felt in his heart was slowly disappearing. Frankly speaking, a while ago he was still feeling a bit hesitant about doing this, but right now his mind has already be decisive enough. One of the main reasons is that he has been steadily adapting to his younger body until now so as to make a n on what he should focus on improving for the future.


    To be honest, in his mind yesterday, he only thought of giving himself ample time to condition his body and mind before finally entering the ''Tower'' once again. He already made some preparationsst night for how it would go; such as he will simply rx, working out, spending some time with himself, and maybe gathering some relevant data and information every now and then to make some basicyout of his ns, and take some breather from everything that he had gone through in the second life, instead of doing serious kinds of stuff like what he is doing right now, again...


    After all, it''s not every day that he''d be given something like this ¡ª free time.


    Furthermore, once he enters the ''Tower'', he is already expecting that he''d have to constantly be focused and preupied with matters rting to bing stronger, gathering his newrades, forming new allies, and making sure that they won''t betray him like the previous ones, taking his revenge, preventing World President Nichs from stopping him, and making preparations to destroy the ''Tower''.


    Never in his wildest imaginations did he ever expect that just a day after he got reincarnated ten years in the past, he would immediately be in a close to a life-and-death scenario. It''s as if like he could never be able to take a rest and have free time for himself as long as the ''Tower'' still exists.


    "Maybe after this, there''s a chance to do that, I hope¡­"


    "Did you say anything?" Natas looked at Kayn after hearing thetter murmuring something.


    "Nothing,"


    "Anyways, go and prepare yourself, since they are about to leave from their spot," Natas immediately told Kayn what to do.


    Kayn silentlyply.


    In the next moment, the two Superhuman bodyguards who were guarding the door that leads to the underground basement started walking in the opposite direction from them.


    "Wait for it," Natas muttered. There were still a few more steps left before the two Superhuman bodyguards would make a turn to another side of the corridor. By then, it''s time for them to go for that door.


    Time passed quickly, and shortlyter, the two Superhuman bodyguards were finally out of sight.


    In the next moment, Natas unhesitatingly flew straight towards the door of the underground basement. Meanwhile, Kayn followed closely staying low while taking a not-so-slow but also not-so-quick one step at a time to approach the door so as to not let the two Superhuman bodyguards who haven''t left for that long yet hear any noiseing from their direction.


    As there was a considerable distance between their hiding spot and the door of the underground basement, it took Kayn a bit more timepared to Natas to reach the door. The moment he arrived at the door; he instantly heard the footsteps of the iing Superhuman bodyguards who came to rece the previous two.


    "Get in quick!"


    Luckily for Kayn, Natas had long already opened the door for him after checking and confirming that no one was guarding the other side. Although thest time he was here there were no Superhuman bodyguards standing guard, nheless, it''s still much safer for them to make sure just in case something changed in the span of a few minutes after he left.


    "Did you hear anything?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "No, did you?"


    "I thought I heard something, but I guess it could be the others who identally made a ruckus upstairs,"


    "Let''s ask through the radio,"


    "Alright,"


    "¡­"


    Hearing what the two Superhuman bodyguards were talking about, Kayn and Natas immediately realized that they have made a mistake by closing the door.


    The sound they made when they were closing the door wasn''t really loud. As a matter of fact, there was barely any noise made after they closed it. But probably because they are up against Superhumans whose sense of hearing has been enhanced to some degree, that''s why they still heard a soft click from the doorknob.


    "What should we do?" Kayn whispered.


    "Hmmm¡­ If we knock them out, then we''d have more or less twelve minutes of time before they could discover that someone had trespassed their perimeter," Natas analyzed.


    "What if we pull them inside here and hide them somewhere inconspicuous?" Kayn expressed his idea.


    "I guess we could. And that would probably buy us even more time," Natas quickly confirmed the feasibility of Kayn''s n. Even if another group of Superhuman bodyguards wille to this position after they knocked out these present two Superhuman bodyguards, the former duo won''t necessarily be able to know what exactly happened to thetter duo since the moment they arrived they won''t be able to see if they have really left to move on to the next assigned location to guard. And based on the arrangement of their position around the perimeter, as long as no one checked to confirm each other''s presence through the radio, then they''d never know the truth. "This was supposed to be ourst resort,"


    "Here''s the n¡­"


    "That''s strange, they said that no one caused any idents on the floor above us,"


    "How about the groups from the other floors?''


    "None as well,"


    After saying that, the two Superhuman bodyguards quickly turned their attention towards the door right beside them. If their guess is correct, then that sound they have heard just now indeed came from when the doorknob clicked when it was closed.


    "Should we check on the group inside if one of them went inside the door?"


    "It shouldn''t be them, since they are preupied with something really important,"


    As the two were talking, the door in front of them suddenly clicked again and was soon slowly opening.


    Strangely though, there was no one opening the door from either side.


    "Is¡­ is there a gho¡­ ghost in this ce?"


    "Are you seriously feeling frightened right now?! For goodness'' sake, we are already in the era where monsters that we thought only existed in books have appeared in reality, so what are you even feeling scared about?!"


    "I am scared exactly because we haven''t fought against such a thing ourselves yet!"


    "Tch! What a scaredy-cat! I''ll go check what''s wrong with this door. Meanwhile, you stay here and guard my back, okay?"


    "Okay, okay!"


    "If something bad happens to me, quickly report to our channel through the radio to inform the others and call for back-up,"


    Following that, the courageous Superhuman bodyguard started inching closer towards the door of the underground basement to check if someone from the other side had identally opened it or if there is indeed an intruder who was able to sneak inside under their watch. Inwardly, he was hoping that it was the case of the former since there is no telling for certain what will happen to him if it''s thetter case. Chances are, he would die here or get injured enough to make him powerless to cause any harm to the intruder or intruders.

 Chapter 19 The Story Behind The Dark Secret Of The Starlight Hero Academy

    ?Chapter 19: The story behind the dark secret of the Starlight Hero Academy


    "How about we just report it, Brody?" The frightened Superhuman bodyguard suggested.


    "And risk the chance of possibly getting promoted to a higher rank and the opportunity to change our life for the best? No way in hell, Mark!" The courageous Superhuman bodyguard, whose name is Brody, didn''t hesitate to reject.


    "I¡­" Mark, the frightened Superhuman bodyguard, could only gulp down a mouthful of saliva at the thought of Brody''s idea. In the end, his greed for a chance at a better life made him decide to support Brody''s n. After all, who doesn''t like that?


    With that discussion over, Brody took another step to finally enter the other side of the door. He quickly looked from left to right to see his surroundings, but to his surprise, he didn''t find anyone.


    "Was it just the wind?" Although he knows clearly well just how ridiculous that sounded, Brody still can''t help but think of that possibility. In this era, even the most absurd things could happen at any time, so who could say for certain that it wasn''t the wind that identally opened the door, right? Especially considering the fact that the wind now has Mana mixed within it. In addition to that, the Technological Building are only managed by mostly robots, so it isn''t far-fetched to assume that there would be some things that aren''t kept in good condition.


    On the opposite side, after noticing the look on Brody''s face, Mark asked right away, "Is there something wrong?"


    "That''s the problem, there isn''t," Brody expressed his regret at the chance of turning their lives around just disappearing into thin air.


    To the surprise of both Brody and Mark though, the door separating the two of them suddenly shut closed. It wasn''t loud, it simply happened unexpectedly and quietly as they were just too focused on something else that they didn''t notice that the door was slowly moving.


    "Brody?" Mark instantly called out after realizing what just happened. But after not receiving a single reply from Brody, he immediately decided to report to their channel about their suspicious findings on this side. However, as soon as he took out the radio, something invisible suddenly grabbed it and smashed it to the floor.


    "What the!" Mark was bbergasted at the surprising turn of events. Regardless, his mind was quick enough to decide to run away and approach the other teams who still has radios to report to them instead.


    Although he has decided to do that in his mind, Mark still stood rooted on the spot as he noticed that the door in front of him was slowly opening. Standing behind the door seems to be Brody while there was an obscure figure of a man lying on the ground below him.


    "What a relief that you are fine, Brody!" Mark felt calm as soon as he noticed his friend was alright.


    "How stupid of you to think that is Brody,"


    All of a sudden, a voice sounded in Mark''s right ear, which quickly made him turn in order to see who was speaking.


    Weirdly enough, just like in the case of the door that opened without anyone''s influence, Mark also didn''t find the person that spoke to him just now.


    But unlike before, Mark understood right away what exactly is happening.


    "A Hero¡­" This was the only thing that Mark could think about is the reason for everything. The moment he thought of that, all the things that happened so far finally made sense to him.


    Unfortunately, aside from that Mark was wrong, it was also toote for him to do anything to change his current situation.


    The figure that Mark once thought to be Brody''s instantly lunged forward in his direction. Thest thing he knew was that he got hit by something really hard on his head that caused him to be unconscious.


    ¡­..


    "That was easier than what I expected," Kayn can''t help but throw an arrogant remark at what he achieved. Honestly, just now, he barely did anything. It didn''t even go any close to what he was anticipating the performance of these two Superhuman bodyguards was going to be. Rather, they are weak. Extremely weak that he only needed to attack one time for each of them to knock them both out. Not to mention, they clearlyck the experience to deal with the situation at hand.


    Kayn can''t help but thought, "That being said, I think this isn''t the same as the covert operation I was thinking of in my head previously. Perhaps this is still at the level of bullying, and the only reason why it feels so absurd is that this is how bullying a Superhuman is supposed to look like. Or perhaps it is indeed a covert operation, but it''s not approved by someone on a high position, hence they can only dispatch utterly weak Superhumans, just like the case of the Heroes that arrived just now,"


    What happened was; the reason why Brody did not see Kayn when he walked beyond the door was that the former was only expecting that someone was hiding on either the left or right side of the door considering that it''s the mostmon way to push the door forward. After checking those two sides, he immediately let down his guard and thought of something else. Without Brody knowing, Kayn was actually up above him.<novelnext></novelnext>


    In the midst of that, Natas went out and slowly close the door as Brody and Mark were busily talking with each other. And when Mark wanted to use the radio after confirming that something suspicious is currently going on, Natas instantly grabbed it from the former and smashed it to the floor.


    Meanwhile, Kayn immediately dropped above Brody with both his hands sped together and directly hit the head of thetter, which instantly caused thetter to be unconscious. After that, he quickly reced his clothes with Brody''s before opening the door so as to temporarily let Mark''s guard down.


    At that moment, Natas prepared his foot to trip over Mark when Kayn lunges forward, thus causing Mark''s head to hit the wall behind him.


    "Did our calction perhaps go wrong?" Natas expressed his thoughts.


    "It could be, especially considering that those Heroes that came just now were simply rookie Heroes," Kayn somewhat agreed with that possibility.


    "Exactly!" Natas nodded before quickly adding, "I think this isn''t a secret operation, rather it is a set-up directed towards Rowan Starlight by a member of the Starlight Family. And the true reason why they only dispatched weak individuals is that they are already expecting this event to be discovered sooner orter and that these people present here were meant to be used as scapegoats from the start for the real mastermind or masterminds,"


    "They''d probably say that these people thought that Rowan Starlight is a waste of effort and resource of the Starlight Family which could have been used to theirrades instead. As such, they took matters into their own hands to eliminate the pest even if it would cause them to be the Viins in the end. That''s definitely going to be a Heroic tale that most people would believe without a second thought, especially with how bad Rowan Starlight''s image already is,"


    "Hmmm¡­ Pawns to be sacrificed after they serve their purpose," Kayn instantly understood what Natas meant. "Everything is finally slowly making sense to me,"


    The likely reason why the event that is about to happen here is going to bebeled as one of the dark secrets of the Starlight Hero Academy might just be because it involves the image of the Starlight Family. Obviously, not only the Elders and Head of their household but also the important people of the Dragon Beast Republic, including World President Nichs himself, can''t afford to taint the prestige and honor of one of the major families of their organization, that''s why any information about this event was swept under the rag and was only spread through the word of mouth.


    "No wonder my brother didn''t want anyone else to know about this certain story of his incarnation. It''s because it''s a painful tale of betrayal from the people who should be considered as his family," Natas finally understood.


    "What the Starlight Family didn''t expect was something would go horribly wrong with their n. As to what caused it, we are about to find out soon," Kayn muttered.


    Before finally going down to the underground basement, Kayn made sure that both the unconscious bodies of Brody and Mark are hidden well and wouldn''t be found out easily by anyone that wille after.


    After doing that, he grabbed the radio that Brody had in one of his suit''s pockets since Mark''s radio was already smashed into pieces by Natas, which they made sure to clean so as to prevent anyone from getting suspicious and noticing that something is wrong. The reason for taking the radio is so that when theirrades try to check on the two, he could make a fake report. Of course, he lowered the volume enough that only he could hear the sound it makes.


    "Let''s go!"


    Once that was all done, Kayn and Natas started walking downstairs with thetter moving down farther ahead of the former once again.


    A momentter, Natas suddenly went flying back, which instantly caused Kayn to raise up his guard to prepare in case something wrong was about to happen. Even though he knows that Natas is a spirit right now, there were still some instances where he could interact with the physical world. So, he didn''t disregard the significant possibility that someone else other than him could see Natas.


    "What''s wrong?" Kayn quickly asked.


    "You better go down quick! Those Heroes who came before us are already preparing to destroy the door of the vault," Natas hastily informed Kayn about his findings.


    "But shouldn''t we be trying our best to be as silent as possible? If I go down there now and¡­"


    Natas promptly interrupted Kayn, "Don''t worry, it''s like an open area down there with only two floors. One of which acts like a viewing tform, while the bottom floor is where all high-tech stuff and the vault where Rowan Starlight is located at. Currently, no one is at the viewing tform as everyone seems to be fully focused on breaking the door of the vault,"


    "Okay!"


    Without wasting any time, Kayn hurriedly followed after Natas who was flying in front of him.

 Chapter 20 Rowan Starlight’s Future Identity

    ?Chapter 20: Rowan Starlight''s Future Identity


    The moment Kayn arrived on the viewing tform, he hid behind a box in an inconspicuous location, and as soon as he looked out to see what was happening, he immediately understood the situation at hand.


    ? Currently, the group of six rookie Heroes is close to destroying the door of the vault where Rowan Starlight is hiding. So close that a tiny portion of the door was actually already destroyed enough for everyone to see Rowan Starlight inside.


    Strangely enough though, if one would observe closely, there is actually no tinge of fear nor weakness shown on Rowan Starlight''s face right now. Instead, it''s as if he is a patient predator waiting for the right time to pounce on his prey. Of course, this was only Kayn''s thoughts, while evidently, the people down below don''t see it the same way.


    "There is something wrong with Rowan Starlight," Kayn informed Natas.


    "I know," Even without needing Kayn to mention it, Natas already noticed it as well, even more to boot. "He is already a Hero,"


    That''s right. At this very moment, Rowan Starlight seems to be no longer a mere Superhuman, rather he has be an official bonafide Hero. On top of that, his strength is even more powerful than those rookie Heroes down below.


    "You''re not kidding me, right?" Kayn felt really surprised at Natas'' discovery. He somewhat expected just now that Rowan Starlight was powerful as he could sense it, but he didn''t expect that it would really be to the point of him already being a Hero.


    "What do you think I would get from lying to you?" Natas rolled his eyes.


    "Nothing, of course. But¡­ this is just too ridiculous," Kayn expressed his disbelief. Imagine, those people down there still think that Rowan Starlight is a helpless sheep ready to be ughtered by them. But unbeknownst to all of them, he is actually a wolf in sheep''s clothing, just patiently waiting until the actual sheep open up his cage.


    "I also didn''t expect this kind of development as well," Natas felt the same as Kayn.


    They seriously thought a while ago that Rowan Starlight is currently being pushed into a corner and is unable to escape from his enemies. Indeed, he would definitely be able to pull some kind of miracle, since it''s still a fact that he caused one of the dark secrets of the Starlight Family and he was also able to be an influential Viin in the future. But without their help, they believe that Rowan Starlight would barely be able to escape from this ce in one piece.


    That was supposed to be where they would ultimatelye to the rescue of Rowan Starlight. They will appear seemingly out of nowhere and lend him a hand, make thetter remember them, or at least Kayn, before making an escape, which would then hasten the process of Rowan Starlight recognizing them as his ally and vice versa.


    Contrary to what they were expecting though, Rowan Starlight actually doesn''t need any sort of help from them. As a matter of fact, with how things are currently developing, they might as well be on the side of these people who are hoping to do something bad to thetter. In such a way, they would have some chance to really win like what they are expecting to achieve.


    "What do you think he is doing right now?" Natas can''t help but ask Kayn about what Rowan Starlight is possibly nning to do.


    "If my guess is correct, I believe he is trying to tire them out. He should be aware that even if he is stronger than them, it would be impossible for him to beat all of them alone. So, he is trying to make them expend as much of their stamina as possible, and when that finally happens, even if they have the numerical advantage against him, he would still not have any trouble defeating them," Kayn exined.


    Hearing Kayn''s assumption, Natas quickly turned his attention back to the situation in front to confirm if that was indeed the case or not.


    "I guess you are right," Natas finally understood.


    As how things seemed to look like, although the door of the vault is nearing its inevitable destruction, it would still take a bit more time before that will happen. Probably ten minutes or so. Not because the vault is thick enough to withstand the continuous onught of six rookie Heroes, but rather it''s simply because the six rookie Heroes themselves are too weak.


    The moment those six rookie Heroes be exhausted, there might be no need for Rowan Starlight to continue staying inside the vault anymore. He might as well just open the vault''s door since the only thing that woulde on his way would be those dozens of Superhuman bodyguards, who have only little to no chance of defeating Heroes, especially in the case of these Superhuman bodyguards present in this underground warehouse, even if they include theirrades guarding upstairs.


    This leads to Kayn asking Natas the question, "Are we really needed here?"


    "About that¡­ I am currently having second thoughts," Natas started feeling doubt in his heart.


    "I thought your brother said that this was supposed to be something bad,"


    "Maybe it was only bad in the part where it''s a betrayal of his incarnation''s family,"


    "So, is there by any chance something else we could perhaps do to help Rowan Starlight in hopes of earning his allegiance in this kind of situation we are in?" Kayn wanted to know.


    "I guess¡­ no," Natas shook his head. But then in the next moment, he suddenly noticed something strange. "I think we missed another thing. Look,"


    As Kayn followed where Natas was pointing, he soon saw the unknown person that thetter had mentioned about before. The unknown person was just standing beside Carlos and his goons while crossing his arms together as he watches the current situation slowly unfold.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The unknown person has the same hair color as Rowan Starlight, which instantly made both Kayn and Natas assume that they are rted and belong in the same Starlight Family.


    Though that wasn''t what Natas was pointing at, rather it was the ring that the unknown person was wearing on his right ring finger.


    The ring was silver in color and had a skull shape on top with the skull''s eyes being imbued with some kind of red gemstone. The mouth of the skull was open wide as it releases ominous ck miasma.


    Because the skull ring looks so tiny from their location, and in addition to that, the posture of the unknown person somewhat hides it with the sleeve of his left arm, that''s why Kayn and Natas were only able to notice it just now.


    "I think Rowan Starlight is not just simply trying to expend those six rookie Heroes'' stamina, but he is being cautious about that skull ring as well," Natas exined as he rubs his chin, thinking about where exactly he saw that skull ring before since it looks extremely familiar to him.


    Contrary to Natas, however, Kayn was immediately able to recognize the skull ring that the unknown person was wearing as soon as heid his eyes on it.


    "That''s the infamous Sitan''s Ring that was used by¡­"


    "Harbinger of Hell,"


    "Harbinger of Hell,"


    Both Kayn and Natas said at the same time as they looked at each other.


    "I seriously did not expect that Harbinger of Hell and the person who we are about to recruit is actually the same person!" Kayn felt amazed and dumbfounded at the same time by their discovery. He could already guess that this is how Rowan Starlight would steal the Sitan''s Ring from that unknown person after defeating him. Thetter would then escape from this unfortunate life and make use of the Sitan''s Ring to its fullest potential in order for him to grow and be more powerful in the future.


    Harbinger of Hell was an infamous title bestowed to a Viin whose name was also coincidentally Rowan by Admiral Robert of the Kraken Beast Republic himself. Of course, both Kayn and Natas didn''t know beforehand that Rowan and this Rowan are the same people. After all, there are just far too many people with the name Rowan in this world.


    The meaning behind the title Harbinger of Hell was due to this Viin possessing one of the most powerful items ever found inside the ''Tower'', the Sitan''s Ring. ording to the mythology of one of the territories under the Kraken Beast Republic, where the man Harbinger of Hell first showed his might and prestige, Sitan is actually known to be their God of Hell.


    The Sitan''s Ring also stays true to that description in the said mythology as it could literally bring Hell itself onto Earth. It was said that wherever the Harbinger of Hell goes, Hell itself will follow after. That''s why its user received the title Harbinger of Hell.


    "But isn''t that kind of overpowered for such a powerful item to exist at the early stage of the ''Tower''?" Kayn can''t help himself but ask Natas.


    "Technically, yes. But the truth is, the Sitan''s Ring wasn''t discovered from one of the floors inside the ''Tower''. Instead, it was my brother himself that gave it to Rowan Starlight, and it was I that gave it to that brother of mine," Natas exined. "Probably that unknown person stole it from Rowan Starlight after he received it from my brother. And because he is powerless, that''s why he was unable to get it back, until now,"


    "Eh¡­? Care to rify more about the Sitan''s Ring?" Kayn instantly became curious about the story behind the Sitan''s Ring.


    "Sitan is also called Satan in another story. And if you spell that backward, it would be Natas, yours truly," Natas finally remembered why the ring in the possession of that unknown person was extremely familiar to him.


    "Ah¡­" Kayn instantly understood.


    "Why does it seem like you aren''t impressed about it, at all? You do know just how powerful that item is, right?" Natas felt insulted at Kayn''s nonchnt reaction.


    "I know how powerful the Sitan''s Ring is. And honestly, I admire its greatness and practicality. It''s just that it''s a real pity that its original owner is such a narcissistic man,"


    "What do you mean narcissistic, ha?! It''s amon practice to put your name in an item that you made!" Natas started fuming with rage.


    "First it was you deliberately sneaking your portrait into a dungeon so that people would be able to find it, and now this? What else do you call a man like that other than narcissistic?" Kayn rolled his eyes, slightly depressed by the fact that he returned back in time with a man like Natas. He could somewhat expect already that what they would do in the future will or might have the name of Natas himself.


    "Tch! If only we weren''t in such an important situation right now, then I would have beat you up!" Natas was disgruntled by not being able to do any harm to Kayn right now since that mightpromise what they are doing.


    "Please kindly shut your mouth. It''s about to happen," Kayn suddenly interrupted.


    "Why, you¡­!"

 Chapter 21 Sitan’s Ring

    ?Chapter 21: Sitan''s Ring


    Although Natas was fuming in anger at Kayn insulting him, he still decided to put that aside for now and turn his attention back to the problem on hand with Rowan Starlight.


    Surprisingly, the unknown person they were talking about just now finally decided to make his move.


    The unknown person waved his right hand and the ominous ck miasma of the Sitan''s Ring spread out in front of him. The ck smoke eventually touched the ground, and upon contact, a shadowy figure of a human was soon slowly formed.


    "The unique ability of the Sitan''s Ring, summoning the soul of anyone the user has killed and making them into his most loyal soldiers," Kayn murmured.


    As Kayn was talking, more and more shadowy figures were being formed in front of the unknown person, evidently showing just how many people he had killed to have that many soldiers in hismand.


    "This is absurd! How can we even defeat someone who can possibly summon hundreds of souls?" Kayn felt hopeless at their current situation. Even without needing to confirm it, he could already summarize that the unknown person had probably killed hundreds of people, or probably thousands already. After all, anyone who possesses the Sitan''s Ring would take advantage of its unlimited potential.


    "You should calm down. Our situation right now is not actually as bad as you expect it to be," Natas rest assured Kayn.


    "Of course, I know that. Even with this hopeless scenario and without our help, Rowan Starlight would still be able to escape from this ce alive. The only problem is, I don''t know where we should put ourselves in between to achieve our goal," Kayn exined to Natas what he was truly thinking about.


    "That''s exactly the reason why you should calm down!" Natas eximed, expressing that he understands. "You seriously should change your trait of constantly interrupting people,"


    "What do you mean?"


    "I was about to exin to you more about the Sitan''s Ring that its user would definitely not let anyone else know otherwise they would be in real danger every time if it wasn''t for you suddenly interrupting me,"


    "Tell me more," Kayn said as he took deep breaths to pull himself together.


    "As you know already, the ability of the Sitan''s Ring is it will allow its holder to summon the soul of the people they have killed as their soldiers, seemingly like necromancers, except they mainly summon souls. This was the main reason why Rowan received the title Harbinger of Hell, as he could bring the dead back to life and fight for him,"


    "The souls summoned by the Sitan''s Ring could grow in numbers as long as its user keeps on killing anyone, including both Humans and inhabitants of the ''Tower'', but they could only grow more powerful if they consume simr souls that were consumed by the Sitan''s Ring with the permission of the user. This is the main reason why its potential isbeled as unlimited. I take it that you knew about this information already,"


    "However, that doesn''t necessarily mean that the Sitan''s Ring doesn''t have any weakness. Yes, its potential is unlimited, but it also has a striking w that a lot of people¡­ No, probably everyone that encounters it would fail to notice, including you as well. That''s because this weakness will not appear duringbat, rather it will only be apparent afterbat with all the dead bodies the holder has killed lying on the ground, specifically when the Sitan''s Ring consumes souls,"


    "What everyone knows is that the Sitan''s Ring can turn anyone its user has killed into a soul and make them their loyal soldier. But what they don''t know is the fact that there is actually a condition to be met before it can consume a soul. That condition is those souls should only be weaker than them, otherwise, they will break free from the bind of the Sitan''s Ring and attack its summoner who had taken away its life instead,"


    "In other words, every soul that can be summoned by the holder of the Sitan''s Ring can only be weaker than them," Natas paused as he turned his attention to the unknown person, "In our case right now, that unknown person is already inferiorpared to anyone else in this room. As a matter of fact, he is the weakest if it wasn''t for that Sitan''s Ring. This means to say that even if he could indeed summon hundreds of souls, or let''s assume it to be in thousands, it will not change the fact that they''d just be pigs to be ughtered,"


    "Under good circumstances, you might even be able topletely disregard the souls summoned by the Sitan''s Ring and alternatively aim for the summoner,"


    "I guess we could eventually make use of that information depending on how the situation will transpire," Kayn said as he finally saw a bit of hope. "All that''s left now is to wait,"


    That''s right! They have to wait. Because at this very moment, Rowan Starlight has a n in mind. If they will just jump in randomly, then that will definitely affect what he is nning on doing. Of course, there is no way to tell for certain whether it affects the overall situation negatively or positively for Rowan Starlight and them. And that''s the main problem.


    Also, just like what Natas said just now, under good circumstances they will be able to make use of the weakness of the Sitan''s Ring to their advantage. But the only best way to have a good circumstance presented in front of them is to create it. However, since they are going to follow whatever Rowan Starlight is nning on doing, thus they have to wait and when the right timees, they will adapt to it and try their best to achieve their follow-up n.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Anyways, they don''t have to wait that long¡­


    The number of shadowy figures that were being summoned by the unknown person only stopped when it reached a staggering number of exactly a hundred. Although it seems like he could still continue summoning more souls, because of the size of the underground warehouse, he has to restrict it to some extent. Otherwise, they''d have to forget about defeating Rowan Starlight, since they will have trouble moving.


    "This is the reason why you should not use the Sitan''s Ring in small and tight ces like this," Natas clicked his tongue in disapproval.


    "Stop talking and listen," Kayn immediately interrupted Natas from continuing to speak as he had noticed that the unknown person was about to have a conversation with Rowan Starlight.


    With that being said, both Kayn and Natas listen to the conversation between the unknown person and Rowan Starlight.


    "How about you just make this thing quicker and get out of the vault, my dear brother Rowan," The unknown person suggested provocatively.


    "Only a fool would do that, Raul," Rowan Starlight sneered.


    "Do you see what''s happening right now? It will only be a matter of time before that turtle shell of yours gets destroyed. Whatever you do inside that turtle shell, your fate will remain exactly the same. I am only suggesting this to make it a lot quicker so that we will save each other''s time," The unknown person, whose name was Raul, continued provoking Rowan Starlight.


    "Hmmm¡­" Rowan Starlight pretended to think before suddenly raising his middle finger towards Raul and saying, "How about you just fuck off? In that way, you''ll not be wasting your time trying to break me out of this ce. I believe that will save both of us more time, right?"


    "Show respect, you damn imbecile!" Carlos eximed at Rowan Starlight.


    "Holy shit! I think I heard a dog barking just now. Did you hear that as well, Raul?" Rowan Starlight immediately redirected his middle finger towards Carlos, thus instantly making thetter fume in anger.


    "You never change younger brother," Raul simply sneered at Rowan Starlight''s useless rebuttal. "You still stayed the same as how you were back when you were just a kid, relentless and adamant. It was exactly because of these traits of yours that all of your brothers and sisters hated you. I must say, your actions back then were nothing short of recklessness,"


    "I take that as apliment,"


    "Why do you constantly refuse to bend down, even just for once in your life? If only you did that, then some of our brothers and sisters might have had a change of hearts and decided to side with you. Unfortunately, despite all odds being against you, you still continue ignoring your family,"


    "I did that simply because I refuse to join in any of my brothers and sisters'' struggle for supremacy in the family¡­ No, to be more precise, I can''t be bothered with such a ridiculous tradition. Is there seriously a need for all of us to kill or be killed just so that one of us will be the head of the Starlight Family?" Rowan Starlight shook his head in dismay and sorrow.


    "You don''t understand, do you? As long as you have the Starlight in your name, you don''t have any other choice but to join in the struggle,"


    "Why?"


    "Why? Because you post a threat to all of us! As long as you don''t pick a side and continue doing whatever you want, you be an unknown variable to all of us! No faction in our family likes to have an unknown variable constantly hanging over their heads with no telling for certain when it will fall and whether it will cause them pain or benefits. They''d rather have a decisive opponent, so they can guard against them or ept them with open arms,"


    "Just pick a side, Rowan! That''s all everyone is asking for! As long as you pick a side to support, all of this will disappear. Heck, even I will start hesitating to do something to you depending on who you choose to support. Better, we might be allies as long as you pick our faction,"


    "I''ll give you onest chance to choose, Rowan. If you still don''t pick a side, then I will have no choice but to eliminate you for the good of our Starlight Family," Raul stood firm on his spot, silently and patiently waiting for Rowan Starlight to make a decision.

 Chapter 22 A Secret Weapon

    ?Chapter 22: A secret weapon


    After hearing Raul''s annoying sermon, Rowan Starlight turned quiet as he began contemting inside his mind.


    On the other side, there was no way for both Kayn and Natas to tell what Rowan Starlight was thinking about right now. After all, they don''t even have a single clue about what happened in this ce. But, one thing is for certain, he will definitely not choose to side with anyone in the Starlight Family based on how the future events had developed.


    Their guess is, Rowan Starlight is thinking of what to do with the addition of the souls that Raul has summoned.


    Meanwhile, the six rookie Heroes didn''t stop trying to destroy the door of the vault, evidently showing that time is running out for Rowan Starlight.


    "I''ll give you until the door of the vault is destroyed. Once it is destroyed and you still haven''t picked a side yet, then I guess I have no other choice but toplete my mission," Raul reminded Rowan Starlight with a threatening tone in his voice.


    "That door would probablyst no more than two minutes," Kayn said in remarked.


    "Indeed," Natas agreed. "Any time now, we''d have to move and help Rowan Starlight. Are you ready?"


    "Been waiting all this time," Kayn said with an excited look on his face. Although he wanted all of this to be over so that he could take some rest, he still can''t deny the fact that he also wants to experience something fun. After all, this was the kind of life he has been living in the future.


    Time continued to tick, and while Rowan Starlight was thinking inside the vault, the souls that Raul had summoned slowly positioned themselves to prevent the former from possibly escaping away once the door is destroyed.


    The Superhuman bodyguards were also not just dilly-dallying around as they also picked a good spot to stand guard right beside the souls.


    Just like that, two minutes had passed.


    BOOOOOM!


    In the next moment, a loud explosion sounded as the door of the vault was finally demolished beyond repair. Thest rookie Hero who smashed the vault''s door immediately threw it away to the side so that it will not hinder their path.


    In the meantime, a thickyer of smoke covered the previous location of the vault''s door. Because of that, everyone doesn''t have any choice but to wait patiently until it settles down.


    Contrary to them though, Rowan Starlight chooses this opportunity tounch his first assault.


    Bang!


    An obscure figure of a man was suddenly sent flying away to the back-end of everyone.


    Although there was no way for them to know who exactly was flung away just now, they have all the reasons to believe that it couldn''t be Rowan Starlight himself. That''s just impossible! After all, no one on their side dares to make a move without themand of their leader, Raul. As such, without wasting any time, they prepare themselves for what is about to go down.


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Before anyone could react though, three more figures were consequently thrown away in the same direction as where the first one hadnded.


    Without wasting any more time, Raul immediately ordered, "No need to hold back! Attack!"


    Following Raul''s order, the remaining fortunate rookie Heroes in front didn''t hesitate to charge towards the direction of the vault along with the souls that Raul had summoned and the Superhuman bodyguards.


    However, because of the thickyer of smoke still covering their vision, there was no way for them to possibly know for certain whether they have really caught Rowan Starlight or not. The only thing they felt was receiving a kick, getting punched, being thrown, and other sorts of attacks directed straight towards them by someone they assumed to be Rowan Starlight. Every single time that happens, they''d just blindly return the attack while inwardly hoping for the best.


    It was aplete mess.


    And the main reason for that was because their leader, Raul, didn''t give any detailed orders. He basically justmanded his men to charge and do whatever they want as long as they could catch Rowan Starlight.


    As a result, things turned out badly. Moreover, Raul didn''t even consider anything, such as the underlying factors that might or might not affect his intended goal, as if he is thinking that as long as he has all these men in hismand everything would eventually work one way or the other.


    Raul and Carlos who remained behind along with thetter''s goons to protect them could only helplessly stare at the disorder in front of them, evidently realizing their mistake. However, it was toote for them to change anything.


    "What the fuck is happening over there?!" Carlos felt dumbfounded at what he was seeing.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "No need to worry. This was something I expected," Raul still remainedposed despite the currentplication. Though, in reality, he actually didn''t expect this.


    "But¡­"


    "Just stay calm," Raul red at Carlos, thus instantly making thetter shut his mouth.


    Deep down in Raul''s heart, he truly didn''t care about what is happening right now around the vault. Even though he knows that most of his men right now are attacking each other, that still doesn''t worry him. The reason being is that he could easily rece them with the hundreds of souls that still remained inside the Sitan''s Ring in his possession. What''s important right now is he has sessfully made Rowan Starlight use the stamina that he has been reserving all this time.


    "Do you seriously think I didn''t notice what you were doing all this time?" Raul murmured to himself. He had already noticed a long time ago that Rowan Starlight was trying to tire out the six rookie Heroes that were destroying the door of the vault. He simply decided to let it be because he was also nning to do the sameter on.


    Now, once everything in front is eventually cleared out, he''d just simply summon another batch of souls to take care of Rowan Starlight. Supposed they still can''t handle it, then he''d just continue summoning more and more until thetter is finally eliminated.


    "I think there''s something strange going on. The smoke doesn''t seem to stop any time soon," Carlos immediately informed Raul of his suspicion.


    "Hmmm¡­" Raul quickly pulled himself together from his thoughts as he then observed the smoke closely. "Indeed. It''s as if someone is adding more to it¡­ Wait!"


    "Everyone, stop!" Raul immediatelymanded as soon as he realized that something wasn''t right.


    As expected, it is now toote and futile effort to think of stopping Raul''s men from fighting.


    The infighting happening around the vault was so confusing and disorganized that it was next to impossible to hear what Raul had shouted, let alone think about stopping.


    Although the souls had for sure stopped fighting, because they follow everything that Raul would order them to do because of the Sitan''s Ring in his possession. Unfortunately, that onlysted for a short moment since the rest of the Superhumans and the remaining Heroes were still attacking, thus leading the souls to counterattack once again. In the end, the chaos continues.


    "I should have taken this into consideration," Raul felt helpless at the current unchangeable situation. He had seriously forgotten that Rowan Starlight was the former holder of the Sitan''s Ring due to his negligence, so thetter is naturally aware of the ws of the souls it could summon.


    "What do we do now?" Carlos turned to look at Raul.


    "We''d have to look for where Rowan is?" That''s their only way to stop him from continuously adding more smoke to their surroundings.


    "Considering that this is the Technological Building plus the fact that this is his hideout, he probably prepared a fog machine somewhere nearby," Carlos assumed the possibility of Rowan Starlight having prepared everything already for exactly this kind of day toe. He might not be familiar with stuff rted to technology, but that doesn''t mean he is ignorant. He has seen plenty of instances where people used fog machines, and the type of smoke they spew out is more or less simr to what is surrounding the vault right now.


    "Indeed," Raul agreed with Carlos. With that in mind, he inwardly ordered some of his souls to get out of the battlefield and look for the supposed fog machine, or any machine that can spew out smoke to the surrounding.


    "They''re quicker than I thought," Kayn can''t help but remarked as he noticed Raul''s action.


    "Yeah, I initially assumed they''d take a bit more time to realize that something is wrong with the smoke," Natas added.


    "I wonder what''s Rowan Starlight''s next move going to be," Kayn said as he quickly turned his attention to where Rowan Starlight was hiding.


    While everyone was in a mess, Rowan Starlight had long already sneaked away. Currently, he is staying behind a group of wooden crates nearby the vault as he silently and quietly observes Raul and Carlos'' actions.


    As such, Rowan Starlight was easily able to notice Raul''s next move.


    "Just like what I nned," Rowan Starlight murmured to himself before pressing a button hidden under his right sleeve. This button was a controller that controls all gadgets he had installed beforehand around the underground warehouse. And that button he had pressed was a trigger to turn off the fog machine.


    Evidently, Rowan Starlight doesn''t want Raul to find the fog machine yet. Probably because he still has some kind of n that needs their useter on.


    With the fog machine turned off, the smoke surrounding everyone no longer continued to increase in size and be denser. Although it still didn''t disappearpletely as it would take some time before that happens.


    Albeit that was exactly what Rowan Starlight intended to achieve.


    As everyone is still busy infighting within the smoke, and Raul and Carlos are preupied with trying to find the fog machine without knowing that it was already hidden, Rowan Starlight, on the other hand, silently moved to another spot.


    This time, Rowan Starlight moved towards another group of crates just a few tens of meters away from his previous location.


    Unlike the other crates that were small in size, this group of crates was bigger. Also, even though they seemed to be a group of crates, they are actually connected with one another, it just seems like it wasn''t because Rowan Starlight made it that way in order to secretly hide something inside ¡ª A secret weapon.

 Chapter 23 Pest Killing Machine

    ?Chapter 23: Pest Killing Machine


    To be more precise, it was a new invention of Rowan Starlight that he didn''t reveal to the public or anyone else yet for the main purpose of it being used as a surprise in this kind of situation.


    Honestly, with how he was always being bullied by Carlos and his goons, he had already expected something like this to happen sooner orter, either because he was pushed into a corner or it was time for payback. Although not as grand as what''s happening right now, at the very least his weapon could still be of some use.


    "It''s time to shine my baby," Rowan Starlight muttered to himself before pressing a secret button beside the crate which immediately caused all the plywood that surrounds it to fall on the ground.


    Boom!


    Boom!


    Boom!


    The plywood made a loud noise that instantly made everyone notice the strange event at their rear.


    As easy and simple as that, all infighting stopped and everyone''s attention was now fully focused on a gun-like structure that stood intimidatingly and majestically still while being directed straight towards them.


    "Holy shit!"


    "Didn''t they teach us that guns could no longer exist in our world because mana would obliterate its bullet before it could reach its target?"


    "Perhaps they were able to invent something to counter the mana?"


    "Do you seriously think that thing is a gun?"


    "It has a barrel, so what else could it be?"


    "A cannon, maybe?"


    "A cannon? That''s even worst than a gun!"


    "Idiot! As if a gun is any better for us!"


    "I don''t know man, I am just saying,"


    Contrary to what they were talking about though, it was actually neither a gun nor a cannon. Rather, it was simply a type ofuncher. Albeit not an ordinary one, as it doesn''t shoot out anything that could directly kill a person ¡ª just potentially. To be more exact, it shoots out a bunch ofs. Needless to say, they aren''t ordinarys.


    The machine has a homing device that when it locks onto a target, the will follow wherever the target would go with the help of a mini thruster installed to it that uses mana in the surroundings as fuel. Once it captures its target, it would then send an electric shock enough to knock them out.


    Moreover, the machine could predetermine the strength of its target, thus being able to adjust to many possible methods along with its likely oue on how to deal with them. Meaning to say, once locked on, there is no way for the target to escape the anymore. Unless of course if they are strong enough to destroy the.


    "As expected from you, Rowan," Raul can''t help but p his hands at the unexpected weapon that Rowan Starlight has prepared against them.


    "Were you expecting me to have something like this prepared as well?" Rowan Starlight sneered at Raul''s pretentious act.


    "Not really. But considering how you never back down on practically everything and deal with it with your own hands, I at least prepared myself for this much," Raul shook his head dismissively.


    "The question is, to what extent?" Rowan smirked.


    After saying that, Rowan Starlight immediately jumped on top of his machine and quickly activated it.


    The machine made some cracking noises followed by dozens of bright lights illuminating its body as its height quickly extended higher, only stopping upon touching the roof of the underground warehouse, evidently solving one of its starring weaknesses, which is destroying the ceiling and letting the rubbles fall onto it.


    "You never fail to amaze me, Rowan," Raul clicked his tongue, a bit worried that he won''t be able to defeat Rowan Starlight.


    "Let me introduce to you my Pest Killing Machine!" Rowan Starlight eximed in excitement.


    Whooosh!


    Whooosh!


    Whooosh!


    Before anyone could react, dozens ofs shot out from the barrel of the Pest Killing Machine directly straight towards the targets it had locked onto.


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Bang!<novelnext></novelnext>


    Bzzzzz!


    Bzzzzz!


    Bzzzzz!


    Not a single missed a target and everyone that was captured experienced an electric shock that they have never ever experienced in their entire life!


    That was what Raul thought to himself after seeing the result of the Pest Killing Machine''s attack. He was greatly rmed at the performance of Rowan''s machine.


    No one was spared from the, whether they were the rookie Heroes or the Superhuman bodyguards, and the worse thing was the souls that Raul had summoned using the Sitan''s Ring were obliterated into nothingness instead of simply losing consciousness like the former two.


    "Impossible! How can he even achieve 100% uracy?!" Even Carlos was dumbfounded at the sight. Even without needing to say it, he could already guess that the Pest Killing Machine was invented by none other than Rowan Starlight himself. It''s exactly because of that why he was shocked because he can''t believe that thetter has the capability to invent the machine with this kind of performance.


    "To tell you the truth, this machine was made exactly to deal with the Sitan''s Ring!" Rowan Starlight dropped bad news for Raul.


    Hearing that, Raul felt chills all over his body. "You think a machine like that is enough to defeat me and my army of souls?!"


    "I''ve not tested it personally. But theoretically speaking, yes,"


    "Maybe it can defeat hundreds of souls, but what if thousands or tens of thousands exist?"


    "Then I guess I''ll just have to make the appropriate amount of Pest Killing Machine to deal with whatever number you can summon!" Rowan Starlight let out an annoyingugh.


    Hearing that, Raul instantly felt dreadful. If what Rowan Starlight''s Pest Killing Machine could do was proven true, then all of his strategies that use numerical advantage would immediately be ineffective. And unfortunately for him, that''s the only thing the Sitan''s Ring is best at. At least as far as he knows as of right now.


    Despite that thought though, Raul still remainedposed on the surface as he then muttered, "That depends on whether your Pest Killing Machine could indeed win in this battle,"


    "I am already winning," Rowan Starlight blurted.


    In the next moment, numerouss were shot out from the Pest Killing Machine, straight away rendering dozens of men unconscious and thus unable to continue fighting.


    "As if!" Raul no longer hesitated as he ordered his summons tounch an offensive counterattack towards the Pest Killing Machine. In his mind, he believes that as long as he could take down that machine, then Rowan Starlight would immediately be defeated.


    However, to Raul''s surprise, something happened that abruptly destroyed all of his thoughts.


    All the summons was unable to continue approaching the Pest Killing Machine and were held back by some kind of forcefield in between.


    As Raul looked closely below his summons, he soon noticed that an unknown gadget was installed on all the sides of the plywood from the crates that dropped on the ground. These gadgets were changing the maic field of the surrounding, which in turn controls the mana nearby to form a shield that protects the Pest Killing Machine.


    "Do you seriously think that I would leave this precious machine of mine undefended?" Rowan Starlight sneered at Raul''s dumbfounded look on his face. If he truly did that, then everything he had put into preparing this machine is ultimately going to be useless. After all, the moment his enemy reaches the machine, it will automatically be game-over for him.


    "There should be a limit to how long you can take refuge in that second turtle shell of yours!" Raul refused to believe that he can''t do anything to Rowan Starlight. If he was able to destroy the first turtle shell, he believes that he''d also be able to do the same with the current one. Moreover, this time it''s going to be different since there were only the six rookie Heroes trying to destroy the vault previously,pared to now where there are more than hundreds of men he couldmand.


    "I wee you with open arms to do as much damage as you can to the shield!" Rowan Starlight said whileughing mockingly.


    With that thought in mind, Raul ordered his summons to smash and scratch the surface of the shield in hopes of dealing damage to it.


    On the other hand, Rowan Starlight fully focuses on incapacitating the forces of Raul, in that way he will be able to win once thetter doesn''t have any more men tomand.


    Meanwhile, Kayn and Natas observed the fight between Rowan Starlight against Raul in another inconspicuous location as they realized that it would be very easy to find them from their previous spot due to the current circumstances.


    "Once that shield is destroyed, that''s the moment where we wille in," Natas informed Kayn.


    Unlike the vault, the invention that is currently protecting Rowan Starlight from the forces of Raul has an obvious w to it. If the vault uses its sturdy structure to hold the enemies off, the shield relies on controlling the maic field in order to manipte the mana around them. So, once that control is affected, it will cause the entire shield to either shut downpletely or decrease in size. Either way, it''s only going to be a matter of time before Rowan Starlight is going to be pushed into a corner once again.


    Unsurprisingly, Raul has already discovered that w and is currently trying to take advantage of it to break into the defense of Rowan Starlight.


    "I know," Kayn nodded his head as he observed the summons destroying the ground underneath the plywood.


    That''s right. The w to the shield protecting Rowan Starlight is simply the ground. Apparently, the maic field seems to only be able to control the mana above, not below. As such, they could just make a tunnel and dig their way to the other side of the shield.


    "I guess Rowan Starlight wasn''t as thoroughly prepared as he imed to be," Kayn remarked.


    Although they don''t have a clue to confirm whether Rowan Starlight has another thing prepared to defeat Raul like the Pest Killing Machine or not, nevertheless they have still made up their minds to use this opportunity tounch their attack and provide reinforcement to Rowan Starlight.


    Moreover, Raul unknowingly made his location vulnerable to their surprise attack. If they don''t take advantage of this chance now, then there''s no telling when another one wille, or whether there is really going to be one or not, most likely because Rowan Starlight is going to deal with everything himself.

 Chapter 24 No One Will Be Able To Kill You When Youre Dead

    ?Chapter 24: No one will be able to kill you when you''re dead


    Contrary to what Kayn and Natas were thinking about though, the ground underneath the plywood was actually reconstructedpletely to make it hard enough to deal any damages towards it. Albeit it is still possible to dig through, it''s just going to take a long time to do sopared to any ordinary floors, especially in the case of the souls as they are extremely weak.


    "Good thing he has something like that prepared," Natasmended Rowan Starlight for his preparedness.


    "It''s still not going to hold on for long because of the number of souls digging through the floor," Kayn shook his head. If it was him, he would have thoroughly eliminated that weakness once and for all. But on the other hand, who is he to judge? Maybe Rowan Starlight doesn''t have enough resources to do so considering that he barely receives any support from the Starlight Family that''s why he could only force himself to feel satisfied with what he could achieve.


    "Anyways, let''s get close to Raul so that we can immediately eliminate him," Kayn quickly changed the topic and started proceeding to sneak around the path that allows him to move above Raul. In that way, he could simply drop down andunch a surprise attack.


    Honestly, he had considered beforehand going down onto the ground floor since it''s going to be a lot easier to deal with Raul in that location. However, because of how unpredictable the current situation is down below, he eventually decided not to do so in case he would identally get discovered.


    Regardless, he could still achieve the same thing even if he is on the viewing tform as long as he thoroughly prepares himself.


    Without Raul noticing, Kayn and Natas soon arrived above him. They were silently observing the former and thinking of how to effectively deal with him considering that they still have to drop down to the ground tounch an attack.


    "There''s nothing heavy around us that we could just use to drop onto Raul''s head," Natas heave a sigh of helplessness. That would have been the easiest way to incapacitate Raul. Moreover, Kayn won''t have to risk revealing his identity to anyone. Speaking about that, "By the way, make sure to cover your face,"


    "With what?" Kayn rolled his eyes at Natas. He didn''t even prepare himself to experience this kind of situation right after the day he reincarnated, so let alone having a mask to hide his identity. He also left his bag in the Faculty Building beforehand so that he can easily maneuver around, as such he has nothing on him that he can use to hide his face.


    "How about your clothes?" Natas suggested.


    "You want me to go down there topless?"


    "If it''s okay for you, then why not?"


    "Forget about that idea. I don''t want to hear rumors about a shirtless guy saving Rowan Starlight from danger spread around the Starlight Hero Academy," Just the thought of that was already enough to send shivers down Kayn''s spine. "And besides, I actually want them to know who I am,"


    "Why so?"


    "Have you thought of the reason why I was forced to enter the ''Tower'' ahead of time?"


    "And what about it?" Natas doesn''t get how that is rted to this matter of not wearing a mask.


    "At that time, what mainly influenced me to get inside the ''Tower'' was that I cared way too much about my image. I wanted the entire world to see me as a Hero again by going inside the ''Tower'' and doing something to redeem myself. In the end, where did that get me?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Back to the start,"


    "Exactly! I returned back to the beginning. To the starting line once again. As far as I am concerned, I couldn''t say for certain that this is actually good for me. After all, it would have also been better if I have indeedpletely destroyed the ''Tower'' back then. Not to mention, I could have finally taken a rest from all this Hero stuffs. Needless to say, this reincarnation is not useless as it ultimately gives me the chance to perform much better,"


    "And that''s the main reason why I don''t want to wear a mask. I want them to know the unknown variable that caused their n to be destroyed. I want them to know that I am not pure and work solely for the light. This time, I want myself dead! Because they will never be able to kill me once I am dead!"


    "Are you telling me that you want to fake your death?" Natas immediately started shaking his head. "Just so you know, even if you fake your death, the ''Tower'' will still know of that. As a matter of fact, you''d only be even more suspicious,"


    "Of course, I am not nning to fake my death! I am more than aware of how pointless that is because the ''Tower'' could just simply inform Nichs of my true identity," Kayn wasn''t stupid enough to fall for that obvious trap. "All I am trying to say is, I don''t want to have a clean hand. This time, if it''s necessary for me to have blood all over me, then I will do exactly that! If the people long already thought of me to be on the borderline between good and evil, then they won''t have anything to say regardless of me doing whatever I believe is right,"


    "In other words, you want to be immune from the public opinion of the entire world?" Natas quickly understood what Kayn meant with his words.


    "Yes! And I will be using this moment as my stepping stone for that n!" Kayn finally revealed his ns.


    "That''s a good idea!" Natas approved of Kayn''s n without any second thoughts. Anyways, this event isn''t really going to be something that will get the entire world''s attention. At most, it would only be treated as nothing more than a group of students fighting against each other if ever it was reported. So, even if Kayn reveals that he was the one that saved Rowan Starlight, it won''t go as far as the ''Tower'' thinking of him as a threat nor World President Nichs would make a move to eliminate him. Well, it could still be a taint in Kayn''s record.


    "And besides, the more I try to hide it, the more people would want to investigate and find any faults about me. Rather than having that, it''s much better for them to outright find out that it was me," Kayn added. The Starlight Family is a very powerful family in the Dragon Beast Republic. So, it''s only going to be a matter of time before they discover that it was him that intervene to save Rowan Starlight. If he tries to hide, then they will find out that he investigated Rowan Starlight in the Faculty Building first before arriving at the Technological Building. By then, he can''t use the excuse that he just happened to be at the right time and the right ce, which is exactly what he intends to say. That''s no doubt going to be an effective reason for him. After all, he has no past rtionship with Rowan Starlight prior to this event.


    "Once the shield is destroyed, Raul would be too busy celebrating his triumph. That''s when we will drop down as he won''t expect our sudden intrusion," Natas changed the topic to inform Kayn of the perfect opportunity tounch their attack.


    "Alright," Kayn nodded his head as he turned his attention to the fight.


    Immediately, Kayn and Natas noticed that a hole has already formed underneath the plywood. As of this moment, some souls have already gotten inside the shield and are currently destroying the gadget that maniptes the mana.


    Luckily though, the souls weren''t having it easy removing the gadgets as they were embedded seemingly perfectly onto the plywood. Plus, with the strength of the souls, they would have to rely on numbers once more to destroy the gadgets. Needless to say, Rowan Starlight didn''t just watch while all of that happened.


    The Pest Killing Machine has now redirected its barrel toward the souls that have gotten inside the shield. Those that are still outside can''t post any sort of threat as long as the shield exists, so Rowan Starlight didn''t bother them anymore and turned his focus towards those that have gotten inside.


    "That will simply act as a band-aid to Rowan''s current predicament," Natas sighed in pity. As more and more holes underneath the plywood are formed, the number of souls inside the shield will simrly increase. No matter how good the performance of the Pest Killing Machine is, it won''t be able to defend the gadgets that create the shield for long. Not to mention, there would definitely be excess in souls, which Raul would no doubt use to distract Rowan Starlight. By that time, the gadgets would be left defenseless and it''s only going to be a matter of time before they get destroyed. Once that happens, the shield will drop down and nothing will hold back the souls outside anymore.


    With that in mind, Natas turned to Kayn and said, "Rowan won''t be able to hold for long. Start making your preparation,"

 Chapter 25 Cooperating With Rowan

    ?Chapter 25: Cooperating with Rowan


    It didn''t take long for Natas'' prediction to happen.


    Multiple holes were consequently formed around the Pest Killing Machine in the center, which was evidently Raul''s strategy to prevent Rowan Starlight from escaping once again. Moreover, the viewing tform right above the machine also already has a few souls prepared for thetter in case he thinks of escaping through there.


    To put it simply, there was no way for Rowan Starlight to escape anymore.


    However, despite that helpless situation, no panic could still be seen on Rowan Starlight''s face. It was as if everything is all ording to his n.


    Seeing that, Raul didn''t let down his guard. He decided to destroy the gadgets that provided the shield for the Pest Killing Machine first instead of carelessly charging toward Rowan Starlight just because he has thetter surrounded on all sides.


    However, to Raul''s surprise, the barrel of the Pest Killing Machine suddenly started changing its target. Following the trajectory of where it was pointing, it didn''t take him long to discover that it was now directed straight toward him. What''s even worst was, he sent all the summoned souls to attack while leaving only Carlos and his goons to protect him.


    It was only at this moment that Raul finally realized that what he actually thought to be an opportunity and advantage for him was actually all just a trap.


    In the next moment, a bullet-proof ss instantly encases Rowan Starlight inside, which prevented anyone from reaching him.


    With that, all the effort that Raul had invested in destroying the second turtle shell of Rowan Starlight turned useless since a third one appeared. And it''s even as annoying as the first turtle shell.


    Regardless though, Raul didn''t feel anxious. He straight away decided to order half of the souls that got inside the shield to charge toward the Pest Killing Machine with the order to destroy it while the remaining half would stay to destroy the gadget that prevented the rest from attacking. At the same time, he also summoned more souls from his Sitan''s Ring to act as his shield.


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Bang!


    In the following moment, dozens ofs were shot toward the direction of Raul.


    Booom!


    Booom!


    Booom!


    The dozens of souls that Raul had just finished summoning instantly got incapacitated.


    "Shit!" Raul felt a bit agitated as he hastened his summoning of more souls to shield him.


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Booom!


    Booom!


    Booom!


    Unfortunately, the speed of firing of the Pest Killing Machine was a lot fasterpared to the speed of Raul summoning his souls with the Sitan''s Ring. Because of that, a few goons of Carlos could only be helplessly sacrificed to thes. Well, that was part of their purpose from the very beginning ¡ª to be cannon fodders.


    Meanwhile, Kayn has already finished his preparation to help Rowan Starlight.


    "What are you waiting for?" Natas felt slightly anxious at Kayn dying his action. The fight has already reached its climax. If Kayn still doesn''t make a move soon, then there might no longer be any opportunity to do soter on. "Go!"


    "Just wait a bit more," Kayn shook his head. This was not yet the opportunity tounch his surprise attack as Raul, Carlos and his goons are closely observing their surroundings to defend against thes. Also, he needs to look for the perfect time when the Pest Killing Machine slows down its shooting. Otherwise, he might identally get caught by the instead, which will render all of their efforts ultimately useless.


    "If only I knew that this was Rowan''s final card, then I would have executed my sneak attack a long time ago," Kayn slightly regretted his prior choice. They have wasted their time looking for the perfect opportunity tounch a surprise at Raul that they failed to take into consideration what Rowan Starlight might do next. In the end, thetter''s n is now preventing him from having any chance to attack.


    Of course, he can''t solely me himself because they have been wasting time all this moment. After all, they didn''te here prepared for anything. That was the exact reason in the beginning why they can''t make any rush moves, as they fear affecting the already determined oue of Raul''s defeat. If they end up affecting negatively, then Rowan Starlight would be the one in big trouble.


    "I only have one way left," Kayn turned to look at Rowan Starlight and observed where thetter was looking at. After doing so, he calcted the range of Rowan Starlight''s vision as he then made some small noticeable actions to get his attention.


    "What are you doing?!" Natas was greatly rmed at Kayn''s action.


    "I need to cooperate with Rowan," Kayn exined. Although even if he doesn''t do anything Rowan Starlight would still beat Raul now that thetter had fallen into the trap. That would also mean their n of making Rowan Starlight their ally sooner would fail. He doesn''t want that, so he has to do something. And this is the only way he could think about.


    Natas quickly understood the reason behind Kayn''s action. He could only hope deep inside that it will seed.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Fortunately, not long after, Rowan Starlight finally noticed Kayn right above Raul.


    "Eh? Who is that man?" Rowan felt curious about what an unknown person was doing here. "No! More importantly, I think he is trying to give me a signal for something that can help me,"


    Although he doesn''t trust the unknown person a single bit and was also doubtful of his existence, Rowan still decided to observe Kayn closely enough that it won''t affect his onught toward Raul. Thankfully, thetter was giving him familiar hand signals that they were taught about in the Starlight Hero Academy, so it made him a bit relieved.


    "Ahhh! I understand now!" Rowan nodded his head as he turned his full attention back to Raul. "It seems like heaven is on my side today,"


    In the next moment, the barrel of the Pest Killing Machine turned a bit to the right. Raul was still under its range, as a matter of fact, he was now right at the very center of it, but this also means that the suppression at the left side had mellowed down to some degree, which gives an opportunity to someone.


    Seeing that Rowan had understood his n, Kayn immediately prepared himself to jump down to Raul. But before finally doing it though, he made an okay signal to Rowan Starlight.


    Rowan Starlight immediately nodded his head after seeing Kayn''s signal.


    All of a sudden, the firing of the Pest Killing Machine subsided.


    "Eh?!" Raul immediately senses the change.


    And so, was Carlos, "Don''t let your guard down! I suspect that this is another trap,"


    "Understood!"


    Carlos turned to look at Raul and asked, "Could there be any possibility that Rowan''s Pest Killing Machine has run out of ammo?"


    "It could be. But considering how cautious he is, I don''t think that time is anywhere close," Raul shook his head at the possibility of the Pest Killing Machine running out of ammo this quick.


    "Maybe he is preparing for something bigger," Carlos immediately realized.


    "I am afraid that could only be the case," Raul agreed with Carlos.


    It was exactly what Raul and Carlos had expected. But what they didn''t know is that the attack won''t actuallye from the direction of the Pest Killing Machine.


    Without anyone expecting, someone fell from the top of Raul.


    That person soonnded in front of Raul, which made thetter unable to process what exactly was going on as his vision was suddenly blocked.


    Before Raul could react to the sudden turn of events, he immediately received a punch through his stomach that instantly made him kneel down on the floor while coughing out some saliva. Swiftly following after that, an axe kicknded powerfully on top of his head.


    Bang!


    Raul''s head was forcefully shoved straight to the floor.


    Booom!


    And as if that wasn''t enough yet, Raul was sent tumbling multiple times to the left corner as he suffered from another kick to the right side of his head.


    Everything happened seemingly in a blink of an eye. And before anyone could react to what just happened, Raul was already sent away from the center and is now currently lying down on the ground unconscious.


    "Who¡­ who are you?!" Carlos was evidently panicked stricken with the unexpected event.


    "You seriously don''t recognize this face?" Kayn snickered at Carlos.


    Carlos quickly recollected his memories of the student of the Starlight Hero Academy and was soon able to identify the identity of the young man that suddenly arrived, "Wait! You''re Kayn!"


    "Bingo!" Kayn said as he suddenly positioned his body. In the next moment, a low-angle side-piercing kick was sent straight toward Carlos'' stomach. "Unfortunately for you, there is no reward!"


    Seeing Kayn''s attack, Carlos swiftly raised his left foot and left hand at the same time as he holds down the former''s foot at the perfect moment it reached in between. "Now that I am on guard, don''t expect that I''ll be the same as Raul,"


    However, to Carlos'' surprise, Kayn followed up with a beautiful butterfly kick that lifted him up into the air. He then made an arc right above the former''s head before hitting his nape.


    Performing that kind of attack would have caused a minimal degree of damage to its target, but considering the fact that Kayn is a bonafide Superhuman, his strength could not be underestimated. Thus, Carlos was forcefully sent walking a few steps to his front after he received the kick, which simultaneously freed Kayn from having one of his feet locked.


    Carlos didn''t want to drop down to the floor with the loss of his bnce in fear of experiencing the same fate as Raul, so he tried his best to straighten up his body using the momentum of his forward walk.


    Needless to say, Kayn obviously won''t just watch Carlos as thetter tried to regain his posture.


    Just when Carlos was close to straightening his body, he suddenly received a strong double kick to his back that immediately sent him stumbling multiple times in front for a brief moment before eventually falling to the floor. The only thing he could hear after that was a piercing whistling sound of the wind above him as he soon felt the pain of a powerful kicknding on his head. After that, everything went ck for Carlos.


    Simr to Raul, everything happened to Carlos in a quick and sessive motion. It was so fast that none of thetter''s goons were even able to brace themselves to try and help Carlos after seeing what happened to Raul.

 Chapter 26 The Real Threat Isnt As Scary As It Seems

    ?Chapter 26: The real threat isn''t as scary as it seems


    Now that both Raul and Carlos were sent unconscious by Kayn, the remaining goons were left questioning what they should do next without both their leaders telling them what to do.


    In the goons'' minds, they were having conflicting thoughts about whether they should fight for Raul and Carlos or just run away from this ce. If they choose the former and try to fight against Kayn, then they''ll only be sent unconscious sooner orter as well. Whereas if they choose thetter, they will no doubt receive punishment once the two woke up and discover that they didn''t do anything to help and instead just run away.


    But on second thought, they''d actually also experience the same with the first option, especially considering the type of character Raul and Carlos are, albeit with a lesser punishment, but if they add the pain they will experience from fighting against Kayn, there''s almost no difference at all.


    In the end, none of them were able to reach any conclusion. They simply stood rooted in the same spot as they watched Kayn walking in the direction of Rowan Starlight.


    Unfortunately for them, Rowan Starlight wasn''t nning on just letting the goons be after all that they have done to him.


    As soon as Kayn was far out of range, the Pest Killing Machine started firing a bunch ofs.


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Bang!


    In a blink of an eye, all the goons were caught by thes and were sent convulsing on the spot for a brief moment due to the strong electric shock that was sent by thes before they eventually started losing consciousness.


    "That wasn''t necessary, right?" Kayn can''t help but ask. Those goons were already going to suffer from Raul and Carlos anyways regardless of Rowan Starlight doing anything to them or not.


    "It was for the bullying they have done to me," Rowan shook his head before jumping out from the Pest Killing Machine.


    "Fair enough," Kayn decided to just drop it.


    "By the way, why did you decide to help me, Kayn?" This was the question Rowan really wanted to know the moment he saw Kayn wanting to help him. After all this time, no one has chosen to help him against Carlos and his goons'' bullying. Yet now someone actually decided to do so. On top of that, this guy was one of the recognized brightest stars of the Starlight Hero Academy. He is feeling curious about it and at the same time suspicious if there were perhaps any ulterior motives behind it.


    Hearing the question, Kayn didn''t answer immediately as he choose to continue approaching Rowan.


    Nevertheless, Rowan simply stayed on guard against the approaching Kayn. He wasn''t feeling the least bit afraid of thetter despite seeing his ability to take down both Raul and Carlos seemingly in an instant. Compared to those two, he is a bonafide Hero, so there''s bound to be a difference between them if Kayn decides to fight him. In his mind, he even believes that he is capable of taking down thetter as long as he expends all that he got.


    Contrary to what Rowan was thinking about though, Kayn doesn''t intend on fighting against him the least bit. As soon as he arrived in front of the former, he stopped walking and raised his hand before saying, "Give me your hand,"


    "Why?" Despite not knowing the reason why, Rowan still decided to put his hand in front.


    To Rowan''s surprise, a skull-shaped ring dropped from Kayn''s fingers straight toward his hand.


    It was the Sitan''s Ring, which Kayn quickly and secretly stole from Raul before he punched the stomach of thetter a while back then.


    "My Sitan''s Ring!" Rowan felt shocked and at the same time disbelief at seeing his ring being casually dropped onto his fingers by Kayn. He could already guess that thetter know clearly well just how powerful the Sitan''s Ring is. Yet despite that, Kayn actually still decided to give it to him.


    In the midst of confusion, Rowan kept on changing his nce from the Sitan''s Ring on his hand back to Kayn in front of him and then back to the ring once more before repeating the same process all over again.


    It was quite evident the degree of the emotions that Rowan was feeling at the moment.


    That behaviorsted for dozens of seconds before Rowan eventually decided to stare solemnly at Kayn. "I don''t know why you helped me, but I own you a very huge favor for this,"


    "I can''t answer your question of why I decided to help you. But time will eventually show you the answer," Kayn smiled sheepishly. No matter how he thought about it along the way, he seriously doesn''t know what to say in order to leave a memorable impression on Rowan. He was so used to showing actions rather than words that he was leftpletely helpless right now and could only decide to act mysterious.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Well, on the other hand, although he wants Rowan to be his ally, he can''t just go around revealing every single detail about his n. After all, the one that truly helped him was the future Rowan. There is no telling for certain yet what kind of path the present Rowan would decide to walk now, especially considering the fact that he ns to intervene in his fate. If by unfortunate circumstances Rowan decides to betray him in the far future, then there is no doubt that he will reveal all the secrets he learned about him.


    Simply put, until Rowan earns his trust, he won''t reveal any secret information to him.


    "Whatever it is, that doesn''t change the fact that I owe you for returning this ring to me," Rowan didn''t mind Kayn not telling him the truth. "If it''s okay to ask, how did you get here?"


    "Well, let''s just leave it as nothing more than a coincidence," Kayn said as he started walking towards the exit of the underground warehouse.


    "Alright," Rowan nodded his head before quickly following behind Kayn. There''s nothing left to do here anyways, so he might as well leave. "But do you know who those people you beat up are?"


    "Probably some big shots,"


    "I won''tbel Carlos as a big shot since his household basically hates him, but Raul is different,"


    "I heard him calling you brother,"


    "Yes, he is one of the many brothers in my family,"


    "Is that a problem?"


    "Not really. The problem is that he belongs to the same Starlight Family as me. In case you don''t know, the Starlight Family is one of the most influential Households in the Dragon Beast Republic and could represent one of its strengths,"


    "I know that the Starlight Family is a huge, great, powerful, and mighty household. But what about it?"


    "What do you mean ''What about it?'' Obviously, you''re going to get in big trouble! Worst, you might even die,"


    "Are the people behind this event the Starlight Family itself?"


    "Technically, no. It''s probably the scheme of my brothers and sisters, at least a third of them,"


    "Then do they represent the entire Starlight Family?"


    "I guess not yet,"


    "There you go! Since it''s not the Starlight Family that perpetrated this mess, then I don''t have to worry about them. All I have to worry about are your brothers and sisters,"


    This was something that a lot of people greatly misunderstand about huge and influential households like the Starlight Family. To tell the truth, as long as one doesn''t actually mess with the real powers behind the household, then they will at most only be suffering from those that belong to it.


    That might still spell trouble, and depending on some factors, there might be a chance of suffering from really unfortunate consequences. But nevertheless, there is still a limit to the extent of power those people who simply belong to a certain powerful household could use. Not because one had offended them, it automatically means that they will face the wrath of the entire Starlight Family or the likes. Actions like that are what narrow-minded people do, which is a very rare trait for those on the top. How else would they reach their current status, right?


    It was because of that misunderstanding that''s why no one would casually mess with the likes of the Starlight Family. And honestly, that is quite advantageous for them as they don''t have to deal with every Tom, Dick, and Harry thates their way.


    However, he is not like those types of people. As someone who is familiar with and understands extremely well how influential and powerful households like that work, he doesn''t fear those mere cats and dogs that likes to y house under the pretense that they hold the banner of their family. Instead, those wolves and lions are the real ones he needs to pay close attention not to offend.


    In the case of Rowan Starlight, he already understood long ago that even if he intervened in this scheme, he won''t be offending the Starlight Family, rather it''s just going to be Rowan Starlight''s brothers and sisters, who in fact isn''t that useful in the family as of the moment. Well, maybe some of them are. But the people who truly stood on top of the food chain in the Starlight Family and stand a chance to fight for the position of the next heir to their household won''t care about a single tree burning, especially if the tree isn''t important.


    Looking at Raul, although he belongs to the Starlight Family, considering the capability he had shown so far ¡ª getting helplessly bullied and all of that. He is far from being considered a threat in the battle of who will be the next head of the Starlight Family.


    The real threat isn''t as scary as it seems if one simply looks at it from a different angle.

 Chapter 27 Escape

    ?Chapter 27: Escape


    "Be quiet," Kayn raised his hand to warn Rowan to stop for the moment.


    They have already arrived in front of the door of the underground warehouse.


    At this point, Superhuman bodyguards are expected to be standing guard outside of the door, and one of the reasons why they still haven''t gotten inside is definitely because of how strong the soundproofing of the underground warehouse is. Back then, he also didn''t hear anything inside the underground warehouse because of that reason.


    Well, why else would they not notice themotion happening inside if it wasn''t for that, right?


    It could also be that theirrades were either eliminated in quick session or busy focusing on dealing with Rowan Starlight that they didn''t have time to consider calling for help. Or that maybe they were ordered not to do so as the only purpose of those Superhuman bodyguards outside is to literally just stand on guard and prevent anyone from approaching the Technological Building.


    To put it simply, Kayn doesn''t know the exact reason why and he doesn''t have time to find out the reason. Even if he did, he won''t waste his time on such a small and unimportant matter. Though if there is one thing he knows clearly, that is they are currently blocking their path to escape and he has no choice but to eliminate them if he wants to get out of this ce.


    Kayn turned to look at Rowan and said, "I forgot to tell you about this, but I don''t actually n on hiding the fact that I saved you,"


    "Even if you try to, you can''t, especially with Carlos recognizing you already," Rowan said as he let out a silent chuckle.


    "Precisely! That''s why after we leave, you will feign ignorance about the reason why I helped you to your brothers and sisters once they ask. Just tell them exactly what I told you before I was just coincidentally at the Technological Building. Leave the rest of the exnation to me,"


    "If you think that will lessen your trouble, then I don''t mind doing that,"


    "But first, we will have to take care of all the Superhuman bodyguards outside,"


    "Eh?! I thought you already took care of them!"


    "If I really did, then Raul would have long already been informed of my arrival,"


    "Then what do you n on doing?"


    "Can you kick the door open?"


    "I think you are greatly underestimating me,"


    Without any hesitation, Rowan Starlight exerted force onto his right leg before kicking it straight toward the door in front of them.


    Booom!


    In the next moment, the door blocking their way was instantly sted open as it then came crashing toward the wall in front, creating some cracks onto its surface, evidently showing just how strong Rowan Starlight''s kick actually was.


    Meanwhile, the Superhuman bodyguards on both sides of the door were only able to see how it happened before they were suddenly pulled behind the cloud of dust. The next moment, Kayn and Rowan walked out bothpletely unharmed while the two Superhuman bodyguards are now lying unconscious behind them.


    Although the two Superhuman bodyguards weren''t able to radio in quick enough what just happened at their location, the other Superhuman bodyguards assigned at different locations around the Technological Building still noticed the disturbance. After all, the sound of the door being sted open was really loud, especially considering the fact of how quiet the ce was as there were hardly any people present to make any sound.


    "So, you were nning on creating disturbance so that you won''t have to look for them one by one?" Rowan finally understood the reason behind Kayn''s action.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Just partly," Kayn smiled excitedly.


    "I think I know the other reason," Rowan felt a bit dismay at the recklessness of Kayn. He seriously thought before that Kayn was a careful person after seeing how he was able to sneak on top of Raul without thetter and his men noticing him. "I didn''t expect that you were this kind of person,"


    "Don''t get me wrong, I just need to stretch my body," Kayn shook his head dismissively.


    As someone who was so used to doing everything while having a tremendously powerful body, it''s a bit weird and unfamiliar for him to do things in his current state, especially with this day only being the second day after his reincarnation. If hepared his current strength to the future him, he wouldbel it as the difference between the Earth and the entire universe ¡ªunlimited and immense. And what else is the best way to quickly adapt to it other than fighting?


    After saying that, Kayn immediately lunges forward toward the iing Superhuman bodyguards.


    "Don''t leave me behind!" Rowan quickly followed after. Not that he also wants to stretch himself, he just wants to quickly leave this ce and go to ss as soon as possible. Needless to say, it''s obviously not to study but to go to sleep so that he can take a rest after experiencing all the trouble caused by Raul and Carlos, and his goons. Moreover, he is already a Hero, so it''s time for him to put into practice everything he has learned in their practical sses. As for when that is going to be? It would probably be soon.


    ¡­..


    Kayn and Rowan Starlight talked about something for a bit after they finished dealing with everything in the Technological Building before eventually they bid farewell to each other and went separate ways.


    As for what they were talking about, it was something that will greatly help Rowan Starlight in the future.


    On the way to his ssroom, Kayn can''t help but reminiscence about how peaceful his life was when he was still going to school every day and only focusing on the practical sses taught by the Starlight Hero Academy instead of dealing with problems after problems rted to the remation of areas where dungeon outbreaks took ce and the subjugation of the floors inside the ''Tower''.


    If hepares what happened to his life at this moment to the future, it''s like the difference between night and day. Truthfully speaking, his future is going to be fought on the brink as it''s going to be full of disastrous and unfortunate events. Nevertheless, he never regretted everything that he did, including saving those ungrateful bunch of people. That''s because it was only by doing all of those that he was able to get whatever he wanted to have in life. It might not have given him a happy ending, though did he even wishes for that in the first ce, but it sure did change his life.


    Anyways, there is no doubt inside his mind anymore that life after the ''Tower'' is gone from Earth is going to be a lot better.


    Natas who was silent ever since they saved Rowan Starlight immediately noticed the look on Kayn''s face and understood what he was thinking about inside his mind, "Are you perhaps thinking about how good life is if only the ''Tower'' didn''te to Earth?"


    "No, it''s different," Kayn shook his head. "I have long already epted the fact that we can never change the fate of the ''Tower''ing to Earth after you exined the reason why it arrived on our world in the first ce. And I believe the majority of the people already epted that as well. What I was thinking instead was how good the future will definitely look like once the ''Tower'' is gone,"


    "I can''t tell you for certain about that yet, since I don''t know what will happen once the ''Tower'' is cleared. But what I can guarantee to you is that it will for sure save a lot of lives that could have been lost due to the danger brought by the existence of the ''Tower'', not only on your but to the others across the endless universe as well," Natasforted Kayn. But then he quickly added with a solemn look on his face, "However, at this point in time, you don''t have any right to dream of that moment,"


    "Indeed," Kayn epted the reality without a second doubt. With his current state, let alone clearing all the floors of the ''Tower, he doesn''t even know whether he could really defeat Nichs or not. So, thinking about what will happen after the ''Tower'' is gone is like dreaming of an impossible thing.


    To tell the truth, it might have seemed like Nichs was weaker than him because thetter used a lot of schemes in order to take him down. In the end, it wasn''t even Nichs that defeated him, instead, it was the Gods of the ''Tower''. In other words, it was still the ''Tower'' that defeated him. But that''s actually only the case with the future him.


    There''s no denying that the future him was the strongest Hero to ever exist on the entire Earth, or probably to ever exist throughout the thousands of years of existence of the ''Tower''. Not to sound narcissistic, but ording to what Natas has described so far, he was the only person to ever reach that far into the ''Tower.


    That was the main reason in the first ce why Natas and the rest of the Gods has chosen him to be their savior and the destroyer of the ''Tower''.


    However, despite being the strongest, he was still defeated by the ''Tower'' in the end. Because of that, his n has changed now and he doesn''t want to walk on the same path as he previously walked. Rather, he ns to walk a path that will make him even strongerpared to the future him.


    And it''s exactly because of that reason why at this point in time he should not be dreaming of what will happen after the ''Tower'' is gone from Earth. Because everything that will happen in the future is definitely not going to be the same as how it was in the first life or the second life.


    Natas was easily able to see through what Kayn was nning on doing from now on, as always. Deep inside of him, he could only hope that it will work out. And at the same time, he is preparing himself to do whatever he could do to help him achieve his goals in the future. After all, he forced this responsibility on Kayn''s shoulder, and he''s already fortunate enough that he didn''t take offense about it and start rebelling from day one, so the least he could do is do his part.

 Chapter 28 House Of Dragons

    ?Chapter 28: House of Dragons


    After walking for about some time, Kayn finally stopped in front of a really tall six-story building.


    The reason for it being described by him as a really tall six-story building is because the height separating each floor of this building isparable to five floors whenpared to ordinary buildings, or simply put 70 feet high.


    This building is called the School of Dragons, which is where the top students of the Starlight Hero Academy gather together. In other words, this is where one could find all the genius students and individuals with heaven-defying talents. Anyone in here practically has the potential to hugely influence the world affairs of the Dragon Beast Republic or the Four Beast Alliance the moment they are granted ess to enter the ''Tower''.


    Of course, just having the potential alone is not in any way special and doesn''t always guarantee sess in the future. Just one wrong move and all of those expectations would eat on those students instead and spit them out afterward as mere bones, or even worst just ashes. That is exactly why there is a specific ce to gather them together and teach them how to make use of their potential to the fullest.


    In this huge building, there is a total of six ssrooms only, which are respectively allocated a floor each. Each floor is different from the others and has its ownplete individual facilities to amodate the talent that students who are assigned to each of those floors possess. This exins why each floor is as high as 70 feet.


    Not to be mistaken, being assigned to a higher floor in the School of Dragons doesn''t actually mean that they are higher in rankpared to the other students who are assigned to a lower floor. It is just that there are facilities that can and should only be put on the bottom floor due to some factors involved while other facilities are okay to be put on the floors after that and so on and so forth.


    Moreover, students are assigned to rooms where they can easily ess the facilities they needed, not because they have more potential than the others. Take for instance, if the student needs facilities where it will greatly enhance and focus solely on improving their physical attribute the most, then of course they would be assigned to a room where there are facilities that can amodate their needs on that certain floor. Otherwise, they would be busy running around from one ce to another just to achieve their needs in their personal training.


    "I never get tired of seeing this ce," Kayn can''t help muttering to himself. Many years have already passed and he has experienced countless ces, but the School of Dragons always remains to have a special ce in his heart. This is regardless of the fact that this school is under his greatest nemesis, World President Nichs.


    "Why is that?" Natas asked.


    "This was where I experienced one of the greatest hardships of my life. The worst, to be more precise. It was just so bad that it left a bitter-sweet taste in my mouth every single time this ce was mentioned to me," Kayn showed a bitter smile on his face.


    "Was it seriously that bad?"


    "Literally! There were even times where I thought that maybe it''s much better to just die than to continue living if it was only going to be full of pain and suffering," Kayn paused as he shook his head, "But now that I think of it again, that was an important lesson in life. Without the experiences I learned from this ce, it would probably take longer for me to get my first reality check of what it''s like living in the ''Tower'',"


    "Now I am excited to see what this ce is really like," Natas was intrigued by Kayn''s description of the School of Dragons and can''t wait to confirm it with his own eyes.


    "You''re about to see it soon," Kayn said as he prompted his hand to follow him.


    Kayn started walking towards the ss-frame door entrance of the House of Dragon. As he was walking close, he started hearing shoutsing inside the building. The closer he got, the louder and the more people shouting he could hear.


    It would have been fine if it was just any simple shout. But the shouts clearly have signs of extreme pain mixed within them.


    "What are those noises all about?" Natas felt confused.


    "Don''t mind that those are just students doing some training," Kayn rest assured Natas.


    "Is that normal?"


    "Very normal. It''s almost like this every day here, especially on the first floor since it''s where all the facilities rted to physical enhancement training are located. Students here are always doing physical exercises that require a lot of endurance, stamina, and strength, which equally trantes to pain,"


    "That exins why there is pain mixed with their voice,"


    "Oh, you can actually tell? Just wait until you see what they are doing. You''d be shocked beyond belief,"


    "You have probably forgotten that I''ve seen countless stuff in life. And these are just students, so what could they possibly offer that will shock me beyond belief? But, yeah, let''s just see if they can impress me," Natas smiled provokingly at Kayn. If before he only sees it as a way to satisfy his curiosity, but now it''s about whether the House of Dragons could, by any chance, astonish him by whatever means and to what degree.


    "Just wait," Kayn took the challenge without any hesitation.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Not long after, Kayn and Natas entered the entrance of the House of Dragons. The moment they got inside; they could instantly feel the heat of the entire ce oveing the temperature all around their bodies. Although thetter was some kind of spirit, he wasn''t spared by the burning sensation he could feel from his skin.


    "Is there a furnace or something close by?" Natas was wondering if they can perhaps turn down the heat of the furnace by a little bit since it was excessively hot.


    "This heat doesn''te from a furnace,"


    "You''re kidding me, right?"


    "Wait,e here," Kayn led Natas towards a door where there''s a small ss window where they can hope to see what''s happening inside the room. Unfortunately, all the facilities on this floor are put inside rooms that barely allowed anyone from viewing inside.


    The closer they got to the door, the hotter it felt for them to the point that they could already see their skin releasing some kind of smoke.


    Nevertheless, they ignored the heat and finally took a peek at the small ss window.


    Inside, they could see a group of men and women drenched in sweat in their sports attire while using different kinds of gym equipment. But unlike ordinary gym equipment, what they were using was clearly dozens of timesrger, heavier, and more sophisticatedly designed.


    However, that wasn''t the important part. The way the students were training here was really fast. And that was despite the fact they carried tremendous weight. Take for instance, some students were doing sit-ups with barbels in both hands that weights probably more than 500 kilos each. Others were deadlifting 10 tons of weight. While there were those that are bench pressing one ton of weight.


    Although the gym equipment they were using was heavy, they were still able to execute each rep quite easily and finish them in quick session before going to another form of exercise. They were obviously doing it so fast that their body shone like those of a gemstone called ruby and thick smoke was being released from their body due to the sweat evaporating into thin air that somewhat shrouded the room in fog.


    It was at this moment that Natas finally realized that the heat he is feeling right now doesn''t actuallye from any furnaces, but rather it came from the body of those people training inside. Their body is now releasing a lot of heat from how fast they are doing all the exercises. If this was the case with a car, then their bodies right now are overheating.


    "This much heat and it actually came from the bodies of these people? How marvelous," Natas nodded in approval as he turned to look at the other rooms. This heat he is feeling right now simply shows the dedication and the type of character that these people have. After all, only those that have powerful will could go through that hellish scene he had just seen. Any weak-minded individual would have long already given up just from the heat alone.


    Now, if the type of training the people in the first room are doing is already that insane, not to mention the other rooms. Natas could already imagine that it would definitely be hard and insane as well just based on the fact that he could hear shouts of paining from each of those rooms as well.


    Moreover, if this is what the first floor is like, then how much more are the other floors? Just what type of training exactly do they do that it''s at the same level as the extreme physical exercise he had seen just now?


    "What training is being done on the other floors?" Natas decided to just ask Kayn about it rather than assuming it in his mind.


    "As you can see, the first floor is obviously rted to physical and endurance training," Kayn started exining as he begins walking to the stairs leading to the next floor. Meanwhile, Natas closely followed behind him.


    "On the second floor of the House of Dragons, the training is all about speed and uracy, which is for range users and those students that use weapons that need one of those two skills,"


    "The third floor is for mechanics, logic, and algorithm, specifically for inventors and scientists,"


    "The fourth floor is for concealment and resourcefulness, obviously for those that have talent in being assassins and investigators,"


    "The fifth floor is formunication and strategy, evidently the floor where they teach the talented and potential futuremanders and generals,"


    "Andstly, the sixth floor is for the Elementalist. This is the floor where those that have awoken their elements really early on are assigned. I have not visited that floor even in the future, especially since information about the sixth floor is being tightly kept shut, so I don''t have any clue as to what''s going on over there. Though I''ve heard plenty of rumors about it. One is that the sixth floor is actually just an empty space where one could find a Teleportation circle which allows the students to teleport to another location where they do the real teachings. It''s because of how dangerous their actual training is that they can''t do it in the building of the House of Dragons even though it''s so big already. That is probably why the sixth floor is very silent all day and would only have some noises when it''s close to dismissal,"


    "Quite the spectacle the House of Dragons has presented itself as but is that seriously just it?"


    "Well,"


    "Just kidding. It''s indeed surprising, just like you''ve said, especially if you consider the fact that these are just students. I can already imagine the bright future they would have if they survive all of this, you being the best result of it,"

 Chapter 29 Kayn’s Gift And The Midas’ Curse

    ?Chapter 29: Kayn''s Gift and the Midas'' Curse


    "Anyways, let''s go to my room,"


    Since they are already done talking about the stuff rted to the House of Dragons, Kayn finally decided to lead the way to his room.


    "Now that you''ve mentioned that, which floor do you belong in the House of Dragons?" Natas can''t help but wonder.


    "Didn''t you already see what I am capable of?"


    "I''ve seen it, and as a matter of fact, I even experienced fighting against you. But that wasn''t your original weapon, right? Based on the information I''ve gathered about you, you don''t actually use a sword, but rather you use daggers way back during the early days of you being a Hero,"


    "No, I don''t mean it as in the future," Kayn immediately shook his head. Indeed, the talent he showed and has always used wasn''t the same as what he was known for in the future. In truth, he switched weapons somewhere in between. "I meant now. Just now, during the event in the Technological Building. You''ve seen what I was capable of. I think you can guess which floor I belonged from that,"


    Hearing Kayn mentioning the Technological Building, Natas immediately started recollecting his memories of how the former has performed at that time, including the time when he was out searching for the location of Rowan.


    Linguistic Mastery, Resourcefulness, Deception, Sneaking, Concealment, Stealth, Hunting Intuition, Body Proficiency, Quick and Precise Attacks¡­


    All of those skills are the abilities that only Master Assassins would prefer to execute.


    "You belong on the fourth floor!"


    "Yes!" Kayn confirmed. That''s right! Before he started using swords, he was actually once a Master Assassin and his main weapon was daggers. He started from that path, but eventually in the future, due to an important encounter he made with someone, he switched to using a sword instead. Every now and then he would still use a dagger, but ever since he became known as a Swordsman, those situations rarely happen. He still misses being a Master Assassin. As a matter of fact, he always moves like one despite preferring to use a sword in a fight. Probably because the skill, expertise, and talent are long already carved deeply in his body and through his muscle memory he unconsciously or consciously performs them.


    "I thought that was just a rumor that you were a Master Assassin back then," Natas was a bit surprised at Kayn''s revtion. "Well, considering your Gift, I guess that was a given already. I don''t know why I didn''t think of that beforehand,"


    Gift¡­


    That was the termmonly used by Heroes to describe the power they received after awakening and being recognized as Superhuman. This Gift is what separates Superhumans from ordinary people. It''s also what they would make use of to the fullest in order to achieve greater things in their career as Heroes, or because of unfortunate circumstances, as Viins.


    Simply put, Gift is the superpower Heroes and Viins possess.


    Kayn, as someone who is enrolled in the Starlight Hero Academy, naturally possesses a Gift. Otherwise, he won''t meet the most basic requirement one should have before being allowed to enroll in a Hero Academy.


    And this Gift that Kayn possess is what allowed him to be the greatest Hero on Earth.


    What is his gift?


    Kayn''s Gift is called 3R, it stands for Replicate, Recreate, and Reproduce.


    It might sound simple, but it''s actually overpowered, especially when he just first entered the ''Tower''.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Replicate, just like what the name suggests, it grants Kayn the ability to replicate something and use it for himself. At first, this something was only limited to being able to replicate simple things like a fellow Hero''s skill or talent. Thenter on he was able to replicate their stats and attributes. But then as his Gift got stronger, he was eventually able to replicate their Gifts. This gave birth to the first Hero on Earth who possesses more than five Gifts in their body. And that number just continued to grow the more Kayn copied other Heroes and Viins.


    In the case of Recreate, Kayn is able to recreate objects like weapons, tools, armors, and even buildings. It''s a lot simr to Replicate, except for the fact that it only allows him to recreate physical objects. Because of this ability, he could copy the blueprints of many great weapons, tools, and armors and then pass them to the respective craftsmen to make an identical copy of them. He was able to be extremely rich quite easily because of this Gift.


    Lastly, Reproduce. If Replicate and Recreate allows Kayn to copy something, the Gift Reproduce allows him to pass what he had copied to another Hero or even to an ordinary person, thus granting him the ability to create Heroes and possibly Viins. Strictly speaking, in most cases Gifts can only be used by its user. It''s called Gift in the first ce because of that reason. But in Kayn''s case, as long as he will it, he could give the Gift he had copied through the use of Replicate to another individual. This was the reason why his Guild ''Mischief'' became the number one Guild on Earth. If it wasn''t for this Gift, even if his Guild was made of a bunch of talented and gifted individuals, it would still not be able to stand a chance against all the greedy Guilds on Earth. Moreover, he won''t be able to keep everyone in his Guild if it wasn''t for the benefit of getting another Gift.


    Most important of all, the 3R Gift isn''t actually limited to only the individuals on Earth. Kayn can also Replicate, Recreate, and Reproduce anything inside the ''Tower'', including but not limited to the Gifts of the inhabitants of the ''Tower''. Sadly, he can''t do that to the Gods, as their power is bound to the ''Tower'', and Kayn can''t copy the ''Tower''. Otherwise, he would have easily overwhelmed the Gods and taken over the ''Tower'' a long time ago.


    However, as great as that may sound, the 3R has great limitations for its user. Well, that is naturally going to be the case considering just how overpowered it is. Another best example of that would be the Sitan''s Ring. It has no limitation on the number of summons, except that the summons should only be weaker than its user, or else the summoned soul would rebel.


    In the case of Kayn''s 3R, Kayn''s limitation is the duration for when he can use his Gift again. As the saying goes, everything has a price to pay. For Kayn, the stronger, more useful, and helpful the object or target he wants to Replicate, Recreate, or Reproduce is, the longer it would take for him to be able to do it again. Take for instance, if he Replicates a Gift that allows its user to manipte the gravity of their surroundings, he probably won''t be able to use Replicate once again for the next month. Though he can still use Recreate and Reproduce. But if he likewise uses them to copy a useful item and pass a powerful Gift, he would no longer be able to use his 3R Gift for a given duration. And unfortunately, that is something he mustn''t do no matter what.


    The moment all 3R is in cooldown, everything that Kayn had Replicated and Reproduce would temporarily disappear causing him to be Giftless. In other words, he would be an ordinary person for some time.


    If it was someone else, that would be okay for them. But since Kayn was an extremely important person, if ever a dayes when he is discovered not to possess any Gift, he would most likely get killed. All his enemies and those people he has offended would take advantage of that chance to eliminate him. Moreover, people who he once treated well might betray or abandon him for that reason.


    That was the main reason why no one aside from the Gods and the ''Tower'' knows of the Gift that Kayn possesses. And due to the rule of the ''Tower'' where the Gods absolutely can''t take advantage of the information that they have gotten through the help of their status in the ''Tower, the weakness of Kayn''s Gift didn''t spread. Though Natas strongly doubts that World President Nichs doesn''t know of that fact. That''s probably one of the reasons why Kayn hardly encounters Nichs because thetter is afraid that the former would copy his skills, talents, stats, attributes, and more importantly, his Gifts. In that case, Nichs would thoroughly be helpless against Kayn. And that should also be the reason why Nichs has to assign his daughter beside Kayn so that he would still know what Kayn is doing without the risk of him bing the target of 3R.


    "Being a Master Assassin indeed gave me a lot of opportunities to use my Gift 3R," Kayn said in a remark. "There was even an instance where I was able to steal someone else''s Gift by stealthily sneaking into their castle,"


    "I can see that," Natas expected that at the very least. Honestly, it isn''t that strange for Kayn to do something like that considering he is a Master Assassin. In fact, it would be really strange if he didn''t as everyone that he knows who possesses overpowered Gifts, items, weapons, armors, or tools had taken advantage of what they have to the fullest potential. Only someone stupid or ignorant would not do that, and he doesn''t believe Kayn to be one.


    "That was what I did in the early days inside the ''Tower; taking advantage of my 3R Gift to the fullest. But as I Replicated, Recreated, and Reproduce more things, I started to realize that my overall skill level was greatly affected by my overreliance on my Gift,"


    "I might have possessed a lot of Gifts that other Heroes and Viins could only imagine possessing. But I couldn''t say for sure that I was a Master of any of those said Gifts. In other words, I was a Jack of all trades but a master of none,"


    "What''s the use of possessing hundreds of Gifts, being able to tweak my skills, talents, stats, and attributes to my liking anytime, having overpowered weapons, tools, and armor, or passing those that I have Replicated and Recreated to anyone I want when I couldn''t even, in fact, perform them in the same level as my targets and to a desiring level?"


    "It was disappointing and regretful seeing myself that way. Like Midas who can turn anything into gold but is forbidden to do things that he likes or else those that gave him fun might identally turn into gold as well,"


    "Midas'' curse," Natas muttered. That was literally the curse given to most of those Heroes and Viins that possess overpowered Gifts.


    "That was why I switched from using a dagger to using a sword. It was so that I won''t continue to always rely on my Gift and would learn to put effort into developing my skill level. In the process, I gain plenty ofbat experiences and was finally able to perform a few certain Gifts to a desiring level,"


    "And that realization was the official birth of the number Hero on Earth," Natas said with a wide smile on his face. That moment was the day he finally started observing everything that Kayn did, so he was one of the witnesses of this event.


    "That''s right," It was indeed at that moment when his growth, potential, and power spurted like a waterfall. He started achieving greater things and performing extraordinary feats. That was also the moment when he finally startedpeting with those in the top league in the circle of Heroes and Viins inside the ''Tower''. And through thosepetitions, he was eventually able to earn the title ''Hope of Terran''.

 Chapter 30 The Culture Of Their Classroom

    ?Chapter 30: The culture of their ssroom


    "Anyways, we are here," Kayn stopped talking as he paused in front of a wooden furnished door twice as tall as him. Unlike the doors on the first floor, this room doesn''t have any small ss windows that will allow them to have a view of the inside.


    Well, that''s to be expected considering that this is the floor of students who have high and great potential to be the best Master Assassins. Just from the entrance alone, they are already being tested to see if they would know what''s waiting for them behind the door.


    In most cases, that''s actually what''s going to happen to everyone who will enter. If they fail on guessing what''s waiting for them, then they are bound to receive something surprising.


    Knowing this, Kayn didn''t immediately open the door. He first looked up at the tiny hole above the door. Unbeknownst to a lot of his ssmates, he had actually put a small mirror a long time ago on the ceiling right in front of the door that shows a bit of reflection on what''s inside the ssroom. It was through this method that he was able to avoid most traps that his ssmates or even teachers had prepared.


    "I can''t quite remember what trap exactly they have prepared on this day," Kayn muttered to himself as he tried his best to get the best angle through the reflection of the mirror. Sometimes, the mirror would identally get tilted to a bad angle whenever someone opens the door. Evidently, due to how long it already has been put on the ceiling. And because it''s very hard to readjust the mirror again to have an optimal view or rece it without anyone noticing his technique, he has no other choice but to be grateful for what he has. Anyways, the majority of the time this method works for him, there were only a few times when it did not, and those times were when his ssmates and teachers tried really hard with their traps.


    "What do you mean traps?" Natas, who was clueless and confused about what Kayn was currently doing, can''t help but ask after hearing him mention the word ''Trap''.


    "We are assassins, and all the time we try to set traps for our fellow ssmates to test our skills and their skills as well. As far as I could remember, their traps would be set right at the very entrance of the ssroom. See that," Kayn pointed at the small hole where he can see the mirror, "That is a mirror I have secretly hidden to counter all the traps at the entrance,"


    "Ohhh," Natas finally understood.


    In the next moment, both Kayn and Natas tried their best to get a glimpse of the inside of the ssroom. As they continue to tilt their heads to different angles, they were eventually able to get a good view of what was behind the door.


    "How childish," Kayn said in remarked as he spotted an almost invisible wire trap that is connected to a small mechanism at the side of the door which would shoot a dart once triggered. This kind of trap wasmonly used by his fellow ssmates especially when they don''t have that much motivation or time to set a sophisticated trap.


    Nevertheless, Kayn still didn''t let his guard down. There were times when that''s exactly what his ssmates would want their targets to think, when in fact there is something much bigger set somewhere else. Fortunately, when they do something like that, it would also mean that the trap is not set at the very entrance but somewhere else.


    Using his hidden mirror would be futile in that case, so it''s time to get inside.


    With that thought in mind, Kayn no longer hesitated to push the door.


    As expected, the moment the door was pushed, the wire trap was immediately triggered and a flying dart flew straight toward Kayn''s location.


    Expecting that oue already, Kayn simply docked down.


    "You guys seriously expect me to fall for such ame trap?" Kayn said as he finally walked inside the ssroom.


    Inside the ssroom, Kayn and Natas only saw ten students sitting on their respective chairs. That''s right, there aren''t that many students on the fourth floor. This is also the case with the other floors, at least from the third floor to the sixth floor. As for the first floor and second floor, it''s expected that there is a lot considering that it mostly caters to the physical attribute of a person and not their talent.


    Once again, that doesn''t necessarily mean that the students of the third floor to the sixth floor are superior. To tell the truth, whenever there are events amongst the students of the House of Dragons, the real yers would always just be the students from the first and second floors due to their numbers.


    Although there were only ten students present, Kayn being the eleventh, each of them was special in a way. One of the reasons is because each of them seems to have just gone through something special¡­ Obviously, the aftermath after falling for the traps set by their fellow ssmates.


    "That''s because you''rete!"


    "Indeed, that''s why all the sophisticated traps were already used!"


    "Hmph! We will definitely get you next time, that''s for sure!"


    Shaking his head, Kayn grabbed a chalk from the side and made a horizontal line on a small ckboard behind the door. On that ckboard, one could see the list of names of the eleven students of this ssroom with numerous horizontal lines right beside each of the names. These horizontal lines are equivalent to a single point per line. And the way to earn a point is by sessfully evading the traps their ssmate or teachers have set.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Right beside Kayn''s name was a staggering number of lines amounting to twenty-three lines. Meaning to say, this month he has sessfully evaded all the traps.


    That wasn''t all. If one would look at the other small ckboards that are arranged neatly behind the ssroom, one could see that Kayn has always dominated this small and inside challenge of their ssroom.


    "Sometimes I wonder if you are cheating or something,"


    "Yeah, I just don''t understand how exactly you are able to evade all the traps,"


    "Tch! Stop acting clueless, I can already guess that one of you is secretly Kayn''s spy and is feeding him information beforehand that''s why he is always prepared,"


    "As if! You''re just annoyed by the fact that because you arrived first hence you ended up receiving our teacher''s trap,"


    "Speaking about our teacher, why isn''t she here yet?!"


    Hearing his ssmates mention their teacher, Kayn immediately did a quick survey around the ssroom. The next moment, he failed to see or even feel the presence of their teacher, which means that although he arrivedte, it won''t affect his attendance as his teacher still hasn''te yet.


    "Lucky you," Natas muttered behind Kayn. They seriously thought a while ago that Kayn is alreadyte because they went to save Rowan Starlight and spent a significant amount of time in the process.


    "I wonder why she hasn''te yet?" Kayn tries to recollect his memories of this day to find out the reason why his teacher still didn''t arrive. Unfortunately, his memories of this day were already very blurry to the point that he could barely recall any events, so regardless of how much he tried to think back, he still can''t remember any. It''s probably because it''s nothing special.


    After greeting his ssmates one by one, Kayn started walking towards his seat which is located right beside the window of the second row and first column.


    Though, before finally sitting, Kayn first made sure to check if ever there was any trap his ssmates have secretly hidden on his table or chair. He still didn''t let his guard down even after evading the first trap as he believe that wasn''t the main trap and chances are there is another one.


    "Cautious as always," A girl, who was sitting on the chair to the right side of Kayn''s muttered coldly. This girl''s name is Ang.


    "If you were in my shoes, you''d be doing the same, Ang," After all, he can never guess the day when his ssmates would try really hard just so that he would fall into a trap. He has some memories of moments like that and considering that he could barely recall anything that happens on this day, it''s much better to be careful and wary.


    "Is the reward really that great that you always try your best to be first?" Ang felt curious as she made a short and quick glimpse at the small ckboards behind them where Kayn has always been crowned the winner.


    "Try to live in poverty for once, and you''d definitely realize that every chance where you can get something in return is a God-given opportunity that you shouldn''t miss," Kayn said as he finally sat on his chair after confirming that there was no trap.


    "Then why aren''t you epting the offers your ssmates have presented to you? You know that they have good intentions for you and are just trying to help, right? Or don''t tell me that you''re still cautious about that, just like how you''re so cautious of any traps in your chair and table,"


    "Not really," Kayn shook his head.


    In the past, although he was living in poverty, his ssmates were kind and thoughtful enough to offer him jobs that would help him earn some cash. Most of those jobs were simple and easy too. But nevertheless, he didn''t ept any of them even once.


    The excuse he always uses was that he doesn''t want to take advantage of their kindness. Albeit the truth was that he just doesn''t want to lose any respect. He always believes that if he epts their offer, even if his ssmates won''t disrespect him as they knew the real him, the other students of the Starlight Hero Academy definitely would once they hear about it.


    Even before bing an official Hero, he always cares about his image and put a lot of value on how people viewed him. That sort of characteristic was something he brought along with him even at the very end.


    However, in this life, he won''t repeat the same mistake¡­

 Chapter 31 Porter

    ?Chapter 31: Porter


    "Since you brought that up, do you perhaps have any jobs you can offer that can earn me quick credits?" Kayn didn''t hesitate to ask Ang.


    Credit is the currency used by the entire Earth after the arrival of the ''Tower''. It was first introduced by Genesis, one of the World Leaders of Earth.


    Since Genesis is the leading merchant organization on Earth, it was very easy and simple for them to push forward the use of Credit to the entire world. One of the methods is that they don''t ept any other form of currency whenever someone wanted to buy their products except for Credit.


    In a matter of months, the dor, yuan, yen, pesos, or any form of currency used by countries around the globe started losing their value. Moreover, the Kraken Republic, Pandora, and Mercenary Nation started adopting this form of currency the moment it was first introduced, further adding value and assurance to those people who are cautious and doubtful of holding Credit.


    As one could see, Genesis was sessful in their mission of having only a single currency for the entire world. And as the days goes by, the currency Credit just became stronger and stronger and then,ter on, became the most secure currency on Earth.


    Ang was immediately taken aback after hearing Kayn''s line, causing her mouth to be wide agape.


    "Hey, a fly might identally fly inside your mouth if you left it opened like that," Kayn kindly reminded Ang.


    Brushing her hair off as a means to pull herself together, Ang then quickly called out to their other ssmates who were busy fooling around with each other. "Hey everyone, I feel like we have an impostor here,"


    "What do you mean?" Albert, another ssmate of Kayn, felt confused as he approached Ang.


    Albert was the student who thought that Kayn has someone acting as a spy amongst his ssmates and was the unfortunate student who fell for the teacher''s trap.


    "Please don''t get too close to me. The paint around your body is still wet, it might get on my uniform," Ang immediately warned Albert as thetter approached closely. The trap that their teacher secretly set this time was a paint trap. And because of that, Albert''s uniform is drenched in paint.


    "I know, I know, Stein," Albert felt a bit bitter as he walked to a corner where he won''t identally get paint on his ssmates.


    "Why don''t you just go to thefort room and try to wash the paint off?" Another ssmate who''s named Stein suggested to Albert.


    "Do you seriously think I haven''t thought of that?! Why else would the paint still be this wet?" Albert scoffed at Stein. After falling for the teacher''s trap, he immediately thought of going to thefort room to wash the paint off his uniform. Their uniform is special in a way that it has a built-in function that allows it to clean anything considered dirty on itself as long as they add some water to it. However, he was rendered shocked when he discovered that the paint that covered his uniform was coincidentally special as well. When water is added to the paint, the paint immediately absorbed the water and used it to multiply itself. That is why the paint is still wet since until now it is continuously multiplying.


    "Break it off, you two," Rys, the acting leader of their ssroom, immediately butted it so that Albert and Stein won''t identally get into a fight. He then turned to look at Ang and asked, "Who''s the impostor?"


    The other ssmates had already gathered together when Rys'' asked that question.


    "Kayn," Ang immediately pointed at Kayn.


    "In what way?"


    "You know that whenever we try to propose a money-making venture to Kayn he always rejects it, right? Well, this time he actually asked for it himself," Ang exined.


    "EHHHHH?!"


    Immediately, the entire ssroom was shocked.


    "Hey! What did you do to the real Kayn!" Albert no longer minded the paint on his uniform as he stood close in front of Kayn.


    "Admit it! You are our teacher who''s trying to impersonate Kayn, right?!" Stein can''t help but assumed.


    "Idiot! You should be respectful if that was the case," Ang felt like she was surrounded by idiots because of how Stein acted.


    "You''re right! I mean, teacher, please stop acting!"


    "Screw off, will you?!" Kayn finally had enough as he pushed Albert and Stein away from him. "Tsk! Now I got paint on my hand,"


    "Don''t me me. I already warned you,"


    "Anyways, do you have any or not?" Kayn was tired from all this useless bantering. Thus, he wants a clear answer as soon as possible.


    "Just how far are you in poverty?!" Rys said in a joking manner.


    "Really far! So, can you give me any?"


    "Wait," Rys quickly motioned his hand to gather everyone together to form a circle.


    "Are you sure that''s really Kayn and not our teacher disguised as Kayn?"


    "Yes, I am sure,"


    "How?"


    "Just the way he acts is already annoying and pretentious enough,"


    "He is already asking for our help, yet he is still shamelessly acting like he is doing us a favor instead. Only Kayn would act like that,"


    "Yeah, he cares for his image way too much,"


    "Indeed, you''re correct!"


    "You know that I can still hear all of you, right?"


    "Don''t worry, we are doing it on purpose,"


    "Fuck off!"


    "Anyways, back to the matter at hand. So, does any of you have any help you can offer to Kayn?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I have one!"


    "Okay, tell us,"


    "Why don''t we let him clean the toilets in our houses? In such a way, we can get back at him and also have clean toilets,"


    "Good idea,"


    "Screw you!"


    "I guess he doesn''t like it. Then why don''t we let him walk all our dogs in the park?"


    "Eh, you''re basically doing him a favor by letting him do that,"


    "Of course, not! You think just anyone could walk our dogs?"


    "Oh, so you want our dogs to bite him!"


    "Yes!"


    "Fair enough,"


    "You guys are seriously asking for it!"


    "Oh no!"


    "Shit!"


    "Please have mercy!"


    Bang! Booom! Bang!


    After a few scuffling, Kayn finally made all his ssmates kneel on the floor.


    "All I was asking was if you have any jobs that you can make me do so that I can earn some Credits. I wasn''t asking for much, so why were you guys talking all those craps and bullshits?!"


    "It was just a joke," Albert tearfully muttered.


    "Yeah, we were just having fun with your poverty. Nothing is wrong with that, right?" Stein blurted out but was immediately kicked in the face by Kayn.


    "Jokes aside," Rys stood up while dusting off the dirt on his jeans.


    "Who told you to get up?!" Kayn eximed, causing Rys to hastily kneel on the ground once again.


    "As I was saying," Rys could only helplessly and silently ept his fate. Although he is the acting leader of their ssroom, he knows for a fact that Kayn is the actual leader here. He was simply being put into ce because Kayn doesn''t want to be at the receiving end of the teachers or whoever is in charge whenever something bad happens. In other words, he is cannon fodder, albeit a responsible one¡­ or the perfect one¡­


    "Three days from now, a team from my father''s guild ''Yin Yang Dynasty'' which is made up of a bunch of newbie Heroes are hoping to get their first clear on an F-ss Dungeon that opened up on the northeast outskirt of Moon Dragon City. I was offered a position as one of their members so that I can get some practical experience in raiding Dungeons. Of course, my father is also hoping that the ''Tower'' would take notice of me and official grant me entry to its floors,"


    "So, what about it?"


    "This team is looking for trusted porters that will stay in the rear to collect the items dropped from the monsters they have in. There are already four people that have signed up out of the five porters they need. To tell the truth, I was nning on proposing this to you today, so I have specially reserved the fifth spot. Are you in, or are you out?"


    Porter is a termmonly used by every team both from the inside or outside of the ''Tower'' tobel the individuals who are assigned the misceneous job.


    The reason why Porters exist is that the majority of the Heroes just don''t have the leisure to stay and collect every single material that is dropped from the monsters they have killed unless the item is extremely valuable. Time is money, is what these Heroes would always say.


    Moreover, there are times when the Heroes who want to clear a Dungeon would bring along two or more sets of gear to prepare for a special situation they have researched beforehand. There are also moments when they are required to bring a lot of food, potions, and other consumables for various different circumstances. Obviously, these Heroes aren''t expected to be the ones to personally carry those said items. Otherwise, their performance in the raid would be greatly affected in a negative manner. It is during these moments that Porters are used.


    "You know how cautious I am, and you also know that I trust you a lot,"


    Rys immediately understood what Kayn wanted to say so he assures him, "Don''t worry, I have personally checked their records, and so far, they are exceptional individuals, including the four Porters as well. No one has any criminal records or any unknown variables that might put the team in any danger. Don''t underestimate my father''s Guild, he is meticulous when ites to that kind of matter in fear that it might affect the image of our Yin Yang Dynasty,"


    "What do I have to bring?"


    "Just yourself, since we will be providing all the equipment the Porters would need,"


    "Is the environment in the Dungeon special?" Kayn immediately noticed the underlying meaning behind Rys'' line. In most cases, the Porters would have to bring their own equipment. Also, Porters prefer it that way since it''s much better if they are familiar with what they are using. Only when the environment of a Dungeon is special that the Guild would be the one to personally provide the equipment for their Porters.


    "I am afraid to say, but yes,"


    "Okay, I''ll ept,"


    The more dangerous it is, the more profit there would be. Also, only when there is danger where he could get opportunities that can bring him a lot of benefits.


    "Okay, I''ll tell the leader of the team about it. No backing out, alright?"


    "When did you ever see me backing out?"


    "That''s what I like about you! Don''t worry, I''ll make sure to keep you safe during the entire raid," Rys guaranteed.


    "I''ll be keeping myself safe," Kayn thought to himself. After what he had gone through in the future, although there was no history of Rys'' betraying him during this time, or was there even one in the future, he still prefers to stay on guard.

 Chapter 32 The Demon Queen Of Flames Part 1

    ?Chapter 32: The Demon Queen of mes part 1


    "This is good, we can finally start with the n," Natas muttered after staying silent all this time.


    "That was my intention from the start," Kayn whispered.


    "Did you say anything?" Rys asked after hearing Kayn muttering something.


    "I said you guys can now stand up," Kayn motioned his hand.


    "Thank goodness," Albert breathe a sigh of relief.


    "Down with the dictator!" Stein eximed as he jumped back on his two feet.


    "You remain kneeling," Kayn immediately sent a flying kick straight toward Stein''s face, causing thetter to flip back with his face immediately hitting the floor.


    "Why are you so cruel to me¡­?" Stein whimpered with only his head raising up from the floor.


    "Perhaps if you stop acting like a child, he would stop treating you like one," Ang rolled her eyes at Stein.


    "Even you? Now I just want to die," Stein put both his hands on his left chest and acted like his heart was breaking apart.


    Looking at this scene, Kayn can''t help but show a small smile on his face. In the future, Stein and Ang would actually be husband and wife. And just like at the present, Stein would choose to have his childish side remain with him. Ang always experiences headaches and a bad mood whenever her husband acts like a child in front of her, especially when there are important events. But this was what made Stein special. He would act like this in front of people that he is close with or he likes, but when ites to his enemies, people who he hates and doesn''t like, or those that he is merely acquainted with, he would act stern. Because of this, he earned the title ''Two-Faced Stein''.


    Unfortunately, it didn''t reach the point in time where the entire world would recognize Stein''s title. That''s because a few yearster after his marriage, Stein would encounter a life-threatening situation that ended in his death.


    It was a really heartbreaking scene watching his friends crying at a mere picture of Stein as no one was able to retrieve his body, or even just a single piece of it, from the stomach of the monster that killed him. And as if fate was at y, only a picture of Ang was able to survive along with their wedding ring.


    Comparing the situation now to the future, Kayn honestly prefers it this way.


    "How overreacting," Ang felt even more annoyed at Stein.


    "I guess the teacher isn''ting," Rys changed the topic while dusting off the dirt on his jeans.


    "Yeah, I wonder what she is doing?" Albert felt curious. Their teacher would normally announce beforehand if ever she can''t attend their ss.


    "Something really important must havee up," Kayn expressed his thoughts after suddenly remembering something important about their respected teacher.


    At this moment, his ssmates are still not aware of the fact that their teacher actually holds one of the really important positions in Pandora, one of the Ten World Leaders of Earth. She has secretly infiltrated the top Hero Academy of the Dragon Beast Republic in hopes of discreetly recruiting potential candidates for the team she is about to create.


    If he remembers correctly, their teacher''s team wouldter on be known as the third-ranking assassin guild on both the ''Tower'' and Earth.


    And the first assassination target of their guild would be the headmaster of the Starlight Hero Academy, who''s also Rowan Starlight''s grandfather. The reason being is that he hasmitted plenty of atrocities behind humanity''s back during the time when he was still just one of the many members of the Starlight family, which is what paved the road for him to be the current head of their household today.


    One of those many atrocitiesmitted by the headmaster of the Starlight Hero Academy was selling his soul to the ''Tower'' and bing one of its puppets in exchange for a Gift that allows him to absorb the souls of the people he kills, granting him the ability to gain what he calls ''Soul Point'' which he can thenter on exchange for an increase in his life-span and attributes. This was the main reason why until now he is still the head of the Starlight family and his power seems to never grow weaker but stronger instead as he grows older.


    As to how Kayn learned of all of this information, that''s because before the headmaster of the Starlight Hero Academy died, he was actually able to secretly steal his Gift. That is how he learned in great detail about his ability.


    Perhaps something really important involving their teacher''s identity and responsibility as an important member of Pandora suddenly came up that''s why she didn''t announce her absence for today.


    "So, what do you guys n on doing?" Rys asked.


    "I will go to the library and study," Ang replied.


    "Then I will also go to the library!" Stein eximed loudly.


    "Tsk! How boring! I''ll be going to a Virtual Caf¨¦ today since I''ve just heard that they will be releasing the new virtualbat simtion game today," Albert felt disdainful at howme his ssmates were.


    "You mean the new Virtual Reality Game ''Tower Race''?" A ssmate whose name is Frank asked in excitement.


    "That''s right!"


    "Damn! I heard that game has the potential to be one of the greatest VR games from my parents due to the fact that it''s secretly created with the cooperation and sponsorship of the Ten World Leaders,"


    "Eh¡­ Is that info legit?"


    "Of course, it is! My parents are extremely well-known market and stock specialists. They''ve heard this information from one of the developers of ''Tower Race''," Frank confidently imed.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Shit! I guess I''ll be putting all my allowance in their stocks today,"


    "Me too,"


    "Me three,"


    "So, does any of you want to go to the Virtual Caf¨¦ with me today?" Albert immediately thought after hearing Frank and his ssmate''s conversation.


    "Nahhh. Virtual Caf¨¦s are only for ordinary people. We are Superhumans, we should be training to prepare ourselves to do the real and actual Tower race, not someme-ass wannabe game," Frank shook his head.


    "What do you meanme-ass wannabe game!" Albert instantly became angry at Frank.


    "Hey, chill out, bro! I am only stating a fact for us who have the potential to be actual Heroes. If you enjoy wasting your time ying a game that is just a copy of the ''Tower'', then do it. But for me, I prefer experiencing the real ''Tower'',"


    "I honestly agree with Frank as well, Albert," Ang joined the conversation intending to put an end to it. "But Frank, you are also in the wrong here. You should have just stopped when you declined his offer. It wasn''t necessary for you to insult his hobby. Everyone has something they enjoy doing, and it doesn''t necessarily mean that just because Albert enjoy ying VR game that he is on the same level as ordinary people. Even my brother ys VR games despite the fact that he is already a Hero. Does that mean he is on the same level as ordinary people? How about we put you two against each other to prove your point?"


    "That''s enough. At the end of the day, whether you are a Hero, a Superhuman, or an ordinary person, it alles down to how you manage your time. If you y all day despite the fact that you have the potential to be a Hero, a great one on top of that, then that is something we looked down. And there''s nothing wrong about ordinary people wanting to experience what it''s like in the ''Tower'' or how it feels like to be a Hero," Rys interjected. "Anyways, since we all have decided to leave school today, then let''s just go in our own ways. Let''s see each other again tomorrow,"


    "By the way, Kayn," Rys quickly approached Kayn as he got close to his ears to mention something, "My source just informed me that your girlfriend is waiting for you at the gate of our school. Based on how her face looked, she seems to be not in a good mood today,"


    "Oh, how pitiful," Stein mockingly said before hastily dashing out of the ssroom to follow after Ang to the library in fear that Kayn would kick him again.


    At this moment, all of Kayn''s ssmates have already left, leaving only Rys and Albert inside the ssroom.


    "Do you need any help, Kayn?" Albert kindly expressed while looking meaningfully at Rys.


    "I know what''s on your mind," Rys shuddered in fear. One time they decided to help Kayn on dealing with his girlfriend, but in the end, they were found unconscious under the bridge the next day. They were already lucky enough that they weren''t discarded at that ce with a lifeless body like in most situations. So, he doesn''t n on wasting the mercy given to him. "But please leave me out of your n. I still value my own life,"


    "What a fake friend,"


    "If you want to die, then I won''t hold you back,"


    "Do you seriously think that she would do that?"


    "I don''t know. But I don''t n on bing the proof of whether she could or not,"


    "Stop arguing. It''s alright, I can handle her," Kayn could only sigh heavily.


    "Good luck, brother," Rys patted Kayn on his back. "If ever you want to hide from your girlfriend one day, I suggest you go to Albert''s ce,"


    "Why my ce?"


    "Because you are the one who is seriously willing to help Kayn with his problems rted to his girlfriend,"


    "Well, fair enough,"


    "Idiot!"


    Kayn didn''t stay in the ssroom to watch Albert and Rys childishly bantering with each other, especially now that he knows that his girlfriend hase to their school.


    "Is the girlfriend they are talking about the woman who would be your future wife?" Natas, who is beside Kayn, can''t help but ask in curiosity.


    "No," Kayn shook his head. "She was the first girl who I got into a rtionship with and this happened way before I meet Isabe,"


    "Eh, I thought Isabe was your one and true love?"


    "Everyone in a rtionship would always say that. Haven''t you experienced having one?"


    "No, Gods like us don''t need the same kind of rtionship status that you Humans or most races we have encountered in the past have. In our opinion, if we want someone, we will simply express it to them. And if they reciprocate our feelings, then we''d get to bed immediately and have a good time with each other''spany. If in the future those feelings fade away, then we will simply break off our rtionship and move on with our daily lives like normal. Though in most cases, we would eventually get back together and repeat the same process all over again. It''s probably because life in the ''Tower'' is way different from Earth or any other. In a way where there are far too many things to discover and experience. So, staying in one ce ormitting yourself to a single person only is highly unlikely to happen. Although there''s barely any of that left at this point in time inside the ''Tower'',"


    "Having less and having more definitely has their own sets of pros and cons," Kayn said in a remark.


    "I agree,"

 Chapter 33 The Demon Queen Of Flames Part 2

    ?Chapter 33: The Demon Queen of mes part 2


    "So, back to you girlfriend. Based on what I''ve heard so far about your status in school being one of its brightest stars, I''m assuming that she is someone who stands on equal footing as you. So, what was her title when she became a Hero?" Natas immediately expressed her curiosity to Kayn''s first girlfriend.


    "That''s where you are mistaken," Kayn shook his head. "Unlike me who is merely a Superhuman, my girlfriend on the other hand is already an official Hero. One of the most respected and well-known in the Moon Dragon City on top of that,"


    "Her title was Empress of me,"


    "You''re kidding me?!" Natas instantly felt disbelief the moment he heard Kayn mentioning the title ''Empress of me''. It wasn''t because of the fact that any Heroes with the title ''Empress'' or ''Emperor'' on their name would automatically entail that they are powerful in a specific category. Rather, it was because the person who holds this title was someone important and dear to him.


    "I know, I know," Kayn totally understood the kind of reaction that Natas is showing. Honestly, this was the reaction that he gets every single time they learned of who his girlfriend was ¡ª disbelief. "How on Earth did you get such a high-value and status woman as your girlfriend? Well, my only answer to that question is; I don''t know, because, in the first ce, it wasn''t me who pursued our rtionship, but her. I guess all I could say is, I am one he lucky guy,"


    "Oh, don''t be mistaken and get ahead of yourself with those narcissistic thoughts of yours," Natas immediately interrupted with a roll of his eyes. "I wasn''t feeling disbelief by the fact that you got such a woman as your girlfriend. After all, you are someone who would be the number one Hero on Earth in the future. So, something like this was within my expectations,"


    "What I am in disbelief about is the fact that we were unknowingly connected in some way already way before I took noticed of you,"


    "What do you mean?"


    "''Empress of mes'' was my incarnation. Simply put, she was the only Hero that I picked to sponsor after your father decided to offer his life in exchange for you,"


    "Don''t joke with me! It is already well-known information that the individual who you chose to sponsor was the ''Demon Queen of mes''!"


    Demon Queen of mes. She was one of the newpanions who followed him after everyone on Earth decided to abandon him. At first, he didn''t trust her the least bit. That''s because she was a Viin who had nearly destroyed the Church of Fate and the Church of Messiah. Obviously, this was the time when he was still clueless and ignorant of the truth.


    Although at that time, Demon Queen of mes exined to him that her true goal for doing so was to reveal to the world the sphemymitted by these two World Leaders. But because of some unforeseen events, her n didn''te to fruition and she failed to save everyone. Even after hearing her exnation, he still didn''t believe her since she holds the title ''Demon Queen'', which is a title that only the greatest Viins on Earth or inside the ''Tower'' would hold. It''s akin to the title ''Empress'' and ''Emperor'' for Heroes. Who knows if she was really telling the truth back then or if it was just a lie to trick him?


    Only now did he truly understand that everything was indeed the truth¡­


    "Knowing your goals now, I finally understood why Demon Queen of mes decided to help me. I really can''t believe that the people who I thought to be my greatest enemies were also one of the few individuals who still believe and put fate on me. For that, thank you," Kayn slightly bowed his head to express his appreciation to Natas and the rest of the Gods. He was also feeling a bit apologetic now that he knew the truth.


    "No, you are wrong!" Natas abruptly shook his head. "I didn''t tell her to help you. It was her that personally decided to do it,"


    "Wait, if you weren''t involved¡­"


    "Empress of mes and Demon Queen of mes is but a single person. She was known as Empress of mes when she was still a Hero, but when she became a Viin, she earned the title Demon Queen of mes,"


    "So, you are telling me¡­"


    This time, it is Kayn that felt disbelief.


    The woman that she decided to abandon after an unfortunate event turned out to be the person who would help him a lot when everyone abandoned him. And it wasn''t just any ordinary help, she literally offered her life for him.


    Empress of mes¡­<novelnext></novelnext>


    Demon Queen of mes¡­


    Seriously?! Why did he only notice now the simrities between these two titles?


    The word that changed was basically the title ''Empress'' only. It changed from ''Empress'' to ''Demon Queen''.


    "This is ridiculous!"


    "Even I couldn''t believe it,"


    This was something that both Kayn and Natas weren''t expecting to learn from each other.


    "No wonder she insisted on helping you and went against my original order for the first time. To tell the truth, she was supposed to be ourst hope to save us from the ''Tower'' after seeing you losing your mind. But because she followed after you and even offered her life for you, we were left with no other choice but to go with the first n," Natas heave a heavy sigh. He strongly believes that the main reason why she offered her life for Kayn was out of her love for him because by doing so they would choose to return their support to him. After all, she knew the truth from the moment she became his incarnation as he had informed her of the risk that she would have to shoulder the moment she epts him as her sponsor.


    "You''re not trying to trick me or something, right? Because I seriously hope that you aren''t lying to me at this moment,"


    "And what do you think I would get if I lie to you? Think about it, if what I told you was a lie, would I stand to gain something?"


    "Well, you won''t, but I definitely would!" This was his girlfriend they are talking about. If he identally offends her, there''s no doubt that he''d experience the same fate as Rys and Albert despite him being her boyfriend.


    "Fair enough¡­ But, don''t misunderstand, I have no intention of doing that," Natas immediately turned stern. "Weren''t we supposed to look for new allies from the start? Now that it turns out that your girlfriend is one of your newpanions, what would you do?"


    Hearing Natas'' question, Kayn suddenly stopped walking. "I am not going to lie. The first thing that honestly came into my head just now was to immediately recruit her. Practically speaking, her abilities are undeniably one of the greatest and she''d be more than helpful to me if she bes one of my allies. After all, this is the ''Empress of mes'' and the ''Demon Queen of mes'' we are talking about. In the future, she would be one of the legendary Heroes on both the Earth and the ''Tower'', and when she became a Viin, she became even more dangerous to the point that she nearly destroyed two of the Ten World Leaders. It''d be a waste not to get her to be a part of my team, right?"


    "However¡­"


    "Another thought inside of my head is telling me not to," Kayn turned silent.


    "Why?"


    "I genuinely don''t know what I have done that I ended up receiving her love and affection. Look at me¡­ Right now, I basically have nothing to offer to her. I am just a poord who was fortunate enough to be chosen by her. Just the fact alone that I became her boyfriend could already put me as one of the luckiest dudes alive. But to choose to make her sacrifice her happiness again is apletely different story¡­ Especially now that I know that she wouldn''t even hesitate to offer her life for me,"


    "Right now, I am debating whether I should let her go this instant or continue with this rtionship¡­"


    "I know that it sounded like I am overreacting or something, but just think about it. My problem has nothing to do with her right now, and I also have the opportunity to make her not go through what she had to encounter in the future and perhaps make her live a lifepletely different from what she decided. Simply put, I hold the variable for her to be happy in the future. At least in the third life, I want her to be happy,"


    "How can you be so certain that she would be happy with you gone? It was already proven in the future that even after being separated from you, she would still choose to be by your side and fight side by side with you in your time of need. Supposed you will leave her today, are you confident that you can make her happy and prevent her from the same fate again?"


    "With me knowing the future. What makes you think that I don''t have that ability?" Instead of answering, Kayn decided to reply with another question.


    "Fair enough," Natas resigned. As much as he dislikes it, Kayn is right. With the current him, even if he is still considered a Superhuman, he could easily do what he intends on doing as long as he desires to really do it. After all, information is key to winning all wars. So, it is useless to continue with their argument.

 Chapter 34 The Demon Queen Of Flames Part 3

    ?Chapter 34: The Demon Queen of mes part 3


    "Anyways, I am really curious about the story of how the two of you met?" Natas expressed his curiosity.


    "Our story wasn''t anything unique. Selina¡­" Kayn said as he started to walk again to the gate of the Starlight Hero Academy.


    Selina was the name of his first girlfriend. It is such a sweet and beautiful name, and it actually also trantes to the word ''Moon''. It wasn''t a coincidence that she was named that way. That''s because the Mayor of the Moon Dragon City is her father. And because of how much his father loves this city, he named his only daughter after it.


    "I and Selina grew at the same neighborhood. Although I was living in an orphanage, and she was living in a wealthy and prosperous household right beside that orphanage. Our status was basically like night and day, but because her father was so thoughtful that she sent her to a public school as he doesn''t want her to grow up to be like those spoiled brats from the majority of the rich households, we were able to be friends with each other,"


    "Unlike other families, Selina''s household was weing and hospitable to any of their guests. They were well-respected by a lot of people, including people from the poor and middle ss, because of that reason. As a matter of fact, not once have I ever seen them insulting or looking down on me because of my status as an orphan. I was grateful, that''s why I don''t want to take advantage of their family despite the high chance that I could have just honestly pulled myself out of poverty as long as I hold their thighs tightly and kiss their asses,"


    "It was probably because of that that his father wasn''t against me when Selina decided to pursue me,"


    "Do you know why she pursued you?"


    "How the hell would I know of that? Even now I am still questioning the value and worth of the present me,"


    "Okay, forget about that in case your head would be narcissistic again. So, what was it like being the person who was put into a position that was supposed to be for females?"


    "I can''t believe you still have such backward thinking," Kayn can''t help but insult Natas.


    "I am just joking. No judgment here, alright?"


    "How sarcastic," Kayn rolled his eyes. "But to tell the truth, it indeed wasn''tfortable. It felt like something was wrong from the start. And because of that, I quickly switched our position with me courting her instead. She liked that idea and was intending to say ''Yes'' right off the bat. But I told her not to and that she should only decide when she genuinely feels like I deserve it,"


    "Days went on like how every couple in a courting stage is supposed to be, and after an eventful day at our school on one afternoon, she finally said yes,"


    "From that day on, we officially became girlfriend and boyfriend,"


    "How ordinary. I was expecting it to be like the movies about a poor boy and a rich girl falling in love with each other,"


    "Honestly, I was also expecting something like that. But in reality, it didn''t turn out to be the case. Although, that is exactly how my life with her is right now,"


    "That''s how it was supposed to be from the start. You are probably just given a head start against your futurepetitors,"


    "Are you sure about that?" After all, since Selina is a Hero, all of her pursuers are naturally Heroes as well. And because of the fact that her boyfriend is merely a Superhuman, no one pays any respect or consideration to his position. Even with the fact that he is one of the brightest stars of the Starlight Hero Academy.


    "They arepeting against the future number one Hero and yet you, being thetter,ck confidence? Just how far did you fall off after our reincarnation yesterday?" Natas said in a joking manner. But his question actually also holds an underlying meaning.


    "I don''t know, man. Maybe this is the side-effect of going into reincarnation. Probably something called post-reincarnation syndrome. I heard about it from a group of researchers in some universities. They described it as the feeling an individual would get after recing the past soul with their future soul. Because of the perfectpatibility between the two souls, there''s a very high chance that some parts of the past soul would remain, thus affecting the future soul," Kayn exined as he looked at Natas in hopes of getting a confirmation.


    "Don''t look at me like that. I still haven''t experienced going into reincarnation,"


    "Eh, but you''ve experienced numerous lifetimes already,"


    "The floors starting from the 901st to the 1,000th are special in a way that every living being on that floor won''t be affected by thew of time. As a matter of fact, we even formted a theory that as long as someone is somewhere on that floor in the event that the ''Tower'' alters the timeline, there''s a high probability that they would be taken to the past as well,"


    "And besides, we weren''t the ones who personally undergone the reincarnation all these times. So, we are naturally not aware of how it feels like,"


    "You''ve experienced it now,"


    "We are different. I didn''t take over my other body in this timeline,"


    "Okay, okay. I yield," Kayn could only let out a heavy sigh after noticing that Natas wasn''t buying his excuse. It was really obvious anyway that he is just making up excuses for hisck of confidence and insecurities. Even if he is the number one Hero on Earth, he isn''t excepted from feeling such emotions, especially now that he is back to being a mere Superhuman.


    "I understand how you''re feeling. You were the number one Hero the day before yesterday. And now you have be a mere Superhuman. You feel like there is somethingcking in you, which affects your mentality. That''s okay, because Nichs also went through with that in his case," Natas finally decided to say someforting words for Kayn.


    "So, this is normal?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Very normal. That''s just how things are supposed to feel after going into reincarnation. You''re not expected to immediately jump into action and instantly get used to your present situation. After all, you were already very used to and familiar with the state you had, then all of a sudden everything changed. You will naturally get a sense of loss and would feel like something is missing. That might be the meaning behind the past soul affecting the future soul,"


    "You''d get used to that eventually," Natas patted Kayn''s back to encourage thetter.


    Kayn honestly can''t quiteprehend why he is suddenly feeling this way. They were initially talking about his girlfriend, Selina, then all of a sudden, he felt a sudden change in his emotions and mood. What''s even weirder was the mere fact that he is certain that this was the same outlook he once held within him when he was in this present moment.


    Now he is confused whether the entity that really reincarnated is his soul or was it perhaps only his consciousness.


    "Nah, there''s no use thinking about that. I am just making things veryplicated for me. Whatever it is, what''s important is that I am in control. And that at the end of the day, it''s still me," Kayn muttered under his breath.


    "Hey, what are you murmuring about?"


    A sudden female voice immediately pulled Kayn away from his thoughts.


    "This is my cue to get out," Natas swiftly left Kayn''s side and decided to explore the Starlight Hero Academy. After all, he would just be a third wheel if he stays with Kayn and Selina. And besides, he is actually very supportive of Kayn and Selina''s ship. "I hope you can stay with his side in this life,"


    Looking at the source of the sound, Kayn saw with his eyes right away a beautiful woman with fair skin. She has light purple hair tied into a ponytail using a gold hair essory, thus revealing her slender neck and making her look even more appealing to the view. Looking at her eyes, he instantly saw the familiar purple iris and a dark purple pupil that felt like staring straight at the bottomless abyss.


    As always, Selina was wearing a tailor-made dark purple crop top that goes along well with her dark purple winter jacket. Then paired with denim shorts and boots that almost reached her knee.


    Seeing Selina''s get up, Kayn can''t help but look down at himself out of insecurity. Unlike her who was looking totally fashionable and trendy, he, on the other hand, was just wearing a school uniform. The worst part is, although it looks neat and clean, the sign that it was worn hundreds of times already was pretty obvious.


    He could already hear the students around them murmuring about the striking contrast between him and Selina.


    "Oh, I didn''t notice you there," Kayn smiled at Selina.


    "Are you serious?!" Selina felt annoyed.


    Seeing Selina''s face, Kayn instantly thought that he had said something wrong. In hopes of redeeming himself and avoiding world war three, he hastily looked around his surroundings hoping to get a sign.


    Not long after, he finally realized his mistake.


    "Just kidding. Of course, I noticed you. How could I not have noticed when your fans are being so loud," No wonder she was in a bad mood. It was because she seriously doesn''t like being surrounded by people or her fans whenever she is out to do some personal stuff.


    "Selina, can we get out of here?" Another female voice abruptly interrupted Kayn and Selina''s conversation.


    Even with just the voice alone, Kayn could already guess that it belongs to Selina''s assistant.


    "You''re having it hard the most, Leah,"


    "No worries, no worries," Leah waved her hands off as a way of saying it''s alright and this is a part of her job.


    "I am sorry about this," Kayn still felt a bit apologetic.


    "Tsk! Here we go again," Lead uttered as she stopped in front of Kayn. She was already extremely familiar with this episode of Kayn. Reaching her hands, she continued, "How many times do I have to tell you? The cor of your uniform should look like this to make it pleasant. Your chin up, chest out, and your stomach in. I am not against you being Selina''s boyfriend. In fact, I support you instead of those Heroes who like to show off all the time. But at the very least, please look the part, alright? And most importantly, have confidence in yourself,"


    "I seriously dislike it when you''re acting like that! You''re the boyfriend of the one and only ''Empress of mes''. Hence, you have every right to be proud," Selina felt slightly irritated.


    "I know, I know," Kayn nodded his head.


    "It seems like the two of you are done here. Now, can you both please walk to the car and get in?" Leah said as she gestured with her hand to point to the car waiting at the entrance of the Starlight Hero Academy.


    "Okay, okay. Can you stop nagging me like a mother?" Selina grabbed Kayn''s hand and pulled him as she walked towards her car.


    Seeing this, Kayn no longer fought back and followed silently.

 Chapter 35 The Effect Of Saving Rowan Starlight

    ?Chapter 35: The effect of saving Rowan Starlight


    ? Inside the car, Kayn can no longer hold onto his curiosity, thus he finally decided to ask Selina, "Where are we going?"


    This event had never happened as far as he knew. In his memory, after the ss ended, he immediately went back home and just went on with his daily routine, which is studying and resting. And in the evening, he would go to work at his part-time job.


    Was this perhaps the effect of him helping Rowan Starlight?


    But the effect shouldn''t be immediate, right?


    Moreover, how is this in any way rted to Rowan Starlight?


    "Nothing important," Selina replied. But the look of worry on her face evidently betrays her words.


    "You wouldn''t have that look of worry if that was really the case,"


    "Was I really too obvious?"


    "Until now, you still suck at hiding secrets," Kayn let out a short chuckle. His girlfriend is good at many things, but lying was not one of them. Every time she tries to lie, it would show on her face, thus letting everyone know the truth.


    "Aysttt, this is very annoying!" Selina felt frustrated.


    "So, what''s this all about? As far as I know, you wouldn''t fetch me from school if it isn''t for something important. You know that you can freely tell me everything, right? So, just tell me. Is there something or someone making you worry- "


    "Alright! Alight! I am going to tell you!" Selina puffed her red cheeks. "I was worried about you!"


    "Eh, why?" Kayn wondered why. As far as he knew, he didn''t do anything the day before or the day after that warrants her worry about him. Wait! Did she perhaps nt an investigator or someone to follow after him? And that person told her what he did today to save Rowan Starlight?


    "I heard from one of my friends working in the Starlight Hero Academy that your name was mentioned during the meeting of the younger generation of the Starlight Family. I don''t know what you did, but I hope you won''t involve yourself with that family in any sort of way,"


    "My father told me that the future of that family is going to be difficult because of how the younger generation is behaving with each other. He also added that there''s a huge chance for it to turn into a bloodbath with only the strongest of their younger generation could survive. Anyone involved who isn''t part of the Starlight Family would have a high chance of dying along that bloodbath,"


    Hearing Selina''s words, Kayn''s face instantly turned serious. He was already expecting something like this to happen. But he didn''t expect that it would be this soon. It was only some time ago that he went to save Rowan Starlight, yet his brothers and sisters already had a meeting to discuss the failed attempt. Just how big was the problem for them to react in such a way?!


    Did he perhaps unknowingly involve himself in a huge issue within their household? If that is indeed the case, then his previous assumption before would have to be taken into further consideration.


    "How bad was it?"


    "Through the help of my friend and some of his trusted aides, they were, fortunately, able to loosen up some of their attention to you. However, he warned me that I should tell my boyfriend not to touch any matters rted to the Starlight Family from now on, especially considering that they actually lost something really important today. If you do it again, there''s a huge chance your life would be in danger and he won''t be able to help anymore," Selina warned sternly.


    Kayn instantly realized that the main reason why he nearly got into a huge mess is simply that he failed to consider one important detail, the Sitan''s Ring.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The younger generation probably holds Sitan''s Ring in high regard. Most likely the real reason for their meeting wasn''t for the failed attempt, but to discuss the threat that Rowan Starlight could bring to them now that he possesses the Sitan''s Ring once again.


    "I understand," Kayn nodded his head. "By the way, did he mention any information rted to Rowan Starlight?"


    "Did you listen to what I have just said?!" Selina can''t believe that despite everything she had just said, Kayn would still ask her about someone from the Starlight Family.


    "I did. It''s just that the reason why I got involved in their matter in the first ce was that I saw a bunch of people bullying Rowan Starlight. I didn''t know who those people were, but I sure do know that they didn''t belong to the Starlight Hero Academy,"


    "That''s all the more reason why you shouldn''t have involved yourself," Selina sighed helplessly.


    "If it was just Carlos and his goons, I would have just left them be since I know that guy has no chance of redeeming himself regardless of what I do. But those people were different. They were wearing ck suits and had a serious dangerous vibe around them. I thought that they were trying to harm the Starlight Hero Academy through Rowan Starlight, so as one of the school''s students, I did what I had to do," Kayn exined.


    "That friend of mine did mention that it was the fault of a guy named Raul as he had brought a bunch of conspicuous people into the school, saying that anyone who saw them would immediately think that something is wrong. If I remembered correctly, theybeled your involvement as a mere ident, which I seriously hope to be the real case,"


    "You''re not hiding anything from me, are you?"


    "Of course, not!" Kayn didn''t hesitate to reply. To tell the truth, there''s actually no harm in telling Selina about his recent reincarnation and his mission. He also doesn''t see anything wrong with telling her everything that he knew about the ''Tower'' and the goal of the Gods. However, he decided to hold himself as he knew that Natas, the one inside the ''Tower'', would tell her eventually about this information. Telling her now might just harm her as she isn''t in the right state of mind to receive and ept it. He would just let time do its work and let fate flow in its natural order.


    "Well, since you''ve said what you have to say, why are we still continuing with this trip?" Kayn asked as he notices that their car has reached outside the Moon Dragon City. He wasn''t worried that a monster might attack them as every highway outside the cities all over the content of the Dragon Beast Republic is tightly protected by their military. That''s because a highway is one of the only remaining three safe ways to travel from one city to another on Earth. The other two are through the use of trains and aircraft. Other than these three, there is a huge chance that monsters would attack the mode of transportation being used.


    "I received a mission to clear some Monster Points outside the Moon Dragon City from my father in case they would form into a Monster Horde someday,"


    Monster Points is a term used to describe a hotspot location for monsters to gather. A certain area in the wild would only bebeled as Monster Points when the number of monsters that gathered in that said area has reached more than ten monsters eaching from different species, as that is highly unlikely to be the case when ites to these dominant and territorial creatures.


    On the other hand, Monster Horde is an event where more than ten species of monsters gather together to go on a rampage and is moving straight toward a city. There are different categories for Monster Horde, respectively green, yellow, red, purple, and ck. Green is the weakest, and ck is the most dangerous. Albeit, even if it''s green it''s already ssified as extremely dangerous and would require the Heroes'' help rather than merely the military forces that belong to the Ten World Leaders.


    "I was on my way over there when I received the report from that friend of mine, so I decided to might as well bring you along with me. Anyways, you are short on credit, right? Well, you always are¡­"


    "I know that you don''t like to receive free meals, so I am going to temporarily lend you some weapons and other equipment for you to use to kill any monsters you can handle. You can keep the loot from the monsters that you''ve killed after deducting some taxes. As for those that I and Leah killed, they belong to us, understood?"


    Hearing Selina''s offer, Kayn didn''t hesitate to nod his head.


    Kayn remembered that Selina indeed went on an adventure with Leah during this time. He found out about it when she called and inform her of what she was doing, albeit it was only after she finished doing it. What a lucky girlfriend she has, right? Only informing her boyfriend when she is certain he won''t have anything to nag her about.


    "I''ve seen your ability with my own eyes, so don''t say that I brought you here without considering that," Selina crossed her arms in front of her breast.


    "You''re silly if you think that I would say that," Kayn smiled gratefully. Who on Earth would decline an opportunity to earn quick Credit? He even epted Rys'' request because of that. Though there was also another reason for it. Regardless, there''s no problem with earning more Credits.


    "We are here," Leah informs them of their arrival.

 Chapter 36 Eclipse Forest

    ?Chapter 36: Eclipse Forest


    The distance they have to travel from the Moon Dragon City to their current location wasn''t that far.


    Based on the distance from where he is standing and the view of the Moon Dragon City in the far distance, he is guessing that it''s only twenty to thirty kilometers away.


    Although it''s not far, it''s also not close, hence making it just the perfect location for Monster Points. Over this ce, the monster can get a great view of the Moon Dragon City whenever they want and see whatever preparations the city is preparing against them, at the same time creating ns on what is the best way tounch their attacks.


    Moreover, it would also give the monsters enough time to prepare to ambush their targets whenever they spotted any people approaching their location. To top it all off, this area is already densely covered by plenty of greeneries, allowing them to keep their presencepletely hidden from sight. Unless someone is looking for them intentionally, it would be difficult to spot them.


    "No wonder the military wasn''t able to deal with these Monster Points," Kayn remarked.


    There''s honestly no problem when ites to the level of skills of the military forces of the Dragon Beast Republic. As a matter of fact, they are ranked third among the Ten World Leaders. The Mercenary Nation is first, due to their one-man army Mercenary King Grey, and the Kraken Republic is second, due to the leadership of Admiral Robert.


    However, that is only when ites to dealing with Human beings just like them. In the case of monsters, it''s going to be apletely different story.


    Monsters have abilities, also moremonly known as Gifts, just like Heroes and Superhumans. But unlike Humans, their Gifts are not gained upon birth or through the blessing of the ''Tower'', rather it''s through killing other monsters just like them. Meaning, their Gifts are tailor-made for killing. This also means to say that if one encounters a monster in the wild, never think that they would have the same kind of Gift as the other monster of their own species.


    That is one of the biggest mistakes that rookies wouldmit every single time they are out in the wilderness.


    Simply put, the Gifts that monsters have received are going to entirely depend on the experiences they went through before their Gifts manifested. Meaning to say, their battles, environment, fortuitous encounters, how they survived until now, and many other more. Their Gift would directlyplement those experiences.


    "We are on the outskirts of the Eclipse Forest, which is the home of Light Deer and Dark Boar. But in recent weeks, a few more other species of monsters have been spotted getting in and out of this forest. The longest they would stay would be two days, while the shortest was only five hours," Leah started reading the report she wrote on her tablet. As an assistant of Selina, she naturally came prepared.


    "This kind of behavior has already been recorded as one of the signs before a Monster Horde is formed, thus the reason why your father took this matter very seriously,"


    "ording to the newest report sent yesterday by the scout that your father had assigned to observe this ce, there are five species of monsters in this forest at the present. I don''t know for certain if there are any changes within the past couple of hours, but nevertheless, we shouldn''t let our guard down," Leah sternly informed them as she then stopped talking and continued to read her tablet in silence, marking the end of her report.


    "Just having two species is already more than enough to be cautious," Kayn muttered as he started searching for a weapon to use inside the trunk of the car. He already has armor, which is the most basic but practical of all in their current situation; an arm-guard, knee-guard, and body armor, that''s all, as this isn''t a dungeon or anything that''s really dangerous.


    Meanwhile, Selina is by his side, observing his every action as if she is trying to understand something in him.


    Surprisingly, Natas was able to follow them to this ce without any problem. Though he is curious, he knows that this guy has his own ways.


    Right now, Natas is standing right beside Selina who is reading the tablet in her hand. Probably he is trying to get as much information as possible to help him so that he won''t fall into really dangerous situationster on.


    How entertaining!


    What could even possibly threaten or pose any danger to him at this ce?


    To tell the truth, there''s none!


    That''s because what these three people¡­ no! Two people and one God, don''t know, is that he actually knows this ce like the back of his hand. The reason being is that this forest was actually the original location of the base of his previous guild ''Mischief''.


    Way before ''Mischief'' became the number one guild on Earth, it started as a mere team of Heroes. And the Eclipse Forest was the training ground they''ve chosen to improve their skills, Gifts, knowledge, experiences, and cooperation. He basically grew along with the trees, nts, mountains, rivers, and each inch of earth in this forest. Throughout the years he was training here, he became very familiar with every nook and cranny.


    "Good thing you are aware of that," Leah remarked.


    Kayn simply ignored Leah as he focuses on picking a weapon for himself.<novelnext></novelnext>


    To tell the truth, he already has a weapon in mind. The problem is, it''s a sword instead of a dagger. At this present time, everyone around him is fully aware that he uses a dagger, and never once have they seen him use a sword as a weapon before.


    Furthermore, Selina has prepared a variety of daggers for him, evidently expecting him to choose one of them. While there are only five swords, respectively ymore, saber, rapier, shortsword, and broadsword, all being the most ordinary and simple of their type.


    Selina wasn''t a sword user, as she is a Battle Mage, so this obviously indicates that these swords are Leah''s weapons. Of course, he is aware of that, and that is one of the reasons why he is taking a lot of time to choose.


    He can''t just casually take Leah''s weapon because this woman is very stern and meticulous when ites to her things. She won''t even let Selina touch her bag, not to mention him touching her weapon.


    "What''s taking you so long?" Selina asked, feeling impatient already.


    "Um¡­" He seriously doesn''t know how he should exin. He still knows how to use a dagger, but because he has been using a sword for many decades, he isn''t confident in his skill in using a dagger anymore. He probably has to get familiarized with it for some time before he could confidently say he is good with daggers again.


    "Just take it and use it!"


    "Wait¡­" He was instantly rendered speechless. Not because Selina shoved a weapon at him. It''s because the weapon she actually gave him is a sword.


    "I don''t know what you''re contemting hard in your head right now. But I saw you moving your eyes between the daggers and the swords. If you want to pick a sword, just pick one! And let''s get on with the real business," Selina felt irritated. She noticed Kayn looking back and forth between the daggers and the swords, and every single time his eyes stares at the swords, his fingers would move as if he wants to grab them. What she''s irritated about is, why is he hesitating?


    "Sorry," Kayn felt a bit apologetic.


    "What''s taking you both so long?" Leah turned to look at Kayn and Selina.


    "This guy wants to pick a sword but was hesitating," Selina didn''t hesitate to say the truth.


    "If you want to use one of my swords, just use it. I don''t see any problem in experiencing new things, especially since you are still a Superhuman. Experience is your friend, always remember that Kayn," Leah advised.


    "I understand," Kayn felt stupid. That''s right, why was he hesitating on picking between a dagger and a sword when he is still a Superhuman? It''s only natural for a Superhuman to have no main weapon yet, as they are still trying to see what''s perfectly suited for them. If he suddenly shows great talent in using a sword despite the fact that he has no past history with it, he can simply say that perhaps this is the weapon that perfectly suited him. They won''t feel any suspicion or something that would make them think that he isn''t the Kayn they used to know.


    "Don''t forget that you are no longer a Hero, Kayn," Natas reminded Kayn. "What would seem strange to you, might not be for others because of your status as a Superhuman,"


    Kayn only nodded at Natas because of the presence of Selina and Leah. They are Heroes, so they naturally have stronger hearingpared to Superhumans and ordinary people. He can''t risk the chance of them being suspicious of who he is talking to.


    "Let''s go to the north side of the Eclipse Forest first, because that is where most monsters were reported to be gathering together. Along the way, we might meet with other monsters. Don''t hesitate to eliminate them, as they still pose a significant threat to the Moon Dragon City," Leah further reminded.


    "Yeah, yeah, stop nagging us like a mother," Selina just waved her hand off and started preparing something.


    In the next moment, Selina sted off a strong me from her hand, causing her to immediately fly towards the north of the Eclipse Forest. She wasn''t flying like floating up in the air, she was like a bullet that shot away or a rocket thatunches up into the air after the countdown reached zero.


    "I''ll scout ahead first. You both walk to the location we discussed just now!" Selina eximed as loud as she possibly could so that Kayn and Leah will still be able to hear her.


    "Are you really serious about having her as your girlfriend?" Leah can''t help but ask Kayn behind her.


    "All I can say is, there''s no one on Earth that''s just like her," Kayn could only show an awkward smile at Leah. Though, that was honestly how he felt after learning that she was one of hispanions that died for him.


    "You''re seriously andpletely smitten by Selina," Leah said before deciding topletely ignore Kayn and leading the way in front.

 Chapter 37 Selina’s Tragic Past

    ?Chapter 37: Selina''s tragic past


    "This girl''s mouth seems to not know how to hold back," Natas chuckled as he shortly glimpsed at Leah.


    "There''s actually a reason for that," Kayn''s smile can''t help turning downward. Leah wasn''t acting like that because that''s the type of character she is. There''s a deeper reason behind that.


    "May I hear about it?"


    Looking at Leah and confirming that her distance is far enough so that she won''t hear his whispers, Kayn replied, "You''re Selina''s sponsor, did she not tell you about her past?"


    "We barely had any deep conversations. I didn''t even know that she was once your girlfriend until you mentioned it," Natas shook his head. Most of his interactions with Selina back then were only when he was giving her instructions for a mission and whenever she wants to do something that she believes could help them achieve their goal. Other than those, they don''t make any casual conversations. The only time they did was when she went against his order and expressed her relentless desire to help Kayn reach the top of the ''Tower''.


    "Selina''s mother was assassinated,"


    Natas wasn''t able to prepare himself mentally for the sudden revtion. He was almost rendered speechless, "It is that serious?"


    "It was," Kayn nodded his head. "She was five years old during the time it happened. Her father was away on a trip to take care of something important, and only the bodyguards of their family were present. Some of the bodyguards were Heroes while the majority were Superhumans, but despite that, they still didn''t stand a chance against the assassin and were killed one at a time,"


    "When the assassin was finallying for Selina and her mother, her mother immediately hid Selina inside the secret vault under their house, and after that, she distracts the assassin away from her daughter''s location. But what her mother didn''t know was that her daughter already opened her Gift at that time, so she easily melted the vault''s door thinking that she was ying hide and seek with her mother,"


    "She was a kid, a very innocent one on top of that," Natas can''t help but say in the remark.


    "Indeed," Kayn agreed. "Selina kept on searching for her mother until eventually, she found someone. Without holding back, she went to hug that person, thinking she was her mother. She even called that person mother,pletely ignorant of the truth that it wasn''t her mother she was hugging but was actually Leah, who arrived at the scene when everything was already toote,"


    "Knowing that Selina still didn''t know that her mother was already dead as she had mistaken her as her mother, Leah had no other choice but to pretend like she was Selina''s mother. She told her to get outside for the moment, and after that, she hastily cleaned the ce before finally letting Selina back in,"


    "But, how did Leah fool Selina? Even if she was a kid, she still has clear eyes to spot the difference between Leah and her mother, right?"


    "Because Leah''s Gift is shape-shifting. She was specifically chosen by Selina''s father in secret because of that Gift. Whenever Selina''s father is away to take care of something important, Leah would then immediately act like thetter to fool all of hispetitors and enemies in hopes of holding them back from potentially harming his family,"


    "However, not all the time that kind of strategy would work, especially if the person you''re up against is someone who is fearless and desperate, which just so happens to be the assassin who attacked their home,"


    "Still, that doesn''t exin why Leah nags like a mother and has a mouth that doesn''t know how to hold back," Natas has yet to see the answer to his curiosity.


    "The reason for that is that Leah had to pretend to be Selina''s mother for close to a year because her so great-father was away for that long because of an unexpected ident during his trip back to Earth. During that time, Leah''s character obviously changed, and she learned to be an actual mother to Selina,"


    "After finding out about it, Selina''s father strip Leah of her job as his doppelganger and assigned her to be Selina''s assistant instead so that she can help his daughter cope with knowing the truth that her real mother is gone. It was also her responsibility to clean up her mess, and moreover, it is a chance for her to live the life she wanted. And as you can see, this is the life she has chosen ¡ª to stay by the side of the girl she once treated, or might still be treating, as her daughter. I don''t know for certain,"


    "By the way¡­"


    "What are you still doing down there, Kayn?" Leah suddenly called out from the top of a small slope.


    "I just heard something and wanted to see what it was!" Kayn immediately replied.


    "It''s probably just some monsters that are running away from the north,"


    At that moment, they can already hear numerous explosions echoing in front of them and numerous monsters screaming in pain.


    Just based on that, it''s already expected that weaker monsters would run away to their location.


    "So, Selina has already begun her onught?"


    "Yes! If we don''t hurry up, we won''t get anything," Leah strongly believes.


    "You can go to her first, while I''ll stay here for the meantime and clean up the monsters you''ve missed,"


    "Are you sure you can handle it?" Leah felt a bit worried about Kayn''s idea. She might have witnessed how good Kayn was in battling monsters in the past, but those were injured monsters as the school would obviously not allow a perfectly-well killing machine to be a part of their student''s test. Moreover, Kayn is currently using a sword. She hasn''t seen him used one, so she is bothered that he might not be able to wield it like how he wields a dagger.


    "Trust me, I am no longer the same as who I was before," Kayn smiled confidently. After all, he is now someone who has undergone reincarnation.


    "We literally just metst week. How much improvement could you even make in that short span of time?" Leah felt hrious at Kayn''s im.


    "Well," Kayn turned to look at his side. Coincidentally, a Dark Boar was charging straight in his direction with great speed. He doesn''t know why, but it was such perfect timing, "I can use this as an example,"


    Seeing Kayn''s look, Natas didn''t hesitate to step back to wait for the scene to unfold.<novelnext></novelnext>


    As for Leah, she put her hand on the sheath of her sword. She understood what Kayn wanted to show her, but still, she wants to be prepared in case he fails.


    Since the Dark Boar was still a bit far away from him, Kayn took it upon himself to get close. With his sword already unsheathed, he prepared his arm to swing it to the iing Dark Boar.


    Seeing its target wanting to fight against it, the Dark Boar grunted loudly as a sign of epting the challenge.


    "That''s how I like it!" Kayn instantly felt excited after seeing the Dark Boar''s response.


    Albeit, there was already a very clear ending to their battle¡­


    Swoooooshhh!


    A strong gushing sound of the wind echoed throughout the entire surrounding. At the same time, the leaves on the ground were blown away and scattered everywhere with the trees seemingly dancing along the direction of the wind.


    However, this beautiful scene was soon after destroyed by a loud painful cry from the Dark Boar as its head shoved onto the ground quite hard, leaving a mark on its wake, only stopping after hitting a tree.


    In the next moment, a dark figure suddenlynded on the back of the Dark Boar''s head as he delivers a powerful strike with his sword to its nape and driving it from left to right, instantly severing the head of the Dark Boar.


    The Dark Boar wasn''t even able to let out itsst breath and close its eyes before dying.


    Dark blood promptly gushed out from the neck of the Dark Boar, abruptly tainting the patches of beautiful flowers nearby with its hideous and horrible color.


    Everything happened in one quick and fluid motion. Only Natas was able to follow each step along the end, whereas Leah was already questioning the truth when Kayn cut the Dark Boar on its legs, which is what causes it to shove its head on the ground.


    "Just when did you train in using a sword?" Leah wanted to know just how Kayn did it.


    "I haven''t," Kayn shook his head afternding on the ground near the dead Dark Boar. He made sure not tond near the blood as that would just unnecessarily dirty his uniform. Though there is the self-cleaning function of his uniform, it''s not that effective anymore due to how long he has been using it.


    "Then how do you exin what just happened?" Leah doesn''t believe Kayn.


    "I have used a dagger before. I simply viewed the sword like a dagger, but much longer and could perform even more varieties of styles forbat,"


    "No wonder you are one of the stars of the Starlight Hero Academy. Your talent is just monstrous. These monsters should be fearing you instead," Leah decided to believe Kayn. "Since you can handle things on your own, then I''ll be leaving you here all by yourself. If it ever gets dangerous for you, juste north, you''ll find us there,"


    "I understand,"


    After bidding farewell, Leah no longer hesitated on going after Selina.


    "We can finally have a conversation with no risk of letting other people hear us," Kayn can''t help heaving a sigh of relief. "So, what were you trying to tell me just now?"


    That was the main reason why he wanted Leah to leave and go meet up with Selina.


    "I thought you didn''t hear me," After all, Leah suddenly interrupted their conversation. Moreover, Kayn had to focus on fighting against the Dark Boar, so he thought that he didn''t hear it, or might have just forgotten it already.


    "I hope that it is something important and helpful. Otherwise, I will go and catch up with Selina and Leah, and focus on hunting monsters to earn some Credits," Kayn crossed his hands in front of him with his eyes cold, evidently showing that he wasn''t happy that someone tried to interrupt him from earning money.


    "Yes, it is important. Very helpful as well," Natas tapped Kayn''s shoulder to tell him that there was no need to worry. "Ever wonder why monsters are gathering at this ce?"


    "To form a potential Monster Horde?"


    "Of course, not! Well, that was what I thought at first until I felt a powerful Manaing over there," Natas pointed to the west side of the Eclipse Forest.


    "You mean at the center of the Eclipse Forest?"


    "I don''t know if it is the center or not. All I know is, it''sing from that direction,"


    "So, you''re telling me that something powerful is attracting all these monsters at this ce?" Kayn felt intrigued. As far as he could remember, there was no report about finding any powerful item or material, or whatsoever, at this ce back then. But he did find some mysterious and unexinable traces over the ce that Natas is pointing to when he was training here. Perhaps if he goes there right now, he would know what those were.


    "Are you thinking what I am thinking?" Natas looked at Kayn with a smile.


    "You want to go treasure hunting?" Kayn smiled back.


    "What are we waiting for? Let''s go!"

 Chapter 38 Entry Crystal And ‘The Bridge’

    ?Chapter 38: Entry Crystal and ''The Bridge''


    Whenever powerful mana is felt in the surrounding, it could only mean two things, either a dangerous monster is present nearby and that mana is simply its aura, or a treasure exuding a dense amount of mana to the surroundings is nearby.


    In the case of the former, other monsters would surely be running away from the source of the powerful mana. After all, if humans don''t want to fight when all odds are against them, not to mention monsters. These cunning and dangerous beings are even more sensitive when ites to picking who to fight. If they feel like they would definitely lose the battle, then they will not hesitate to run away.


    As for thetter, it''s simr to what is happening right now ¡ª monsters gathering in one ce seemingly looking like they are forming a Monster Horde. Of course, there are also times when they are indeed doing that, but there are also times when a treasure is present.


    Simply put, if a dangerous monster makes other living beings afraid to approach them, the treasure, on the other hand, attracts them to approach it.


    And since the monsters are gathering here, this just shows that it is a treasure and not a dangerous monster.


    "Before we go there, let''s confirm something first," Kayn decided to be careful. "Are you certain that it is really a treasure and not a dangerous monster? After all, there were dozens of cases where a dangerous monster attracts monster, instead of making them run away from it,"


    "Moreover, when a Monster Horde is being formed, the monster would also behave like this,"


    "I looked at Leah''s report a while ago and there was an important detail that she forgot to mention. Although monsters were going in and out of the Eclipse Forest, the species that got out never actually went back in again," Natas was confident in his im after reading this part of the report. "Inside the ''Tower'', there are only two reasons why monsters would act like this. One, they don''t want to participate in whatever the discussion was all about after hearing the content themselves, or two, they got eliminated to be a part of the said group,"


    "Just like in Human''s case, a group would only form when there is amon goal that they need to attain that an individual alone couldn''t hope to achieve. And themon goal for these monsters gathering in the Eclipse Forest should be a treasure,"


    "Monsters also gather in a group beforeunching a Monster Horde, you know, that right? And attacking a city is also a goal that warrants monsters to gather together," Kayn still didn''t believe Natas'' im. He isn''t actually a cautious individual. He just doesn''t want to waste time and put himself in potential danger for something that they aren''t even certain about in the first ce whether it really exists or not. He''d only do that when there is truly a benefit that he could receive.


    Moreover, if the benefit he could get from doing this couldn''t outweigh the other by a huge margin, then why bother doing it, right? After all, both could bring him a profit, the only difference is, if he goes along with Selina and Leah, his earnings would depend entirely on his own performance, while from the supposed treasure it depends on whether he could even get it or not. The former guarantees him a profit, while the other is not even definite yet but just a mere assumption.


    "Yes, they do gather in a group. But they don''t gather in one single spot but should be spread out all over the Eclipse Forest right now. The only time when monsters gather together would be when they are with their own species or pack, and not with another species of monsters. Not to mention, multiple species gathering in one spot," Natas was talking about the fact that to their north a bunch of monsters from different species is gathered together.


    After all, although they are bothbeled as monsters, they consider each other enemies and prey. If a predator monster is coincidentally gathered along with its natural prey, then it''s already obvious what would happen, right? It would be an eat-all-you-can buffet for them.


    "You''re right!" Kayn finally realized. Even though it is a known fact that monsters gather in a single territory when they are trying to form a Monster Horde, still that doesn''t necessarily mean they would be staying with one another in a single spot.


    Monsters would spread out, and only when the timees to attack would they start to gather together. But even then, conflict is still bound to take ce between predator monster and their natural prey amidst the attempt to attack a city.


    Sometimes, predator monsters would even abandon the Monster Horde and focus on attacking their natural prey instead, since they would still achieve the same result.


    "Let''s get going now. Otherwise, Selina and Leah would get suspicious of us," Kayn no longer hesitated and started walking to where Natas pointed a short while ago. Albeit, Natas hastily overtook him and decided to lead the path.


    "Stay behind me, I''ll scout ahead and warn you if there are any monsters that you can''t handle," Natas took the responsibility to guarantee Kayn''s safety as he was the one who suggested doing this.


    Even though Kayn already knew that it is impossible for any monster in the Eclipse Forest to pose a threat against him, he decided not to stop Natas.


    There was nothing wrong with what Natas is doing, and it is also better to be safe.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Time continued to pass, and not long after, Kayn and Natas finally reached the ce they were looking for.


    Well, how did they know?


    In front, a group of monsters from different species were gathered together to surround a floating blue crystal right in the middle.


    If someone tells Kayn right now that this is not the location of the treasure that Natas was suspecting about, he would not hesitate to smack the living soul out of that person''s body.


    "Isn''t that an Entry Crystal?!" Kayn felt extremely shocked at their discovery.


    An Entry Crystal is an item that functions simrly to a key that opens a door. However, the door the Entry Crystal opens is a path leading one inside the ''Tower''!


    Needless to say, this wasn''t a shortcut of any kind for one to easily enter the ''Tower''. Just like what he had mentioned before, the only way for one to enter the ''Tower'' is to first obtain permission or recognition from the ''Tower'' itself. And there''s no easy path to get that.


    The Entry Crystal indeed opens up a path leading one inside the ''Tower'', but this path is actually a path full of challenges which if one sessfullypletes, the ''Tower'' would immediately grant them entry inside its floor.


    How the Entry Crystal work is; when someone activates it, they would then be teleported to the -1 floor. That''s right, the negative first floor, otherwise also known as the ''The Bridge''.


    The reason why it is called ''The Bridge'' is because the ce looks more or less like a bridge. And it also seems to function like one as over the distance one could see the ''Tower''. Coincidentally as well, if one reaches the end of ''The Bridge'', they would actually see the arc doorway of the ''Tower'', which only a few people have seen before as they could only witness this sight if they entered through the Entry Crystal.


    To win the challenges of ''The Bridge'', one has to simply reach the end of the ''Tower'' and touch the arch door entrance. As easy as it may sound, the reality is, countless people have already died before they could even see the arch door of the ''Tower''. In fact, the main reason why an Entry Crystal still exists right now simply means that there is still no one who has reached the end of ''The Bridge'' until this present moment. This also means that numerous people are currently still trapped in ''The Bridge'' as it is impossible to leave the ce unless someone clears the challenge. If ever one does clear the challenges, the other participants would then be automatically teleported back to Earth, thus they failed to get entry to the ''Tower''.


    However, despite that, an Entry Crystal is still a high-demand item both inside and outside the ''Tower''. The reason being is that it doesn''t limit anyone to enter ''The Bridge'', may they be ordinary people, Superhumans, or even monsters ¡ª that''s why the scene in front of them is happening right now.


    There are also a lot of treasures to find inside the ''The Bridge''. As a matter of fact, there was even a time that an item that can and should only be found on the 100th floor was spotted, albeit no one knows of that right now since no one has any up-to-date information about what is exactly happening in ''The Bridge''  as the only way to pass news from there to the outside world is through an item that can transmit messages, which is a very rare item in ''The Bridge''. As for how he knew, it''s obviously because that event happened in the future.


    "This is perfect!" Natas felt excited.


    "Why so?" Kayn narrowed his eyes in confusion. Although it sounds great to gain ess to enter the ''Tower'' through ''The Bridge'', unfortunately in his case, it''s considered unnecessary. After all, as long as he performs well inside a dungeon, which he definitely would in the future, he could easily get inside the ''Tower''. And forget about finding a lot of treasures in ''The Bridge'', because with his knowledge about the future, the moment he enters the ''Tower'' he could easily make himself an overpowered Hero.


    "I''ll exinter. And yes! It is going to help you, tremendously, to be exact,"


    "But, there''s no need for me to do this, right?"


    "Do you trust me?" Natas grabbed both of Kayn''s shoulders tightly as he stared straight into his eyes.


    "Well, not so much, but it''s at the level where I can entrust you my safety," Not his life, though.


    "Then trust me on this one! Please! Just get that Entry Crystal no matter what, and once you do, run immediately toward Selina and Leah''s location. There''s no need to feel ashamed because as long as you have that item, believe me, you will be able to return the favor to them soon," Natas tried his best to persuade Kayn to follow his suggestion. Although he wants to exin deeper so that he can better persuade Kayn, regretfully, they don''t have much time left.

 Chapter 39 Bountiful Harvest

    ?Chapter 39: Bountiful Harvest


    At the moment, the monsters gathering around the Entry Crystal seem to have already decided who will get the Entry Crystal ¡ª a monster Gori whose entire body is covered in thick mes, burning ever so brightly and hot. But unlike its counterparts, the me covering the Gori was white.


    It was a me Gori with a Gift that distinctly intensify the strength and hotness of its me.


    Evidently, throughout the days that numerous monsters went in and out of the Eclipse Forest, apetition between monsters on who will get the Entry Crystal was taking ce. The me Gori was covered by dozens of wound marks and scabs all over its body, indicating just how difficult thepetition was. But in the end, the me Gori still won thatpetition thus earning him the right to receive the Entry Crystal.


    However, unbeknownst to the me Gori and the other monsters around the Entry Crystal, a third party has secretly sneaked his way nearby them, ready to steal the item as soon as an opportunityes.


    This third party was none other than Kayn and Natas.


    Kayn was hiding behind a densely covered spot nearby the group of monsters, whereas Natas flew up above them to act as Kayn''s eyes.


    Since it is impossible for others to hear him if he doesn''t let them, Natas didn''t keep his voice down and reported to Kayn as loudly as possible everything that is happening, "The me Gori is currently talking to the other monsters as a form of showing respect and sportsmanship. This is the best time for you to steal the Entry Crystal and make a run for it,"


    Unlike Natas, Kayn couldn''t make any sound in fear that he would get discovered by the me Gori and other monsters. Although no monster can kill him in the Eclipse Forest, that was only the case if there are one or two monsters. However, right now there are multiple monsters around them, making it extremely dangerous, and not to mention stupid, to try and fight them.


    Kayn was certainly not that type of person, so he is waiting for Natas to tell him when to take action.


    "Go now!"


    Good thing that it didn''t take long for Natas to give the signal.


    Without any hesitation, Kayn made a dash straight toward the Entry Crystal.


    As the me Gori and other monsters were busy making useless pleasantries with each other, they were not able to notice Kayn''s presence approaching the prize of theirpetition.


    Natas, who was watching everything unfold, can''t help but pray to a God,pletely forgetting that he was a God himself.


    In an inconspicuous manner, Kayn arrived in front of the Entry Crystal. He turned to look at the me Gori and the other monsters and confirmed that they still didn''t notice him and that he has more time to n out an escape.


    ording to their prior n, as soon as he has the Entry Crystal, he has to immediately make a run straight toward where Selina and Leah are currently at. But the problem is, how?


    He is more than aware that as soon as he gets the Entry Crystal in his hands, the me Gori and the other monsters would immediately notice him. By then, they would make sure that he won''t escape with the prize of theirpetition.


    Supposedly he did escape, but along the way here, they encountered some monsters which they have already killed, confirming that aside from the me Gori and the other monsters present here, he should expect to encounter other monsters in his escape.


    In that case, he has to fend them off as well¡­


    "Pull yourself together!" Natas eximed loudly.


    Kayn''s thought was quickly interrupted by Natas.


    "It''s useless to think of what will happenter as there are multiple variables and factors you have to take into consideration which you don''t have enough time to think about deeply. Just take the Entry Crystal and follow me! I know that you don''t trust me with your life, but please trust me with your safety. Whatever happens, I will make sure that you will be safe. If it''s really necessary to sacrifice the Entry Crystal, then I''ll tell you to do it without a second thought! So, just go and grab that thing! Now!"


    Hearing Natas'' words, Kayn immediately stopped his thoughts and was no longer bothered with anything else. "Screw it! I''ll think of what to do when the problemes!"


    The Entry Crystal wasn''t a big item. It was simply a piece of a diamond-shaped item with a 12 inches length and a 5 inches width. Meaning, he can hold it in his hand while running away from this ce with no trouble, at all.


    Just like what Kayn expected, the moment he moved the Entry Crystal close to his body, the me Gori and the other monsters nearby instantly noticed the change of the location of the source of the dense manaing out from it, promptly making them realize that someone is trying to steal from them.


    "Time to run away!" Kayn didn''t hesitate to make a run toward the direction of where Selina and Leah are. Behind him, the me Gori and the other monsters quickly started chasing after him upon seeing him leave.


    "I''ll entrust you my safety, Natas!" Kayn eximed as he watches Natas flying up above in front of him while doing his best to lead him to a safe route.


    "Rest assured," Natas replied while still focusing on looking for a secure escape path.


    Hearing Natas respond, Kayn no longer bothered talking as he simrly concentrated on avoiding the continuous attacking from the me Gori and the other monsters chasing behind him.


    Although the me Gori and the other monsters were still far away from him, they could stillunch an attack by simply throwing various heavy objects at his location. As for the me Gori, it was throwing fireballs in his direction, instantaneously burning the grasses and trees into dust wherever itnded with its white me.


    Seeing such a sight, Kayn can''t help himself from gulping down a mouthful of saliva. As much as he tried to avoid thinking about it, he started imagining a scene of him instantly turning into dust upon making contact with the white me. Albeit he was still feeling confident that he can defeat the me Gori, the only problem is the other monsters behind it as they could potentially negatively affect the sword technique that he ns to execute in order to kill the me Gori.


    "Forget about trying to kill the me Gori and focus on running away," Natas was able to understand Kayn''s thought, thus he quickly reminded him to not do it.


    He also believes that Kayn can handle the me Gori because although thetter''s me is very intense, the weapon that Kayn is using is not just any ordinary sword.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The majority of the sword, weapons, equipment, items, and many other more that Heroes, Superhumans, and even ordinary people who can afford to buy are crafted at this age using materials that can be found in the ''Tower''. So, it is expected that amon problem like the intensity and hotness of a white me is not a big deal at all. With the right use of a sword technique, Kayn could y the me Gori with ease.


    However, their main goal right now is to get to where Selina and Leah are, not to kill the me Gori. Albeit they''d definitely still do that, but only after they find Selina and Leah.


    "I know!" Kayn clearly understood that.


    "To your left!"


    ¡­..


    "To your right!"


    ¡­..


    "To your right, again!"


    ¡­..


    Natas continued to lead Kayn to a safe route and paths that can hinder the pursuit of the me Gori and the other monsters, but despite that, they were still gaining up some distance from them.


    If this continues, it would only be a matter of time before the me Gori and the other monsters catch them. Considering their current location, they''d still be far from Selina and Leah when that happens.


    "I have a n!" Kayn called out to Natas.


    "Let me hear it out first before you decide on doing it!" Natas replied. In their current situation, they can''t just do whatever they want to do.


    "No, you will be the one to do this n, not me!"


    "Don''t tell me¡­" Natas could already guess what is inside Kayn''s mind right now.


    "I want you to go ahead and find Selina and Leah first. Tell them my current situation through whatever method, and ask for their assistance!"


    "No way in the ''Tower'' would I do something like that!"


    "Well, you are outside the ''Tower''!"


    "I promise to guarantee your safety!"


    "And I saw you do that! And this time is no different from that!"


    Natas thought for a bit before asking, "Are you going to be fine on your own?"


    "Who do you think I am?" Kayn smiled confidently.


    "Don''t get ahead of yourself, Superhuman!" Natas chuckled.


    "Just go and do it, ex-God!"


    "Before I leave to find them, please remember that if ever a situationes where you have to throw away the Entry Crystal just so that you can survive, don''t hesitate to do it! Your life matters more than my intention,"


    "I never thought that Leah''s character is contagious,"


    "I am just expressing my concern,"


    "Stop nagging, ex-God!"


    "Try to stay alive as long as possible, Superhuman!"


    When all is said and done, Natas no longer hesitated and hastily left to find Selina and Leah. On the other hand, Kayn no longer treated the matter at hand as rxed as before when Natas was still helping him.


    Regardless though, he was still feeling really confident in his own ability. He might no longer be the number one Hero on Earth, but the experiences he had learned on the journey to bing one are still deeply engraved on his bone.


    "What could ever go wrong with that, right?"

 Chapter 40 Weakness

    ?Chapter 40: Weakness


    A lot could go wrong!


    Whether one likes it or not.


    Whether one has a lot of experience or not.


    Whether one was the number one Hero on Earth or not.


    Things could still go wrong.


    Kayn knew of that. But so that his morale won''t dampen, he has to constantly encourage himself.


    "If only I was still the number one Hero on Earth, then I wouldn''t be put into this kind of helpless scenario!" He could vividly see now the clear reality of his current state. Being a mere Superhuman is definitely still not enough to reach his goals, even the smallest of them. He needs to be stronger to achieve them.


    However, right now, he needs to focus on running away and surviving the me Gori and the other monsters chasing after him. Otherwise, he has to forget about even the smallest goal, because he''d no doubt be dying here.


    "I''ll just have to make do with whatever is presented in front of me," Kayn thought to himself. Since he has to fend off his pursuers alone and without Natas'' help anymore, he''d have to think of ways to deal with them himself.


    "Let''s start off with the small trees," Kayn quickly decided on a n. His sword wasn''t any ordinary kind. It might be the mostmon of its type, but because of the fact that it''s made using materials from the ''Tower'', as a result, ordinary trees couldn''t hope to stand against it.


    With a simple swing of his sword, the tree to his side was instantly cut off.


    The tree made a loud noise as it slowly fell toward the direction of where Kayn had made the initial cut, instantly blocking the path of the me Gori and the other monsters.


    Kayn might have described the tree he decided to cut as a ''Small tress'', but in truth, the smallest tree in the Eclipse Forest was actually as tall as 15-20 meters. And because there are a lot of them, just cutting one of them would immediately block a path.


    Regardless though, it barely dyed the me Gori and the other monsters.


    Because the body of the me Gori was covered with white me, which is an element to counter nature, thus it just simply smashes its body toward the blocking tree and it had immediately reduced the tree to mere dust.


    As for the other monsters, they had their own ways or Gifts that allows them to ignore or avoid the hindrance in their way. Albeit some of them were helplessly left with no other choice but to pause for a bit behind the other monsters as they would have to wait until the white me is extinguished. Otherwise, they might identally burn themselves. This was especially the case for those monsters whose weakness is fire.


    "At least I dyed some of them," Kayn didn''t feel discouraged that his strategy didn''t work on all of the monsters. As a matter of fact, it was theplete opposite, as he had realized something really important ¡ª weaknesses.


    Each monster has its own element. Take for example the me Gori. From the name itself, it is clearly a monster from the fire element, which means to say its number one weakness is water and can be neutralized by the earth element.


    Right this moment, there are eleven monsters plus the me Gori chasing after him, excluding the three that are left behind, which are all nature element.


    There is the me Gori and three other smaller and weaker me Goris, evidently the champion''s boys. Two Dark Boars, three Light Deers, two Rock Ants, and thest monster an Earth Worm.


    He doesn''t have to worry about the Dark Boars as they are only strong when it''s nighttime and bes weaker when it is daytime. On the other hand, he needs to be wary of the three Light Deers as they have a natural ability that allows them to speed up really nicely whenever they gather enough mana from the ray of lighting from the sun. And since it is still far from being night, they don''t have any weaknesses he can exploit, albeit he can use the shadows to at the very least dy their natural abilities, or best, cancel them.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Normally, a Rock Ant is dangerous as they always live in a colony made up of tens of thousands of its species. But since there are only two of them, he can easily handle it. As it is an earth element, its weakness is nature and can be neutralized by water.


    Simr to the Rock Ant, the Earth Worm is not a big problem as well. They also move very slowly, so it is deadst on his current pursuers. As a matter of fact, the three other monsters who have stopped for the moment could easily catch up to it once they break out from the fire caused by the me Gori.


    However, just like what he said before, each monster has different Gifts and he shouldn''t assume that the same species of monster would have simr Gifts.


    Since he still doesn''t have a clue of whatever the fourteen other monsters'' Gifts are, he has to stay on guard.


    Regardless, this doesn''t necessarily mean that he can''t exploit their weaknesses.


    "Water, Light, Shadow, and Nature. I can use these four elements to hinder my pursuers," Kayn murmured. "My only problem is, where the heck would I look for them?"


    The direction that he is running was the same path that he used previously, so he naturally knows that there is no body of water to be found. Though there are definitely plenty of spots that have rays of light from the sun. Unfortunately, because of that, there are barely any shadows to use. Lastly, although he is surrounded by nature, he still has to think of a method to use them in a way that can harm the Rock Ants and the Earth Worm.


    "The Light Deer is going to be a huge problem and there''s still no way for me to eliminate them. I''ll have to focus on the Dark Boar, Rock Ants, and Earth Worm," They were the only monsters he could easily take down as of now.


    "If I remembered correctly, there is a Nature''s Trap just a few meters to my front," Kayn quickly recalled from his memories.


    Nature''s Trap is a newly discovered naturally urring phenomenon found in every forest around the world. It started to appear after a year the ''Tower'' existed on Earth.


    When the ''Tower'' first arrived, Mana was soon slowly being introduced to the world. Because of this, some nts, animals, and many other living or non-living beings started mutating, just like how Humans awakened Gifts and became Superhumans and Heroes that are known today.


    In that process, some new phenomenon was also created and discovered by mankind, like for example, a phenomenon called Acid Rain where the sky would rain with droplets of water that can harm anyone who touches it and burn their skin.


    One of those newly discovered phenomena was Nature''s Trap.


    A Nature''s Trap is a phenomenon that is created with thebination of an existing quicksand and the dense nature mana found in almost every forest biome.


    As one already knows, a quicksand would sink anything that touches it, especially objects with mass, and this includes mana just floating everywhere. But because the dense mana in a forest is mainly consisting of nature mana, thus the quicksand would most of the time sink nature mana. Over time, the nature mana gathered together would slowly get absorbed by the quicksand itself, hence creating the phenomenon now called Nature''s Trap.


    Unlike the ordinary quicksand where if one would fall they''d still be safe and sound as long as they are pulled out on time or didn''t run out of air when theypletely sunk, in the case of the Nature''s Trap anyone who falls on it would instantaneously find themselves being in a simr situation as being put into a meat grinder because the nature mana would turn into something akin to countless extremely sharp des that would constantly cut their bodies. It is like the form of torture known as ''Death by a Thousand Cuts'', but even worse.


    Honestly, it''s an extremely gruesome and painful sight to watch someone fall into a Nature''s Trap since the very instant they fall into it they would already lose a part of their body. Even if one could get them out of it in a matter of a few seconds, a portion from their body would already be long lost and digested by Nature''s Trap, and sadly it can''t any longer be reattached or regrown unless one has a specific item that can help them achieve such effect. And such an item is not easy, especially considering that a specific type of mana was used to cut that portion from the body.


    "I am not quite sure if it is big enough to fit in the two Rock Ants and Earth Worm, but as long as I use it effectively, I might be able to eliminate at least two of them," Kayn smiled evilly while thinking of taking advantage of the Nature''s Trap.


    As he was already very familiar with the Eclipse Forest, he didn''t hesitate to slightly change his direction. After all, it''s impossible for him to get lost here unless he does so intentionally. Moreover, he doesn''t have to worry about Natas, Selina, and Leah finding him since he is making a very conspicuous scene right now. Only a blind and a deaf person would not notice where he is.


    "I hope this works well," Kayn silently prayed in his mind. If this doesn''t work, then he''d have no choice but to think of another method, which he isn''t even confident he could find as quickly as he did now.

 Chapter 41 The Unfortunate Earth Worm

    ?Chapter 41: The Unfortunate Earth Worm


    It didn''t take long for Kayn to spot the Nature''s Trap over the distance in front of him. The Nature''s Trap was shining a bright green light, illuminating the surrounding trees with a light green hue, causing the leaves to shine even brighter and the grass to turn more vibrant.


    "Beautiful as always," Kayn can''t help but appreciate the beauty in front of him.


    Even though the Nature''s Trap is a very dangerous pitfall, he can''t deny the fact that it does make things around it look very beautiful and breathtaking. Not to mention, the Nature''s Trap itself also looks stunning to stare at.


    If he wasn''t in such a perilous situation right now, he''d definitely stop for a moment to take a picture of the scene.


    "They did say that majority of beautiful things on Earth can destroy or kill you. The Nature''s Trap is the best example of that saying,"


    Regardless of how beautiful the Nature''s Trap is, there''s no denying that it can kill anyone that falls into it.


    Don''t let its beauty fool you.


    Shaking his head, Kayn turned his focus back to what he was nning on doing ¡ª to eliminate the Rock Ants and the Earth Worm.


    Since both the Rock Ants and the Earth Worm''s weakness is nature element, the Nature''s Trap is naturally a fatal weapon to use against them.


    However, the main problem is how he can take advantage of it.


    Evidently, the Rock Ants and the Earth Worm aren''t stupid enough not to avoid the Nature''s Trap, especially after they sense the dangerous manaing out from it. There''s no doubt in his mind that once they do, they would stay as far away as they possibly could from it.


    "But what if I force them to get close to it?" Kayn smiled.


    In the next moment, Kayn suddenly made a right turn. As expected, the me Gori and the other monsters didn''t hesitate to follow after him. And because he avoided getting close to the Nature''s Trap, both the Rock Ants and Earth Worm made a relief look on their respective faces. It was as if they are expressing how d they are.


    Too bad for them though¡­


    In the next moment, Kayn swung his sword to a nearby tree to his right, instantly blocking the path to the right.


    After doing so, he dashed straight to the left, slightly getting closer to the location of the Nature''s Trap.


    Simr to what he did just now, he swung his sword once again to block the path to go right. This time, he made sure to swing multiple times in order to cut as many trees as possible so that the Rock Ants and Earth Worm would have trouble trying to go to their desired path even if they possess an ability or Gifts that will allow them to destroy or ignore the blocking trees.


    Moreover, he made sure that the me Gori won''t try to smash its body toward the blocking tree again by immediately going in another direction away from where the tree is blocking. This made the me Gori change the direction of pursuit.


    After he did so, he cut another group of trees to block the path to the right before immediately going to the left.


    He repeated this step over and over again until eventually, he was really close to the Nature''s Trap. He was so close that his distance away from the Nature''s Trap was merely ten or so meters.


    "This should be enough," Kayn finally decided to stop with the first step in his n. "Now, let''s go with the next step,"


    As soon as he said that, Kayn suddenly made a one-eighty degrees U-turn, as he then started running back to where he came from.


    The reason he did so is so that he can further force the Rock Ants and Earth Worm to get closer to the Nature''s Trap. With his sudden U-turn, they are now positioned at the same distance as him from the Nature''s Trap ¡ª merely ten or so meters.


    As Kayn continued to run, he would cut a few trees along the way to act as blockage so that the Rock Ants and Earth Worm won''t try to increase their distance away from the Nature''s Trap.


    And as nned, because of the blocking tree every now and then, the Rock Ants and Earth Worm have no other choice but to follow the same path as him.


    "Now, for the second to thest step,"


    While continuing to run, he unexpectedly cut a few trees in front of him while making sure that they would fall in front of the me Gori and the other monsters.


    Just like thest time, the me Gori didn''t hesitate to smash its body toward the trees blocking its path, instantly sting them into pieces and reducing some portions of them into mere dust.


    But upon reaching the end of the dozens of trees blocking their way, the me Gori immediately felt confused as it had lost sight of where Kayn went.


    The me Gori stopped in his tracks, causing the other monsters behind it to simrly stop behind it. This in turn caused thetter group to pause right at the very center of the trunks of the trees that the me Gori had smashed and trapped them in between.<novelnext></novelnext>


    As it had lost sight of where Kayn had gone, the me Gori right away decided to try and sense the direction of where the dense amount of manaing from the Entry Crystal is currently at.


    Kayn might be able to fool the me Gori''s eyes, but he can never fool its senses. And with its numerous experiences in life, it is now smart enough to know that the other way to find Kayn''s location is to sense the location of the Entry Crystal as it is sure that he would continue to bring it along with him.


    Too bad for the me Gori, because Kayn already anticipated something like that to happen. And furthermore, he doesn''t underestimate any of his opponents, so he included such a variable in his n.


    As soon as it senses where Kayn was, the me Gori hastily made a U-turn, only to discover that the other monsters are blocking its path. With no other choice, it runs to the right hoping to catch up behind Kayn. But s, Kayn cut dozens more of trees to dy the me Gori''s path.


    While the me Gori was busy trying to smash its way through the dozens of trees blocking its path, Kayn, on the other hand, has already caught up with his target ¡ª the Earth Worm, since it was the farthest to the back, making it the perfect monster to eliminate first. It was so far that it still hasn''t caught up to the other monsters currently stuck in between the trunks of the trees.


    Seeing his target, Kayn cut a tree to his left, causing it to fall in front and block the way of the Earth Worm.


    This caused the Earth Worm to abruptly stop on its track as it felt confused at what is happening. Obviously, since it was deadst, it still isn''t aware of what is the situation in front of it. Its focus was only on trying to catch up with the other monsters.


    Fortunately for the Earth Worm, its Gift could solve the problem on his way.


    Gathering earth mana in its surrounding, the Earth Worm soon after charged towards the tree blocking its path.


    However, the Earth Worm instantly became shocked as it noticed another tree falling toward it. Comparing its speed and the speed of the falling tree, the Earth Worm quickly realized that it would get smashed if it doesn''t stop. Although it won''t kill it, it would still certainly harm it. So, it made a swift decision to stop charging to avoid the falling tree.


    Because the earth mana gathered by the Earth Worm wasn''t fully discharged, it has no choice but to receive a painful bacsh to its body, causing it to weaken a bit.


    But what the Earth Worm didn''t know was that Kayn was actually on top of the falling tree. And everything that happened to the Earth Worm was all part of his n.


    While the Earth Worm was suffering from the bacsh, Kayn took advantage of the opportunity to attack it.


    Kayn jumped from the top of the tree as he prepared to swing his sword toward the Earth Worm.


    The Earth Worm, beingpletely oblivious to Kayn''s presence as it still hasn''t pulled itself together from receiving the painful bacsh, was unable to put up a guard to defend itself from Kayn''s attack.


    With a swing from Kayn''s sword, a deep wound was created on the top of the head of the Earth Worm.


    The Earth Worm screamed out in pain upon receiving the deep wound. It was only at this moment that it finally realized that its life is in great danger. It tried to turn its head to find Kayn, but it soon realized that he is long already gone after swinging his sword. Though it soon found where he could be right now as it felt another sting to its body.


    Once more, the Earth Worm screamed out in pain. But once again, it was unable to find Kayn when it looked at where its new wound is. And simr to what happened just now, it felt another painful cut to another part of its body.


    This situation continued to repeat over and over again¡­


    Because of what Kayn was doing, the Earth Worm''s body continued to wiggle around wildly, causing its wound to be even worse.


    Furthermore, unbeknownst to the Earth Worm, as it continued to wiggle around wildly, its body was actually getting closer and closer to the Nature''s Trap.


    And because of the pain that the Earth Worm would continuously feel in every passing second, it didn''t notice the nature mana on its surrounding slowly getting denser and denser.


    Before it could realize what is exactly going on, the Earth Worm shockingly felt a tingling sensation on the left side of its body. That tingling situation became worse and worse and eventually, it started feeling like it was being cut by countless des.


    Following that, the Earth Worm turned to its left side, feeling confident that this time it would find Kayn. However, to its horror, it found itself slowly sinking into the Nature''s Trap.


    With that discovery, the Earth Worm wiggle its body even wilder than before, hoping to get itself out of the Nature''s Trap and save its life. Unfortunately, because the Nature''s Trap is still quicksand, the more it moves, the more its body was sinking into the Nature''s Trap.


    Realizing this, the Earth Worm screamed loudly in pain. Though, it still didn''t give up. It wanted to live! It still has many things it wanted to do in life! And it also wanted to make Kayn pay for what he did to it!


    Unluckily for the Earth Worm, Kayn obviously won''t let that happen.


    While the Earth Worm was trying to get itself out of the Nature''s Trap, Kayn cut another tree and jumped on top of it as he then went along with the tree as it fell close to the Earth Worm.


    Seeing the tree falling nearby it, the Earth Worm instantly thought that perhaps the other monsters are trying to help it. But it soon saw the painful reality as it noticed Kayn approaching it with his sword ready to swing toward it at any time. Closing its eyes and opening them once again, it saw from its peripheral vision the other monsters still struggling to get themselves out from being trapped at the center of the trunks. On the other hand, itsst remaining hope, the me Gori, was still preupied with destroying the trees blocking its way.


    With that realization, the Earth Worm lost all hope and finally decided to stop struggling and sumb to its fate.

 Chapter 42 Kayn Versus The Flame Gorilla

    ?Chapter 42:  Kayn versus the me Gori


    After decapitating the head of the Earth Worm to make sure that it won''t affect the subsequent event, Kayn immediately got himself out of the Nature''s Trap as the trunk he was standing on was quickly being grounded into pieces.


    When Kaynnded on the hard ground, he quickly noticed that the me Gori has finally destroyed thest remaining trunk blocking its way from reaching him.


    At this moment, Kayn and the me Gori finally came face to face against each other in a staring contest with no one to disturb them.


    Just to make sure that was really the case, Kayn shortly glimpsed at the other monsters, and soon after felt how ridiculous and stupid they currently looked.


    If before they were only trapped in the center of the trunks that the me Gori had sted in the middle, right now they are basically intertwining with each other. It''s literally impossible for them to move any time soon.


    "No wonder they are the losers in thepetition," Kayn realized in his head.


    Unlike the me Gori that was smart enough to pick another direction to reach him, albeit not smart enough to just jump on the trunks, the other monsters, on the other hand, decided to just go back in the same path they came from. But because they were all doing it at the same time, and no one seems to have volunteered to give way for the others, or at the very least, adjust so that they would be able to get out faster, as a result, they started intertwining with one another and eventually ended up in a ridiculous and stupid situation.


    Moreover, because some of them countered the element of the other, like the Light Deer and the Dark Boar, it causes them to suffer some degree of injuries. What''s even worse is, the me Goris who are covered in mes started burning the other monsters nearby them. And as they twitched in pain and tried to avoid getting burned, their situation just turned even more unfavorable and terrible for them.


    After confirming that no other monsters would try to disturb them, Kayn returned his focus to the me Gori. And as if thetter thought the same as him, it showed a smile of excitement.


    "I guess it''s not only me that has long been wanting to have this fight," Kayn smiled back.


    As someone who has continuously lived his entire life fighting almost every single day, hour, minute, and second in order to strive, survive, and reach higher in life, suddenly experiencing a day with barely any fights makes him feel a bit weird, or perhaps he is the weird one.


    He had shown it before when he fought against the Dark Boar that charged at him without any reason. But clearly, that wasn''t enough to satisfy his thirst for battle.


    Hopefully, this time it would.


    "Hey, big guy! How about we take this fight somewhere else far from here," Although he has seen the current state of the other monsters, he still wants to make sure that no one will disturb them.


    Unfortunately, the me Gori can''t understand humannguage, just like how Humans can''t understand thenguage of monsters.


    For the me Gori, it thought that what Kayn is doing right now is provoking him. It had experienced fighting against some Humans before, and most of the time they would exercise the same kind of action being expressed by Kayn before initiating their attack.


    And as if to confirm the me Gori''s thoughts, Kayn started making his move.


    Kayn moved to the left so that he can avoid leaving his back to the monsters trying to pounce on him.


    On the other hand, the me Gori responded by moving to the right while still maintaining its distance from Kayn, evidently showing how cautious it is to its opponent.


    The reason why the me Gori is feeling cautious is that when it was making its way toward Kayn, it also watches the scene of how thetter had killed the Earth Worm. Watching everything unfold, it doesn''t feel any confidence that it can survive if it was the one facing Kayn instead of the Earth Worm.


    However, contrary to what the me Gori was expecting, Kayn suddenly started running away.


    Seeing this, the me Gori was momentarily stunned before quickly pulling itself together and chasing after Kayn.


    "You thought I was going to fight you right off the bat?" Kayn smirked. What he is doing right now isn''t running away, but a tactical retreat. Once he reaches a far enough distance, that''s the time that he would immediately initiate a fight with the me Gori.


    As always, while Kayn was running away, he continued to cut the trees along the way. But this time, he made sure that the me Gori would be able to pass through before the tree would block the way. This was so that even if the other monsters could escape their current situation, they would still be dyed.


    Eventually, Kayn passes the earlier trees he had cut ¡ªthe ones that forced the me Gori and the other monsters to get close to the Nature''s Trap. This confirmed that he is halfway to his desired distance.


    "I was nning on eliminating the Rock Ants first before finally facing the me Gori. I guess it can''t be helped," Kayn thought to himself.


    While running, Kayn made sure to slowly make his way back to the path leading toward Selina and Leah. In this way, if things unexpectedly turned out for the worse, someone could, if he is lucky, save him.


    After a few more seconds of running, Kayn finally decided to stop as he turned around to face the me Gori. This time he was seriously going to fight it and no longer run away.


    Observing the approaching me Gori, Kayn tightly holds his sword and readied his feet. Right after that, heunches himself toward the me Gori.


    Seeing Kayn''s action, the me Gori immediately bulked its body to prepare for the iing fight. Simultaneously, it stretched its right arm slightly backward, ready to punch once the opportunityes.


    In the next moment, a crisp sound of the wind echoed throughout the surroundings as Kayn''s sword shed against the me Gori''s fist.


    Although the me Gori was strong, it was unsessful in its intention of throwing Kayn away. Instead, it received a sizeable cut on its fist, causing pain to run from his hand to his entire arm and making his fingers a bit numb.


    Without wasting any time, Kayn hastily followed up by pulling his sword backward and swinging it toward the pinky of the me Gori ¡ª since it is the thinnest part of its hand, hence it can cut easily.


    Just like what Kayn expected, he was able to easily cut off the pinky of the me Gori, causing it to back off a few meters away while grunting in pain.


    "I''m not done yet," Kayn chases after the me Gori, not intending to waste the opportunity to end everything as quickly as possible.


    However, before Kayn could get close to the me Gori, it suddenly exploded in rage. White me erupted out from its body as its two hands started thumping on its chest. Following that, it roared loudly toward Kayn.


    While that was happening, Kayn didn''t stop on his approach. He continued charging toward the me Gori with his sword ready to swing.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Realizing that its intimidation did not work on Kayn, the me Gori gathered a ball of white me in its hand before throwing it at Kayn.


    The speed of the iing white fireball was fast, but it was not fast enough to hit Kayn. Before the fireball could reach him, he tilted his head to the side, causing the fireball to simply pass through him without affecting his movement.


    Boom!


    A loud explosion sounded as the white fireball hit the ground and created a small ck crater with white mes burning the surrounding greenery.


    At the same time that happened, Kayn finally arrived in front of the me Gori.


    The me Gori who was trying to create another fireball was not able to put up any guard to defend itself. As a result, when Kayn swung his sword, another wound was left on his body. This time, the wound was at a very fatal location as the sword had targeted its stomach. It was lucky that the sword did not cut deep into its flesh due to its thick fur and tough skin. Otherwise, its innards would no doubt gush out from its body right this instance.


    "You let down your guard,"


    Out of the me Gori''s expectation, the sword currently in an upward midmotion suddenly made a downward turn directed to its newly cut flesh.


    What the me Gori feared the most has just turned into reality.


    Surprisingly for Kayn, as soon as the flesh became deep enough to see what was inside, a strong heatwave hit his face. Luckily for him, he swiftly raised his sword to block in front of him. Albeit, his eyebrows were burned and his face turned slightly red. If he was just an ordinary Superhuman, there''s no doubt that attack would have instantly taken his life.


    As he was focused on defending from the heatwave, Kayn didn''t notice a fisting straight to his stomach.


    In the next second, Kayn is sted away. He destroyed a few trees in his wake before eventually stopping uponnding on a huge and thick tree. His entire body was somewhat buried in the trunk.


    Kayn can''t help coughing out a mouthful of blood and drenching the uniform he is wearing.


    "Fortunately, I was wearing an armor¡­" Kayn smiled weakly. If back then he got overly confident and decided not to wear armor, then that punch would have certainly broken a lot of his ribs. Well, it did break a few, at least two, if what he is feeling inside right now is indeed urate enough.


    "A surprising heatwave plus a critical punch. That was such a goodbination of attack from the me Gori," Kayn muttered as he slowly stood back up.


    Over the distance, the me Gori was in an even worse condition than Kayn. Some of its innards were exposing out from its stomach and blood continued to gush out quite fast from the wound.


    "How weak¡­ of me¡­" Kayn understood the sad truth. He was very confident earlier that he won''t face any problems when ites to dealing with the me Gori as long as there were only the two of them. Although that was indeed the truth, sadly, because of the unexpected turn of events, the table has now turned against his favor.


    "If this was before, I would have easily avoided that surprise attack,"


    "I can''t let this continue. I have to kill the me Gori quickly and get out of this ce before the other monsters arrive!"


    Making up his mind, Kayn tightly held his sword before making his way back to face the me Gori again.


    The me Gori understood the underlying meaning behind Kayn''s action.


    That''s right, only one of them can survive!


    Just like Kayn, the me Gori no longer minded its serious injury as it started hopping in the direction of Kayn.


    The closer the distance, the faster both Kayn, and the me Gori became.


    Not long after, only five meters of distance separated the two.


    It was now time to decide who will survive and who will die.


    At that moment, instead of continuing to approach, Kayn suddenly tilted his body to the side with his arm holding the sword crossing to his left waist.


    As the me Gori quickly approaches close, Kayn swung his sword at breakneck speed, instantly cutting a deep wound on the left waist of the me Gori.


    With the addition of that wound, the innards that were already about to burst out from the stomach of the me Gori can no longer hold themselves back. Instantly, it burst out from its stomach.


    It was still not over.


    After swinging his sword, Kayn promptly changed the posture of his hand holding the hilt of the sword into a back grip, seemingly like a dagger, as he then made a swift backward stab to the location of the me Gori''s heart from its back.


    Soon, a muffled sound was heard as the me Gori dropped onto the grass that it had dyed red with wide-open eyes. Over its back, Kayn''s sword has prated its heart.


    As for the person that caused all of this to happen, he was long already gone from the scene as he feared that if he dyed any longer the other monsters might arrive. By then, he would bepletely defenseless and helpless to fight against them.


    "Shit! I no longer have¡­ any¡­ strength¡­"


    However, just after walking for a few tens of meters away from the scene, Kayn eventually gave in to his injuries and copsed onto the ground just like the me Gori.


    "Kayn!" A beautiful female voice called out.


    That was thest thing that Kayn could remember before finally losing consciousness.

 Chapter 43 The Assassin And The Mayor

    ?Chapter 43: The assassin and the Mayor


    The next day, Kayn woke up and soon found himself lying on a bed inside an unfamiliar room. He looked around for a bit and realized that it wasn''t his room nor was it a hospital room. He could still vividly remember the moment when he lost consciousness due to overfatigue and his fatal injury, that''s why he assumed thetter case.


    It wasn''t difficult toe to that conclusion since the mattress of the bed was as white as snow, the nket smelled like some kind of perfume that he is not familiar with but was definitely one of those used by women, and the pillow was firm but fluffy, thick butfortable, and it was also soft. Neither does he possesses such well-maintained objects, nor the hospital unless one is a VIP.


    Looking at the bedside cab, Kayn came to notice a picture frame right beside ampshade.


    Inside the picture frame was a photo of him and Selina together.


    If he can remember correctly, this was a photo they took together after graduating from senior high school. It was such a memorable picture since it was the first ever picture that he ever took of himself. Yes, he doesn''t have any pictures prior to that date aside from those that came from his important documents, which doesn''t count.


    At this moment, Kayn finally figured out that he is inside Selina''s room.


    Although he has entered Selina''s room plenty of times already in the past, each of those times her room would look entirely different. That''s because everything in her room would be reced on a weekly basis, and that includes any furniture, utensils, and many other more.


    The main reason for that is because of the death of Selina''s mother. Ever since the day her mother died, her father seems to be extremely cautious about practically everything. Some people even said that he is just being paranoid and has turned crazier with each passing day. But the truth is, the Gift of that assassin who took his wife''s life away was to literally turn into any object. It was through that unique Gift that the assassin was able to sessfully escape from Leah''s pursuit and is still not found by the Mayor''s men today. Probably until the assassin is found and killed, only then would Selina''s father stop recing the furniture in their mansion every day.


    "I think it was only three years from now when Selina''s father would find that assassin. Eh¡­ wait! I think I can help them achieve that in a much shorter period of time," Kayn thought of a bright idea. In this way, he could repay Selina''s father for the kindness shown to him.


    The reason why that assassin is still not found today despite how much resources have been allocated to finding that person is simply that the assassin is actually just hiding around the Mayor''s Mansion. Well, even if one knows about that information, it would still not be easy to find that person. That''s because he didn''t just turn himself into furniture, utensils, or anything that can be found inside the house. But regardless of knowing that he is outside as well, it would still be next to impossible to find him.


    "That cunning guy is disguised as a grass,"


    That''s right! The assassin has long been disguising himself as one of the grass spread all over the Mayor''s Mansion all this time. Since there are countless des of grass, it is next to impossible to pick which grass is the assassin in disguised.


    Though it is still a big question how the assassin didn''t starve or get dehydrated since he can''t carry food and water around with him and scavenging for some would no doubt pose a lot of challenges for him as he is in a ce surrounded by dozens of security personnel and technologies that can detect practically any intruders.


    "That''s not important. As long as I find him and point it out to Selina''s father, then he would get caught," Kayn didn''t feel like finding the answer to that question. He can confidently guess already that it got to do with doing things to the extreme, which he doesn''t prefer doing.


    "What I am wondering about though is why he chose to hide here out of all possible ces that he could hide?" After all, there are plenty of ces to hide. So why pick the Mayor''s Mansion? There might be times when the most dangerous of ces is considered the safest, but in that assassin''s case, he should be able to find a better ce, especially with his unique Gift.


    "The Mercenary Nation is a good hiding spot. Or he could have just gone work for Pandora. I really wonder what kind of thought was in his head when he thought of picking the Mayor''s Mansion," He seriously felt likeughing at the assassin''s choice of a hiding ce. Because of that, thetter has unexpectedly made his job pretty easy.


    "My remaining problem now is how should I persuade Selina''s father that the assassin is hiding in his mansion? And how I can exin why I know about it after they caught the assassin?" Kayn thought deeply.


    "Kayn?"


    Kayn''s thoughts were immediately interrupted when he heard Selina''s voiceing outside the door of the room.


    "May Ie in?"


    "I am just lying on my bed,"


    "Okay,"


    The door was slowly pushed open from the other side.


    "How are you feeling?" Selina asked as she carefully close the door after entering. She then started walking to the side of the bed before sitting on it and looking at Kayn''s eyes. "Be honest with me,"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I am still feeling a bit weak from the overfatigue. But aside from that, I feel fine," Kayn assured his girlfriend.


    "That''s good," Selina stood away from the bed. "Do you have any strength to stand up? Or do you need my help?"


    "I can do it on my own," Kayn replied as he carefully folded the nket to his left side before moving both of his feet to the right side of the bed. Without much effort, he was able to stand up.


    "Was it that serious?" Kayn can''t help but ask as he saw the look of relief on Selina''s face.


    "I was probably overreacting at that time," The moment she saw Kayn lose consciousness and spotted more than ten monstersing toward his direction, her instinct to protect the people she loves was instantly triggered. In the end, she burned a huge portion of the Eclipse Forest. Fortunately, her father covered the mess by calling out some Heroes that have a Gift of growing trees.


    "Thank you," Kayn hugged Selina. This hug wasn''t just to show appreciation for yesterday''s event but was also his way of telling her "Thank you!" for the things she did for him in the future. And that he is forever grateful for her actions.


    "I only did it because I know that if I was the one in your shoes at that time, you''d do even more than what I did,"


    Hearing that, Kayn''s face slightly darken out of shame. He is more than aware of the fact that not even once has he ever done that sort of thing for her. On the contrary, he did something worse to her by leaving her for someone else. Of course, there was a deeper story as to why that happened, but that still doesn''t change the fact that Selina''s thoughts of him weren''t true.


    "This time, I will certainly do that," Kayn murmured.


    "I know you would,"


    After a moment of being in each other''s embrace and enjoying the apany of one another, they left the room and made their way to the dining room.


    As soon as they entered the dining room, they immediately spotted an old man sitting at the center table while reading a newspaper in his left hand and holding a cup of coffee in the other.


    It was Selina''s father, Mayor Sebastian!


    Mayor Sebastian wasn''t literally old. He is in his mid-fifties, but only a few white streaks on his hair could actually be seen, evidently showing just how healthy he is. His body looked seemingly young as well, and the aura around him doesn''t give off the vibe of old people, but those simr to people in their thirties ¡ª poise and overflowing with matureness.


    "Good morning, Mayor Sebastian," Kayn greeted.


    "Oh, son-inw! You''re finally awake!" Mayor Sebastian blurted out loudly before putting both the newspaper and coffee on the table.


    Selina''s face instantly turned bright red upon hearing her father calling Kayn his son-inw. Although this was what her father always called Kayn even before they officially got into a rtionship with each other, she still can''t get used to it.


    "How many times did I say not to call me Mayor Sebastian, but father, dad, or something else that recognizes me as your father-inw," Mayor Sebastian felt unsatisfied. "More importantly, we are just in my mansion, so there are no other people here to listen to our conversation,"


    "Actually," Kayn turned to look at Leah who is currently sitting on the right side of Mayor Sebastian. To be more exact, Leah was sited on a chair to her right that is after an empty chair beside Mayor Sebastian, as that empty chair especially represents the seat of Mayor Sebastian''s wife. Any person who dares to sit on that special chair would offend Mayor Sebastian, regardless of them being Selina, Leah, or even him.


    "I''ve already told you that Leah is considered Selina''s sister, so she''s part of the family," Mayor Sebastian.


    Kayn could only scratch the back of his head in awkwardness. If this was the past him, there''s no doubt that he would not hesitate to call Mayor Sebastian his father-inw. But the current him is no longer the same as the past him.


    Moreover, in the future, he offended Mayor Sebastian and butted heads with him on numerous asions. There were even moments in time when he nearly killed thetter but decided not to do it midway because of their history together. So, to suddenly act nicely like nothing ever happens to the two of them is kinda weird for him and is something that he is not used to doing.


    Well, he''d eventually get used to that in the future. But as of now, he''d continue calling him Mayor Sebastian.

 Chapter 44 Finding The Assassin Part 1

    ?Chapter 44: Finding the assassin part 1


    "Come,e,e! Take a seat, breakfast is about to be served!" Mayor Sebastian motioned his hand for both Kayn and Selina to sit to his left side.


    Kayn nodded his head respectfully before walking to his seat along with Selina.


    Selina sat at the chair to the left side of her father, whereas Kayn sat beside her.


    "So, are you feeling alright now?" Mayor Sebastian expressed his worry. Yesterday, he felt slightly rmed the moment he heard a report from Leah that Kayn lost consciousness for a still unknown reason. Without wasting any time, he quickly sent some medical personnel and support to their location to check on his son-inw''s condition. Fortunately, the cause wasn''t that bad. Though Kayn received some broken ribs, it was something that the medical personnel he had sent could easily fix, thus the problem was solved on the spot.


    "Just feeling a bit tired,"


    "Next time, make sure not to overpush yourself,"


    "If it wasn''t for that¡­" At this moment, Kayn instantly remembered something ¡ª the Entry Crystal. He started searching through his clothes, but then he realized that he was no longer wearing his uniform. Instantly, he started panicking as he can''t help but assume that maybe, just maybe, he dropped it when he was trying to get as far away as possible from the corpse of the me Gori.


    "Are you perhaps looking for this?"


    Out of Kayn''s expectations, Mayor Sebastian suddenly put the Entry Crystal on the table and pushed it close to him.


    Realizing that Mayor Sebastian now knew of the real reason for his actions, albeit he wasn''t nning to hide it from the start anyways, Kayn decided not to hide anything as he nodded his head and said, "Yes,"


    "So, you did all of those just for an Entry Crystal? You could have just asked me for one," Mayor Sebastian shook his head, slightly disappointed at the reason why Kayn put his life on the line.


    "Moreover, using an Entry Crystal to get inside the ''Tower'' is not necessary for you. It would just be troublesome and a waste of time,"


    Kayn could only let out a short smile after hearing Mayor Sebastian''s words. If only thetter knew that he never really had any intention from the start to steal the Entry Crystal if it wasn''t because of Natas'' persuading him to do it.


    Speaking about Natas¡­


    Kayn briefly looked around his surrounding to try and find where Natas was. In the end, he did not discover thetter. Perhaps he is doing something important right now. Well, Natas has his own life and ns, so he''d just let him do whatever he wants.


    However, there was something he wanted to know¡­


    "By the way," Kayn turned to look at Selina. "How did you find me?"


    He wanted to know what method Natas had used to ask for assistance from Selina and Leah.


    "About that¡­ I honestly don''t know how to exin¡­" Selina was still confused about what exactly happened back then. Even after thinking about it for an entire night, she still found it hard to believe.


    What happened was, while she and Leah were busy clearing out the groups of monsters gathered in the north, they both suddenly heard a voice. What''s really strange was the voice seemed to be speaking so close to them, as in only a few inches away close from their respective ears.


    They were instantly suspicious after hearing it, thinking that another Hero or something unknown was happening close to them at that moment. But their guard was all for naught as nothing happened even after ten or so minutes of waiting.


    It was only after that that they finally realized what the voice was trying to say to them. It was kind of vague, but as they listened closely, they started understanding the words, "Kayn¡­ Is¡­ In¡­ Great¡­ Danger¡­"


    She doesn''t know who exactly was speaking at that time. But whoever that was, she is greatly thankful as she was able to save the man she loves because of that person.


    "All I know was, I heard a voice. That''s all,"


    "Then I guess I have to find the owner of that voice and thank that man personally," Kayn purposely said in hopes of calling out to Natas. Yet, there was still no sign of thetter.


    "Unfortunately, we didn''t find that person. Even after searching with the help of the reinforcement, we didn''t find any traces of someone else being close to us," Leah interrupted.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I don''t believe that there''s someone we can''t find," Kayn shook his head. His words carried an underlying meaning, which he hopes to open to the topic of the assassin who is currently hiding outside the Mayor''s Mansion.


    "If that is true, then I would have long found the assassin that killed my wife," Mayor Sebastian muttered with a slightly sorrowful tone in his voice.


    "It''s okay, father. We will eventually find that person," Selina quicklyforted her father.


    "I''ll do my best to find that person as soon as possible, Mayor Sebastian," Leah rest assured. After saying that, she shot a deadly look at Kayn for bringing up the topic. Kayn should be more than aware that Mayor Sebastian would be unhappy if ever someone mentions anything rted to his wife.


    Unbeknownst to Leah, that was what Kayn intended to achieve from the start.


    "What if I told you I know where to find that person?" Kayn confidently imed.


    Earlier ago, he was still confused about what he should be doing so that Mayor Sebastian would listen to him. But then he realized just now that he would most unlikely believe him no matter what since he even can''t find the assassin regardless of how many resources he had used, so what could an eighteen-year-old young man do that he can''t?


    So, he thought that he might as well make a bold im and risk his rtionship with Mayor Sebastian. Anyways, he is confident he would find that assassin, so there''s seriously nothing for him to lose.


    Instantly, the atmosphere in the dining room turned heavy.


    Mayor Sebastian was still wearing a calm look on his face, but the aura he was releasing was drowning all of them. Both Kayn and Selina were already gasping for air to breathe, whereas Leah was trying her best to remainposed, too bad though her struggling expression ultimately betrayed her.


    Despite the current situation, Kayn didn''t express anything that would mean otherwise. He simply stared at Mayor Sebastian, waiting for thetter to stop.


    Honestly, if this was the previous him, there''s no way in hell that he would dare to do this, that''s because he has a very good rtionship with Mayor Sebastian. In other words, he cares about the people around him way too much. However, the current him doesn''t. The only person he cares about in this room is Selina since she''s the only person who helped him in his times of need and even offered her life for him.


    If in the end, he''d offend Mayor Sebastian. Then it seems that''s all there is to their rtionship. It''s not his fault that Mayor Sebastian did not consider his words even for just a single second, right?


    After a few more seconds, the heavy atmosphere was finally steadily subsiding. Eventually, the aura that Mayor Sebastian was releasingpletely disappeared.


    Mayor Sebastian heaved a heavy sigh before he slowly turned to look at Kayn. The look in his eyes was a clear indication of how he felt ¡ª anger and displeasure.


    For the first time ever, Mayor Sebastian felt those two emotions toward Kayn. But who won''t? His son-inw basically told him that he can''t find the assassin who killed his wife. Any husband would get enraged no matter what if they hear someone say that to him. If it wasn''t because of his good rtionship with Kayn, then he would have long sted thetter into pieces.


    On second thought though, he is fully aware that it''s close to impossible for him to find that assassin. Many years have already passed, and all of his efforts to look for that assassin have all turned in vain. Although some people offered to help him, because he believes that it is his responsibility to look for that assassin, he declined them.


    Maybe it''s now about time for him to ept help from other people and stop treating their kindness as an insult to his irresponsibility as a husband.


    "Let''s use Kayn''s offer as the stepping stone," Mayor Sebastian thought in his mind.


    "How do you propose we should look for the assassin?" Mayor Sebastian solemnly stared at Kayn.


    Realizing that Mayor Sebastian has given him the chance to exin, Kayn quickly pulled himself together. In the next second, he muttered, "This was something that a close friend of mine used to always say ¡ª The safest ce could sometimes be the most dangerous ce,"


    "Are you implying that the assassin might just be hiding in the Mayor''s Mansion?!" Leah eximed out of anger. She had enough of Kayn''s shenanigans. If he doesn''t stop whatever he is nning on doing soon, she might as well jump him and make his mouth shut up for him.


    "Please," Mayor Sebastian raised his right hand to make Leah stay silent for the moment.


    "Mmmm¡­" Leah''s mouth was instantly glued together by strange magic. In the end, she could only stare hatefully at Kayn as she cannot do anything else for fear that she would offend Mayor Sebastian who is clearly in a bad mood already.


    "Why do you think I always rece everything in the house on a weekly basis?" That was the exact reason why he is cautious with all the things in the mansion. He is assuming the possibility that the assassin is hiding in one of them. Because of that, all the things that are reced would immediately be taken to a junkyard, and over there all of them would be destroyed instantly, not leaving any chances for the assassin to escape.


    "But have you ever considered the possibility that the assassin might be disguised as one of the things outside the mansion? Like for example, one of the des of grass?" Kayn grinned maliciously.

 Chapter 45 Finding The Assassin Part 2

    ?Chapter 45: Finding the assassin part 2


    "Hey, are you sure about this?" Selina can''t help but ask as she felt worried about what her father would possibly do to Kayn if whatever he is nning on doing didn''t work.


    "Do you trust me?" Kayn smiled at Selina.


    "Yes, but¡­"


    "Then just watch your boyfriend," Kayn assures Selina before walking toward Mayor Sebastian.


    Along the way, Kayn heard Selina and Leah having a conversation about him.


    "What do you think is your boyfriend nning on doing?"


    "I honestly don''t have any clue. But I hope he seeds,"


    "Seriously?! what the hell is going on inside of his mind right now?!"


    "That''s why I am worried¡­"


    "Hays¡­ How about we go to that shade over there while watching them?" Leah pointed towards the small wooden courtyard.


    "Alright,"


    At this moment, Kayn, Selina, Leah, and Mayor Sebastian are standing outside the mansion.


    After hearing Kayn''s assumption just now, Mayor Sebastian decided to consider his words very seriously. So, he told the chef to dy their breakfast for some time so that he can confirm whether the assassin is really hiding outside of his mansion or not.


    "You are aware that if your assumption is proven false you will suffer the consequences of your actions, right?" Mayor Sebastian said sternly.


    "Yes,"


    "This might cause me to no longer view you in favor of bing my son-inw,"


    "I can earn that back again,"


    "You''re that confident, ha?" Mayor Sebastian felt a bit surprised at the way that Kayn is acting. If this was someone else, just this brief question-and-answer portion would have been more than enough to lower their confidence.


    "Why would I dare to propose this idea to you if I wasn''t confident in the first ce?" Kayn smiled positively. He might not know which de of grass exactly the assassin is disguised as right now, but as long as Mayor Sebastian cuts all of them, then he is sure that his n woulde to fruition.


    "Let''s see about that!"


    In the next moment, a chilling and sharp aura could be felting out from Mayor Sebastian.


    "How familiar," At one point in time, Kayn was ignorant of how Mayor Sebastian was able to hold his position as the Mayor of the capital city of the Dragon Beast Republic. It was only when he fought seriously with thetter that he understood that this man was actually the one who holds the title ''Sword Emperor''.


    Evidently, like father, like daughter.


    If Selina is the Empress of mes, naturally her father would hold something even grander to that.


    Unlike Selina''s title, which simply makes her one of the many candidates for bing the ''me Empress'', Mayor Sebastian''s title is formally recognized by the entire world as the one and only Sword Emperor.


    That''s right! Having the word ''Emperor'' or ''Empress'' after and before one''s title actually means different. If one of those two words is right at the start of the title, that only means they are a candidate for possibly holding the said title in the future. Whereas if one has those two words at the end, it means they are the one who is sitting on the throne as one of the true kings and true queens of the world.


    The main reason why there are candidates already for the said title is that there are over seven hundred more floors left in the ''Tower''. With that many floors, it isn''t impossible to believe that there would be someone to suddenly and unexpectedly rece one of the kings or queens overnight. As a matter of fact, that already happened in the past with Nichs. Back then, someone else was holding the title ''Martial Emperor'', but in just one night, that great person was defeated by Nichs fair and square and got reced. It obviously shocked the entire world, and from then on, candidates of the current kings and queens were introduced. This also serves as a reminder to the current holder that at any point in time, if they start cking off, they could get reced.


    The feeling that Kayn is sensing right now was the same as what he felt back then when he was fighting against Mayor Sebastian in the second life.


    It''s like the feeling one could get when being pointed at by an actual sword to their head.


    "As expected of the Sword Emperor," Kayn murmured. The only way for one to be a candidate of the Sword Emperor, thus earning the title ''Emperor of Sword'', is to first be one with the sword. And not in a sense where one merely treats the sword like a part of their body, rather they, themselves, be a sword.


    Mayor Sebastian ignored Kayn''s words as he closed his eyes to focus on his surroundings.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Unlike everyone who would see nothing after closing their eyes, in his case he sees an image of a ck-and-white world. In this world, he controls and has aplete grasp of everything.


    From the direction of the wind to the movement of the ground.


    Everything in his surroundings is within his view, including the view from the back of his head.


    While in that state, Mayor Sebastian started locking on every single de of grass that he could find in the perimeter of his mansion, may they be hidden under the rocks, growing above his roof, or even those that has just sprouted. Not a single de of grass was spared.


    Unbeknownst to Mayor Sebastian, Kayn actually knows more than him about what state he is currently in. Unfortunately, at this moment, Mayor Sebastian is in a bottleneck, and only if he breaks it, which he definitely would in the future, would he unlock the passive ability called ''Domain''.


    That isn''t important right now.


    As Kayn continues to watch Mayor Sebastian, thetter eventually started moving his pointing finger seemingly making mad and crazy shes in midair.


    In every sh, a strong gush of wind could be felt that blows throughout the entire surrounding.


    As the seconds continues to pass, the stronger the wind became.


    Kayn, Selina, and Leah were helplessly being pushed back as time goes by.


    Realizing that it is impossible for them to stay rooted in one spot, they decided to hide behind the small courtyard that Selina and Leah were using previously to get a shade away from the sunlight.


    With thest flick of a finger, all des of grass in the Mayor''s Mansion flew in the air and were right after cut into multiple pieces.


    As they dropped to the ground, not the slightest sound was heard from the rest of the des of grass except for one.


    In contrast to the rest of the des of grass, this single de of grass was tainted with blood, and the blood continues to slowly cover its entire body every time a cough was heard.


    "All this time I expend so many resources to look for you in every corner of the world. I also searched each and every floor inside the ''Tower''," Mayor Sebastian muttered as he slowly walked toward the tainted de of grass. "I didn''t even care how many of my men dies just so that I could get even the tiniest information about you,"


    "However, despite how much information I could get, it still leads me to nothing. Not a clue, a footprint, nor even just a shadow from you was found,"


    "And because of that, my hopes of finding you was dwindling,"


    "Just a few minutes ago, I made up my mind to finally ask other people to help me find you. But before finally doing that, I wanted to use my son-inw as a stepping stone to conclude that decision and make him the prime example for those who are useless,"


    "Can you believe that?! I tried to actually use someone close and important to me as a sacrifice for the little pride I have left in me as a husband!"


    Mayor Sebastian suddenly stopped on his step. Right now, he is standing in front of a de of grass that is fully tainted in the color of blood.


    "If at that time I let my emotions control me and go into a rage, hence kicking out my son-inw, then this moment right here wouldn''t havee,"


    Mayor Sebastian startedughing hysterically.


    It was only at this moment that all the guards of the Mayor''s Mansion started arriving one after another as they have noticed themotion just now.


    In front of them, they are watching Mayor Sebastianughing crazily while a dying thin old man was lying on the ground that is now covered by des of grass that were freshly cut by a sharp sword.


    Seemingly in an instant, all guards recognized the man lying on the ground as none other than the assassin who killed Mayor Sebastian''s wife.


    It wasn''t hard for them to recognize the man as everyone has multiple copies of what he looked like on their phones and even in their pockets in case they lost their phones. That picture haunts them down to this date as it serves as a huge reminder to them of everyrade that had died to look for that assassin and the fact that as long as that man is still not found they would be included in the list of sacrifices.


    Unanimously, all the guards let out a sigh of relief.


    Now that the assassin is going to be gone soon, they no longer have to sacrifice their lives to look for him, and the deaths of theirrades have finally borne a result.


    The only question left in their minds at this moment is how Mayor Sebastian himself found the assassin first.


    It isn''t a lie that Mayor Sebastian is looking for that assassin. But the ones who are truly doing all the work for him were them. Yes, they indeed received a lot of resources, money, and other stuff, and since they are part of his private army, thus they are in fact just an extension of his arms and feet, meaning it is still him who is making a move. Regardless, it should still be them who find the assassin first before Mayor Sebastian.


    It was a big question for them. Nevertheless, none of them made a single sound to speak their minds about it. If they are required to know who pointed out the location of the assassin, then they woulde to know about it. But as of this moment, they should just let Mayor Sebastian enjoy himself. After all, this was the day that he has long been waiting for. If anyone dares to stop him from drowning himself with it, they would immediately stop that person even if that person is World President Nichs himself.

 Chapter 46 Mayor Sebastians Future

    ?Chapter 46: Mayor Sebastian''s future


    Eventually, Mayor Sebastian stoppedughing hysterically as he realized that there are a lot of people around them right now. He started fixing himself to look dignified and fit to his status as a Mayor.


    With a look on his face as if nothing had just happened, Mayor Sebastian raised his hand and cliched it into a fist, "From this day on, we have seeded in one of our greatest mission of finding the assassin who killed my beloved wife,"


    "While this might not have avenged the lives of ourrades that were lost during the search for this person. But from this moment forth, I promise that there would no longer be any meaningless sacrifices due to this man!" Mayor Sebastian pointed towards the assassin.


    With a wave of his hand, a sword appeared in the hand of Mayor Sebastian.


    "A Storage Ring, how clich¨¦," Kayn muttered jokingly. This was basically a once-novel item that doesn''t need that much exining to do since it appeared in almost all stories back when the ''Tower'' still didn''t exist on Earth.


    Mayor Sebastian looked at the thin old man who is continuously coughing out blood from his mouth with no tinge of mercy nor sympathy to be seen on his face.


    "You knew that this day would eventuallye to you once I find where you are hiding, right?"


    "I¡­ know¡­" The assassin replied with difficulty. As if epting his fate, he decided to liefortably on the ground and stared at the sky.


    "Do you regret doing what you did in the past?"


    "I¡­ don''t¡­ cough!" After all, he is an assassin. If every single time he kills someone he starts regretting afterward, then he won''t ever be fit to be an assassin. "Though¡­ if there is something I regretted, that is epting the mission to kill your family¡­"


    "What do you mean?!" Mayor Sebastian was instantly shocked at the revtion.


    "I¡­ was merely a pawn to make one of the powerful pieces on the table move¡­"


    Mayor Sebastian immediately understood what the assassin meant with his words.


    "I''ve¡­ left something to someone that will surely help you find the person who ordered me to kill your wife¡­ It might not be enough to pay for the sin I had done to you¡­ but it should be more than enough to redeem my sins to the world¡­"


    After saying thosest words, the assassin finally took hisst breath.


    As he was rendered in disbelief at the unexpected revtion of the assassin, Mayor Sebastian forgot his intention of cutting the assassin''s head off. In the end, the assassin passed away peacefully.


    However, Mayor Sebastian wasn''t angry nor did he feel regret about his choice. The information that the assassin had revealed to him was more than enough to give the assassin a peaceful death.


    "So that''s how it was," Kayn thought to himself.


    If it was anyone else listening to the conversation between Mayor Sebastian and the assassin right now, then they won''t be able to understand the content due to theck of enough context. However, he understood it clearly well, as he has already seen the ending of Mayor Sebastian.


    ''How the mighty have fallen!''


    Those were the five-letter words that appeared on many news outlets around the globe, especially all over the Dragon Beasts Republic, after Mayor Sebastian died in the hands of an Emperor of Sword that woulde to rece him in the future.


    The reason why that happened was that a few years from now, after Mayor Sebastian found the assassin who killed his wife, another assassin unexpectedly came and took the life of his daughter, Selina, away from him. Of course, Selina clearly didn''t die.


    Kayn doesn''t know the reason yet why Selina didn''t reveal to her father that she was alive. But it most likely has to do with the mission that Natas has told him about.


    After those strings of unfortunate events, it is only natural for Mayor Sebastian to turn to the dark side and abandon the life of a Hero to be a Viin. He turned crazy and insane, thus his title changed and he became the ''Crazy Swordman''.


    Regardless, that isn''t important anymore right now since all of those are going to change in the third life. In fact, he had already begun with the change.


    All that he is trying to say is, this event is evidently rted to the unfortunate ending of Mayor Sebastian. The person who ordered the death of his family and the assassin are both key individuals to the fate of Mayor Sebastian.


    "Everyone, dismiss!" Mayor Sebastian ordered his men to get back to their position.


    Hearing this, all guards didn''t hesitate to vacate the ce.


    After confirming that all the guards have left, Mayor Sebastian turn to look at Kayn and said, "We have something important to talk about after we take our breakfast," Then, he changed his gaze to Selina and Leah, "As for you two, you have to continue with the mission you didn''tplete yesterday. Don''t think that I would let you help Kayn!"


    "Understood, Mayor Sebastian," He already expected that this would happen. After all, this was the consequence of revealing the assassin with no clear evidence to prove his im.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Yes, father," Selina nodded her head before turning to look at Kayn strangely.


    "But, how¡­?" Leah still can''t believe what just happened. She was so confident back then that Kayn is going to be in big trouble once he is proven wrong. And she was already preparing herself on how she should resolve the situation once that happened. She looked at Selina and said, "Your boyfriend is truly unlike all of those guys at your Guild. Just when would I find someone like yours?"


    "You can''t, since he is the only one, and unfortunately for you, he is mine," Selina yfully let her tongue out in response before quickly interlocking her arm to Kayn''s shoulder and walking alongside him.


    "You¡­" Leah felt aggravated at Selina. "Now you''repletely ignoring?! Let''s see about thatter, you pesky kid!"


    Selina still ignored Leah as she focuses her attention on Kayn and notices that he is wearing a serious look on his face.


    "Is there any problem, Kayn?"


    "Nothing," Kayn could make up a lie. Albeit he knows that Selina won''t believe him.


    "Okay¡­" Selina pouted.


    "Don''t worry, I got this," There was no use in getting scared now since he had already done it. Whatever is going to happen next, he would deal with it to the best of his ability.


    "Just where the heck is Natas?!" Kayn thought to himself. This is the type of situation where Natas is required the most. Yet there''s no sign of thetter until now. He can''t help but be worried that something bad had happened to Natas.


    ¡­..


    After eating breakfast, Kayn was immediately ordered by the butler of the Mayor''s Mansion to go to Mayor Sebastian who is in his study room to discuss the important matter rting to the assassin.


    Selina and Leah had to also immediately leave for the Twilight Forest to finish their mission, so he doesn''t have any excuse to dy. Hence, he had no other choice but toply.


    As he was walking down the hallway to the study room ¡ª which felt strangely long, his mind was already preparing multiple excuses for whatever question Mayor Sebastian is going to throw at him.


    "We are here," The butler informed Kayn as he opened the door of the study room.


    As Kayn entered the study room, he was straight away shocked by the scene in front of him.


    Inside the study room, Mayor Sebastian is sitting on a sofa with a chessboard in front of him. He is currently ying solo chess, which is one of the best ways to find one''s weaknesses and allow one to be quicker at noticing patterns.


    For ignorant people, ying solo chess might not be useful to anything other than the game of chess. But if one actually reces the chess pieces in their mind with something else, or perhaps with someone else, then that''s where the real fun part begins.


    Just by looking at the chessboard, Kayn could already guess that Mayor Sebastian is imagining himself ying against the person who ordered the assassin previously to kill his family. That person did say that he was nothing more than a pawn to make one of the powerful pieces in the board move.


    Although that wasn''t what shocked Kayn.


    A few tens of meters to the side, a ce where a bunch of book racks is located, he finally found Natas who has been missing all this time. Thetter is currently swiping on a big tablet that is mounted on a table.


    As he entered the room, Natas evidently notices him as he uses his hand to signal him not to turn in his direction for long. He could already guess that it was so that Mayor Sebastian won''t notice him.


    "If I was one of the special chess pieces on the table, what do you think I would be?" Mayor Sebastian asked with his focus still on the chessboard. He has already noticed Kayn the moment thetter was in front of the door of his study room.


    "A rook!"


    "Why?"


    "Because a rook only moves in a straight line. As a swordsman, if there''s anyone hindering your path, your first choice would be to charge in a straight line to that person with your sword in your hand,"


    "Fair enough," Mayor Sebastian motioned his hand on the opposite sofa, "Have a seat,"


    As Kayn walks towards the sofa, he can''t help but feel curious at why Mayor Sebastian choose to ask that question first. Luckily for him, he knows a lot about being a swordsman as he is a swordsman himself.


    Unlike the other Heroes, a swordsman always moves in a direct and straight manner. That''s because they care a lot about their reputation and honor. They even follow the chivalry code very strictly and anyone found not doing so has a high chance of beingbeled a Viin. They are one of the most courageous, inflexible, and upromising types of Heroes. And that''s the main reason why he believes that Mayor Sebastian is the rook piece in the chessboard.

 Chapter 47 Kayn’s Assumption

    ?Chapter 47: Kayn''s Assumption


    Mayor Sebastian paused from his solo chess game and slowly looks at Kayn. He crosses his feet together before muttering, "I''ve been wondering about this ever since your guess was proven correct,"


    Here ites!


    Kayn gulped down a mouthful of saliva as nervousness started creeping into his heart.


    "Just how on Earth did you know that the assassin would be disguised as one of the des of grass in my mansion?"


    "I¡­" Before Kayn could respond, Mayor Sebastian raised his hand to interrupt him.


    "Wait for a moment, let me finish,"


    "Okay,"


    "There were just too many objects outside my mansion that you could have pointed out. For example, the vases, the stone bs, or even the bricks around the mansion. But why specifically point out the grass? I want to hear your reason,"


    "And don''t be mistaken. I am not suspecting that you are an aplice with the assassin. I''ve long investigated your background. I also have a reliable source of information about you. Rest assured, I only did so with the main intention of protecting my daughter. Because even though I keep calling you my son-inw, I still can''t help myself from being a father. So, assuming that you and that assassin are part of the same group ispletely out of the question nor you even being part of a Viin organization,"


    "I just want to know and understand the reasoning behind the logic of your assumption,"


    Hearing the question, Kayn decided to take a breather to pull his mind together. It wasn''t because he is having difficulty thinking of an answer. It''s just that, the question is way too far from his expectations!


    He was expecting that Mayor Sebastian would assume exactly like what he said ¡ª that he is an aplice of the assassin. And that he would relentlessly pursue that matter to find out everything. After all, there was no other way for him to know where the assassin was hiding other than the assassin himself telling him about it.


    If he had a Gift that allows him to locate the assassin, then it would be a different story. Unfortunately, he doesn''t, and Mayor Sebastian should be aware of that as well. Hence, he can''t use that as an excuse. Well, even if Mayor Sebastian didn''t, he can still ask for him to demonstrate his supposed Gift. By then, he would be exposed.


    After calming himself down for a few seconds, Kayn replied with a very simple answer, "I guess it was all down to luck,"


    Mayor Sebastian''s eyebrow raised in suspicion.


    Seeing that reaction, Kayn started exining why it was all because of luck, "Honestly, I didn''t expect that the assassin would really be hiding as one of the des of grass. My thoughts a while ago were simply that maybe the assassin was thinking that the most dangerous ce is the safest ce. Although I know that you''ve been checking that possibility every week. But I''ve noticed that you only do so inside the mansion. How about outside? As far as I could remember, you never did. Arguably so, it should be because there is barely any furniture outside,"


    "However, I remembered that the assassin can disguise himself as practically any object that he wants, not just furniture or those objects used inside the house. In my opinion, the most effective way to hide with that Gift is to use those objects that have a considerable number of simr objects nearby, like for example, the des of grass, so it would be extremely hard to locate them,"


    "And assuming that the assassin is truly hiding somewhere around your mansion, he should be more than aware already of the fact that he can''t disguise himself as one of the furniture and other objects that you rece on a weekly basis. Thus, further proving my point,"


    "That is my reasoning behind why I suggested the assassin might be disguised as one of the des of grass, albeit I didn''t expect that the assassin would really choose to do that. Even a kid would point out the des of grass first,"


    "Fair enough," Mayor Sebastian muttered.


    Unexpectedly, Mayor Sebastian suddenly puts his hand forward and moves a pawn on the chess board. "So, what could be the most likely reason why the assassin believed that my mansion would be considered the safest ce for him to hide?"


    There was clearly an underlying meaning behind Mayor Sebastian''s question and Kayn was able to notice this. "So, that is your real intention,"


    Hearing this, it is clear to Kayn now that Mayor Sebastian wanted to discuss with him thest words of the assassin, and that the question before was just an excuse.


    "Is he perhaps considering the possibility that one of his men is a spy and is working with the assassin from the inside, or perhaps the person who sent the assassin?" This was the only possibility he could think about as to why Mayor Sebastian had to use an excuse to call him here.


    "That¡­ I don''t know. But I believe you are already on to something,"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Mayor Sebastian motioned his hand for Kayn to make a move on the chess board.


    Looking at the chess board, although some pieces are no longer on their spot, while others were taken away from the board already, at the very least, it is still yable. So, Kayn just casually picked the pawn in front of the rook at the right-side corner and made it move two tiles. There was no deeper reason for his move.


    "I am assuming that perhaps it is because the moment the assassin leaves my mansion, his contractor woulde to kill him so that there won''t be any evidence left of whatever his intention was in killing my family,"


    "So, you''re saying that he intents on killing the only witness?"


    "Yes, so that there is no possibility left that someone would find out that it was him,"


    "Do you have someone in mind that you believe would think of doing that to you?"


    Mayor Sebastian made a heavy sigh as he replied, "Before I became the mayor of the Moon Dragon City, I have already made plenty of enemies, some I have already killed a long time ago, while others are still alive. And when I was finally elected to this position, I made even more enemies and offended dozens of parties that wanted to be the Mayor of this city,"


    "To simply put, all of them are suspects?"


    "Yes! And there''s no way to narrow it down to a few people since all of them would no doubt do that and also has the capability of pulling it off with the right n,"


    "I agree," Kayn nodded his head. "However, who amongst them has the capability to scare the hell out of an assassin who literally possesses a Gift to hide in wherever ce he wants on Earth and could possibly only be found if he wanted to?"


    "That''s the problem¡­ there''s none," All the enemies he had made and people he offended are more or less on the same level as him. If it took him this long to find the assassin despite the fact that he had pulled so many resources in finding him, and it wasn''t even him nor the people he had been dumping resources that found the assassin. Moreover, it was only because of luck. So, let alone them, who should also be as interested as him in finding the assassin who killed his wife?


    "Since your enemy and the people that you offended are out of the list of suspects. Then perhaps it is time for us to think in another direction?"


    "Do you have something in mind?" Mayor Sebastian became curious.


    "Is there anyone on Earth right now who you believe can scare the assassin to the point that he would hide for so many years in the mansion of hisst target?"


    Hearing Kayn''s question, Mayor Sebastian instantly fell into deep thought.


    "It''s going exactly as I nned," Kayn said in his mind. In truth, he already has someone in mind on who sent the assassin that killed Mayor Sebastian''s wife ¡ª it''s none other than World President Nichs himself.


    Needless to say, it''s not because of hatred that he assumed the suspect to be World President Nichs.


    Hatred might have clouded his vision before, but now that he has rity over it, it would be very difficult for him to fall into the same hatred once again, even if he tries to.


    The reason why he assumes the suspect to be World President Nichs is that if he remembers correctly, the Emperor of Sword that killed Mayor Sebastian in the future was someone who made a lot of interactions and contacts with World President Nichs after that guy was elected the next Mayor of Moon Dragon City.


    Even he nor Mayor Sebastian could barely interact with World President Nichs, which is very suspicious. Unless, of course, that person is one of his men.


    Naturally, that is nothing more than his assumption and there''s not enough evidence to prove that he is correct. That is exactly why he wants to tell Mayor Sebastian about it as he intends for thetter to search for those evidence for him. After all, with his current capacity and resources, there''s no way for him to do that.


    However, since he can''t straight away tell Mayor Sebastian about it, he thought that maybe he can make Mayor Sebastian think about it himself.


    This was the trick that he had learned from Natas when thetter told him how they tricked the ''Tower'' ¡ª If there''s no one who can trick the ''Tower'', then let the ''Tower'' trick himself.


    Since he can''t tell Mayor Sebastian about his assumption, then he''ll just make Mayor Sebastian arrive at that conclusion through a series of questions and answers.


    And right now, Mayor Sebastian should be doing exactly that.

 Chapter 48 The Reality Of The Dragon Beast Republic

    ?Chapter 48: The Reality of the Dragon Beast Republic


    "Now that you''ve mentioned that, I guess we can narrow the suspects down to just a few individuals," Mayor Sebastian felt impressed at Kayn. He won''t be prompted to think in another direction if it wasn''t for thetter.


    "That''s great!" Kayn felt thrilled but was still silently hoping deep inside that World President Nichs was one of the people that Mayor Sebastian would suspect. After all, Mayor Sebastian is part of the Dragon Beast Republic, which World President Nichs is also a part of, and they both do their best to give the prime interest of their nation.  Moreover, thetter is literally the king of the world, so why would he bother doing something to someone insignificant for him, right?


    "If we include all the World Leaders, I believe there are more or less only sixteen people who can possibly find that assassin even if he has the Gift to disguise himself as whatever he wants,"


    "Does that include World President Nichs?"


    "He''s the number one, and second to him is the President of Pandora,"


    "Fair enough," Putting World President Nichs aside, the President of Pandora is someone who can literally find anyone he wants on Earth. Regardless of where one would hide, he''ll no doubt find that person one way or the other. That''s the reason why he became the President and founder of the number one assassin organization in the world in the first ce.


    Albeit that wasn''t what he wanted to know. "So, between the two, who is the most suspicious of all?"


    Finding out about that was what is considered important for him!


    "Hmmm¡­" Mayor Sebastian fell into deep thought once again.


    For others, it might be difficult to pick between World President Nichs and the President of Pandora. That''s because these two individuals are extraordinary and powerful people who can''t be bothered with small and insignificant things as they have bigger problems to deal with in their hands and huge responsibilities to take care of due to their great power.


    However, for Mayor Sebastian, there''s a significant difference between the two which serves as the critical reason why one of them would try to do something for his family regardless of what their position is.


    A brief momentter, Mayor Sebastian continues, "I guess between the two, it would be World President Nichs,"


    That''s right! He suspects World President Nichs.


    "Why? Aren''t you both part of the Dragon Beast Republic?"


    Honestly, Kayn indeed wanted Mayor Sebastian to be suspicious of World President Nichs. That was what he intended to do, after all. But he didn''t consider that it would be this easy. It was simr to back then when Mayor Sebastian simply wanted to know the logic behind his choice of pointing out the des of grass from the other.


    Perhaps smart and wise people have their own ways of getting the information that they want. He was never that kind of person, to begin with, at least that is what he believes, thus that should be the reason why he can''t understand what''s going on inside Mayor Sebastian''s mind right now.


    Fortunately, as if to enlighten Kayn, Mayor Sebastian started exining.


    "That''s all the more reason why I picked him," Mayor Sebastian paused to take a breather. "You might not know about this, but the political world of the Dragon Beast Republic isn''t as peaceful as it seems, especially since it is the head of the Four Beasts Alliance,"


    "On the surface, people would see all of us cooperating with one another to raise the nation to the top.  But in reality, there is actually a lot of infighting going on between all of us,"


    "Do you know that for starters, in order for them to be one of the most influential people in the nation like me, one has to gain support from the other giants of those part of the Four Beast Alliance? Otherwise, forget about bing a Mayor or anyone part of the political scene, since you won''t even be able to enter the political world,"


    "You heard that right! It might seem like the Dragon Beast Republic is the leader of the Four Beasts Alliance, but the truth is, our nation won''t be formed if it wasn''t for the other three. Simply put, it was through the umted effort of the Tiger Beast Republic, Phoenix Beast Republic, and the Tortoise Beast Republicbined together that the Dragon Beast Republic was born,"


    "That fact could be seen throughout the numerous Hero Academies around the Dragon Beast Republic where you can see that there are only a few Heroes actuallying from the nation itself, while the majority are citizens of the other three nations part of the Four Beasts Alliance,"


    "Anyways, one of the main reasons why I became the Mayor of the capital of the Dragon Beast Republic is because I am one of the loyal men of the current President of the nation, who was the previous vice-president when World President Nichs was still president,"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "In other words, me and World President Nichs are part of two different rival political parties,"


    "Although World President Nichs is now akin to the king of Earth, he actually barely has any support from the giants of the Four Beasts Alliance, and the nation that supports him the lowest is actually the Dragon Beast Republic, which is the nation that he was born from. His major supporters mainlye from the two churches,"


    "If he wants to retain his position as the World President in theing years, he has to start amassing supporters from the Dragon Beast Republic first before trying to earn supporters from the Four Beasts Alliance. Unfortunately, because the people of this nation believe in the current President more, it would be very difficult for him to achieve that, and so he has to resort to some schemes and underhanded tactics, which would definitely include assassinating the supporters of the current President of the Dragon Beast Republic,"


    "And I believe that I am one of the unlucky people on page number one of his lists of targets,"


    So, a conflict of interest and power struggle¡­


    "I don''t know a lot about the politics of the Dragon Beast Republic," That''s right! He actually doesn''t know much about it even back then, "¡ª nor your enemies and the people you offended. But hearing your reason, I guess the most suspicious individual could only be World President Nichs himself,"


    "Knowing about that, I wonder how you n on dealing with this problem?" After all, this was World President Nichs they are talking about. If one has any sort of problem that involves him, they might as well just forget about it since it''s next to impossible to try and make him pay. In the first ce, how on Earth are you even nning to fight against the king of the world?!


    That question actually serves two purposes for Kayn. One, he wants to know what Mayor Sebastian ns on doing next. In that way, he can decide whether it''s worth it to consider thetter as one of his potential allies or not. And second, he wants to have some references for his next course of action.


    The truth is, his n for the future to deal against the ''Tower'' is to actually just watch and adapt. Needless to say, he is more than aware that it is not a good n for the long run. However, he also can''t rashly make a decision, especially since this is still the third day after he was reincarnated. If he immediately sprung into action without carefully considering the possible consequences of his moves like what those popr novels that he had previously read about do, then there''s a huge chance that he would just be a ma that attracts all bad things to him.


    Although that doesn''t seem all that bad anyhow, as only by taking on more risks that one could receive the most benefit and profit. But since his enemy could practically kill him at any given time that he wants the moment he is ssified as suspicious enough, totally unlike the others, then he has to effectively choose which risk is worth the time and effort for him to take on.


    Since there''s no way for him to change the fact of the ''Tower'' realizing that he has reincarnated back to the pastter on, so he might as well make the best out of it before that happens.


    The question is how?


    That''s why he asked Mayor Sebastian how he ns to deal with World President Nichs.


    "What we have now is nothing more than just an assumption. So, I n to investigate the rtionship between the assassin and World President Nichs first,"


    "And if there''s any?"


    "Then I''ll report this matter to the President of the Dragon Beast Republic and ask him whether I should continue pursuing this matter or just leave it alone for some time,"


    "That''s it?" Kayn felt disappointed.


    "Why do I feel like you have something against World President Nichs?"


    "It''s not that I have a problem with the guy. It''s just that, are you seriously going to just drop this matter if the President of the Dragon Beast Republic would tell you to do so?"


    "Of course, I won''t!"


    "Thought so," If that was really the case, then he''d feel pity for Selina and her mother for having such a useless man as their father and husband. Imagine, his wife was killed and his daughter nearly died if it wasn''t for Leah arriving to stop the assassin from searching the mansion any further, and yet, in the end, he actually would not make the person who did that pay just because someone told him to drop it.


    Forget about the fact that he is trying to manipte Mayor Sebastian into bing suspicious of World President Nichs since, by the time he discovers the rtionship between the assassin and thetter, it would entirely be up to him whether he would pursue the matter or not. If he believes himself to be a responsible father and husband, then he''d immediately choose to make World President Nichs pay, but if he would take the second choice, which is to consider the best interest of the party that he belongs, then it seems like he expected a lot from Mayor Sebastian.

 Chapter 49 Another Potential Ally

    ?Chapter 49: Another Potential Ally


    "I am not an irresponsible father and husband. The reason why I would report the information I find to the President of the Dragon Beast Republic is to know two things. First and foremost, to know whether I can expect him to be on my side despite the risk I could bring to the party. And second, to know whether I should fight against World President Nichs openly or in secret,"


    "Regardless of what, it won''t change my mind on making the person who ordered to kill my family pay for what they have done to my wife!"


    In a split second, the chessboard started cracking before eventually splitting into two, in the process all the chess pieces started bursting into wooden chips one after the other.


    With how fast things were developing, a tiny wood chip swooshed through Kayn''s left cheek, which left a small wound in its wake.


    This causes a small drop of blood to drop from his chin to the table, but he didn''t mind it as he stared solemnly at Mayor Sebastian.


    On the other hand, Natas was now standing behind Kayn, ready to pull thetter out of there if Mayor Sebastian tries to harm him in any sort of way. Clearly, he no longer minds the risk of getting found out anymore.


    Kayn quickly understood the meaning of Mayor Sebastian''s outburst. It was a warning, to him, that he should watch the wordsing out of his mouth.


    Now that he thinks about it, it does indeed feel like he overstepped a line.


    Although this was part of his n, he made an oversight with the level of tolerance of Mayor Sebastian''s patience and understanding towards him.


    It can''t be helped. After all, ten years is more than enough time for one to forget a lot of things that happened in the past.


    A small detail such as Mayor Sebastian''s patience and understanding towards him is not something he''d remember clearly, especially considering the fact that in the second life they started treating each other as enemies, thus anything good that happened previously has clearly been forgotten a long time ago.


    "I am sorry," Kayn acknowledged his mistake.


    "It''s alright!" Mayor Sebastian started calming down. "I don''t know why you dislike World President Nichs," He wasn''t ignorant not to notice it since he wasn''t born yesterday. And besides, Kayn was making it so obvious. "¡ªBut I hope you think it through because I don''t want you to just casually pull my family along with your mess or whatever is fueling you to do this,"


    Another miscalction.


    Fortunately, this time, he did not cross the line.


    "You made the same mistake again. You are no longer the Kayn of the future, you are now nothing more than a student Kayn. One of the reasons why your tricks and schemes back then effectively worked was because of your status and image, but without it, people could easily see through you. Also¡­." Natas said to Kayn''s ear.


    However, Kayn only responded with a tap of his finger on the table.


    Noticing it, Natas immediately understood what it meant, "It seems like Kayn has his own thoughts in his mind,"


    "Our talk here is done. I will act like I heard nothing from you for the sake of our rtionship and your safety. But rest assured, you can expect to hear my response once my investigation really points out toward World President Nichs," Mayor Sebastian stood up as he gestured his hand for Kayn to leave his study room.


    Kayn didn''t hesitate toply as he started walking toward the door. This was within his expectations.


    Before Kayn could finally walk out the door, Mayor Sebastian added, "I don''t know how you got this information. But I appreciate that you pointed out a clear direction for my investigation,"


    "I can''t say it today, but time will eventually show you the answer to your question," Kayn meaningfully said before closing the door of the study room. It was the same line he said to Rowan Starlight after he assisted thetter.


    After walking a few meters away, Natas can''t help but ask, "Are you sure about making him one of your allies?".


    "Just potentially," Until now, he still doesn''t have any decisive thoughts in mind about the future. He believes that it is still too early for him to decide about that.


    Everything that he is doing right now is just a part of the process for him toe to a conclusion about what he is going to do in the future.


    "So, where are we going? Or should I say¡­ what are we going to do next?"


    "Before I answer that question, let''s return to my house first and continue with our talk about this item," Kayn showed Natas the Entry Crystal. This was the root cause of why he was in this mess right now. If only Natas didn''t persuade him, he would have simply focused on just killing some monsters at the Eclipse Forest and won''t have had to face Mayor Sebastian this early on.


    Anyways, what''s done is done.


    There''s no way for him to change what had already happened.


    That matter that happened just now should all be left alone for fate to decide.


    He already did everything he could do to salvage that situation in the best way he possibly could without any preparation.


    On the contrary, what he should be doing now is finding out why Natas persuaded him all of a sudden to get the Entry Crystal.


    He could already assume that there is something, an item perhaps, in ''The Bridge'' that could help him with his quest. But what exactly is it? And why would Natas want him to go through all the trouble for that item?<novelnext></novelnext>


    Since there''s nothing left for him to do in the Mayor''s Mansion, and furthermore, he has another matter to take care of, thus he decided to make his way to the exit.


    The Mayor''s Mansion might be big, but since he was already familiar with it, it didn''t take him long to arrive at the main door.


    However, just when he was about to step out of the door, the butler he met previously suddenly stopped him.


    "Young master Kayn,"


    "Yes?" Kayn turns around to look at the butler who is currently holding tworge ck briefcases.


    "Master Sebastian ordered me to give this to you," The butler handed the tworge ck briefcases to Kayn.


    "What''s inside?"


    "Master Sebastian said that one of those briefcases contains the money that they have earned after selling the monsters you killed in the Eclipse Forest. While the other one is his appreciation gift for lending him assistance. He told me to make sure to tell you that you have the right to choose whether to ept the second briefcase or not since he knows that you don''t like receiving something extravagant for free. He also wants me to let you know that you can rest assured because he understood your every intention,"


    Evidently, Mayor Sebastian also understood that one of the reasons that Kayn helped him was that he was returning him a favor for the kindness that he has been showing to thetter until now.


    With that thought in mind, Kayn can''t help but sigh in relief. At the end of the day, both his bad and good intentions were seen through. That''s all that matters. In that way, no misunderstanding would possibly sprout in the future.


    "Tell Mayor Sebastian that I appreciate his gifts,"


    "I will make sure your reply will reach Master Sebastian''s ears,"


    "Thank you,"


    After saying that, Kayn finally stepped out of the Mayor''s mansion.


    Just because he stepped out of the mansion, doesn''t necessarily mean that he is out of Mayor Sebastian''s property.


    In front of him, a long white brick path greeted him which leads towards an iron gate at the end.


    He might be able to see the gate from his location, but that actually doesn''t imply that the path is not that long. It''s just that the iron gate is huge that''s why he can still see it despite how far the distance between them is.


    "You can just wait here for the caring for you, Master Kayn," The butler kindly informs Kayn.


    "Oh," That''s truly good to hear. "Okay!"


    "I''ll be on my way, then,"


    Kayn simply nodded his head to the butler before returning his attention to his front.


    Just like what the butler had said, not long after, a ck-colored 2022 Chevrolet Suburban stopped in front of him.


    As soon as the car came to stop, the door at the passenger seat automatically opens to invite him to get inside.


    Without any hesitation, Kayn and Natas walked inside the passenger seat.


    The moment they got inside the car, the door automatically closes and the driver started driving them toward the gate.


    Just when Kayn thought that the driver only intended on fetching them from the mansion and dropping them off at the gate afterward, the car actually continued driving on the road after the huge gate opened.


    "This is new,"


    Normally, the driver would only drive him as far as the gate before dropping him off. After that, it would be entirely up to him to find his way back to his house.


    "It seems like my actions just now have instead improved my rtionship with Mayor Sebastian,"


    The car continued driving, passing many streets along the way and eventually reaching one of the highways that connects to the Moon Core.


    After half an hour of travel, the car finally came to stop in front of Kayn''s house.


    In a simr fashion as before, the door at the passenger seat opens and they exited the car before the driver drives off to return to the Mayor''s Mansion.

 Chapter 50 An Unknown Item With An Unknown Potential

    ?Chapter 50: An unknown item with an unknown potential


    As soon as Kayn and Natas got inside the small and crump room, they immediately looked for a spot to sit so that they can begin with their important discussion.


    There wasn''t that much space anyways, so they just make do with whatever space they can sit on.


    "I have a suggestion!" Natas said as he looked at the two briefcases which he assumes to be full of credit, "How about we use the money you got from Mayor Sebastian to improve your living condition first before we start doing the real thing?"


    "We are in the same thought on that one," Kayn didn''t hesitate to agree with Natas. This kind of lifestyle might be the root that made him who he is today, but that doesn''t necessarily mean that just because he returned back to the past, he has to stay the same length in this kind of living condition just like in the second life. He has already learned what could be learned, so there''s no use staying any further than necessary.


    "When are you nning to look for a ce?" Excitement was apparent on Natas'' face.


    "I looked at our group chat while we were on our way here, and our adviser just announced that we don''t have any ss today and tomorrow,"


    "Tomorrow it is!"


    "Anyways," Kayn changed the topic. He took out the Entry Crystal from his pocket and put it on top of the table. For a brief moment, the table made some muffled noises that indicate how old and worn out its body is. "Let''s talk about this item,"


    Since they are done with that short interruption, it''s now time for them to talk about the important matter on their hand right this moment.


    "I am assuming that you already have something in mind?" Natas could already guess what was inside Kayn''s mind.


    "Is it an item?" Kayn expressed his thoughts.


    "At first, you can say that it is an item, but if you give it some time, it will be something else,"


    "Something else? In what way?"


    "Honestly, even I am not that sure myself,"


    "WHAT?!" Kayn can''t help himself from eximing in shock. He went through all of that trouble, and even had to deal with Mayor Sebastian afterward, albeit that once was his fault ¡ª nevertheless, in the end, even Natas himself isn''t sure exactly about what the item they are going to get in ''The Bridge'' could bring to them?


    He nearly fricking died from a monster!


    He lost the opportunity to earn even more credit!


    And most importantly, he is wasting his time!


    "Are you being serious with me right now?!"


    "I am afraid to say, but yes! However, don''t be mistaken and think that everything you went through yesterday is a waste," Natas rified. "That item I am talking about is special. It is the only item you could ever find inside the ''Tower'' no matter how hard you look on every floor,"


    Hearing that, Kayn set aside his current thoughts and decided to listen closely to what Natas is about to say.


    "The reason why there is only one item in existence throughout the entire ''Tower'' is because that item was purely created by the ''Tower'' in case we, Gods, betrayed it,"


    "I am not sure what exactly it is, but I assume that it can defeat us, Gods, even if we all work together. Meaning to say, that item is even more powerful than us, or perhaps has the potential,"


    "Moreover, as long as that item is in our hands, the ''Tower'' will not be able to easily eliminate my brother and sisters, which could bring us a lot of benefits in the future. And think about it, since it can eliminate us Gods, let alone you!"


    Kayn felt intrigued at what that item exactly is.


    "Although I haven''t seen the capability of this item with my very own eyes as this is the first time we have enacted our betrayal to the ''Tower'', I know where it is being hidden by the ''Tower'', and it is on ''The Bridge'', at least at this point in time, because right now my other self still hasn''t stumbled upon this information, thus the ''Tower'' didn''t hide it somewhere else yet,"


    "That''s why I was in a rush, because if we continue dilly-dallying around, then we will lose a potentially great item,"


    "How long do we have?" Kayn asked solemnly.


    "If my memory serves me correctly, I guess two to three weeks from now,"


    "That''s not a lot of time," This mission is definitely going to be difficult.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Now you understand,"


    "After I take care of the important matters on Earth, let''s immediately depart to ''The Bridge'',"


    "How long would that be?"


    "Three to four days from now,"


    "Is that the shortest time it would take you to finish everything?"


    "Yes,"


    "So, this leaves us with only a week or two to find that item and secure it," Natas fell into deep thoughts.


    "Actually, the reason why it would take me that long is mainly because of the job that Rys'' offered me,"


    Previously, Rys offered him a porter job in one of the teams from his father''s guild. That job might sound insignificant and nothingpared to their matter right now, but it is actually really crucial for the current him. And even if he knew beforehand about the item that Natas is talking about, he would still ept Rys'' offer without any hesitation. That''s because the best way for him to adapt to his current state ande to an eptance of it is through entering a dungeon.


    Furthermore, in order to n out how he would develop his capability from here on out, he has to first see what his body is capable of executing. This might be his body, but he can''t remember clearly well the extent of his strength and capability as many years have already passed since hest experienced such a weak state.


    By entering a dungeon, it would give him plenty of opportunities to test his limits, and possibly even break through and improve to some degree. Also, this could honestly serve a positive effect on him before entering ''The Bridge''.


    "If that was scheduled much earlier, then I can naturally adjust the time as well. But since I can''t then, I don''t have any choice but to wait until then,"


    "I understand," Natas isn''t stupid to not know why Kayn still chooses to go and work as a Porter despite how important their matter is. Honestly, even he would do the same if he is in the shoes of Kayn. After all, this is still the third day after Kayn reincarnated back to the past. If someone tells him that they have fully adapted to the current events already, he won''t believe them no matter what proof they show to him.


    Throughout the millennia he has stayed inside the ''Tower'', he has witnessed in almost everyone who has undergone reincarnation that it took them a lot of trouble and many days or even weeks and months just so they can adapt to their current body and life.


    As a matter of fact, some of the people that the ''Tower'' had chosen in the past nearly gave up and choose tomit suicide as they had great difficulties trying to adapt. If it wasn''t for the ''Tower'' intervening during those times, then it would probably have no choice but to redo and find another candidate.


    In what he has observed on Kayn so far, thetter is performing excellently well. He even believes that Kayn already epted the fact that he returned back to the past, except that he still hasn''t gotten used to the state of his body as he was extremely strong in the future, and seemingly in a blink of an eye all of that disappeared and he''s now stuck in an extremely weak and fragile body. Regardless, he is still showing signs that he is not rejecting it, but instead is trying to understand his state so that he knows what to do in the future.


    In other words, Kayn is overly excelling at his past counterparts and is superior in the way they handle this kind of simr situation.


    "I don''t know what else we can do today other than study, take a rest, and do some random stuff. So, how about we just go out for a walk, see the ces around us, and afterward let''s call it a day?" Kayn suggested.


    "I agree!" Natas didn''t hesitate to agree. After all, it''s too boring to stay in this crump and small ce.


    With that decision in mind, Kayn stood up and quickly opened the first ck briefcase. He is honestly broke right now. Fortunately, Mayor Sebastian gave him something to solve his problem.


    Inside the briefcase was a small rectangr gadget that is showing a red digital interface with the digits 50,000 credit showing.


    This gadget is called a Portable Safe. It got its name because of the fact that it literally functions like a safe, and since it can be carried anywhere, thus the word ''Portable'' was added.


    As this is the era where digital currency is the newly adapted mary system around the world. Hence in most cases, what''s inside a briefcase that a bunch of paper notes used to be put inside in the past, is just a simple Portable Safe with the amount of credit stored inside.


    Knowing what to do with the Portable Safe, Kayn took out his phone from his pocket and opened his bank ount. He opened a certain feature of the bank and after that, he hovered his phone on top of the Portable Safe.


    In the next moment, the screen on his phone switched into a digital lock with the number zero to nine.


    Since he doesn''t know what the password is yet, he started looking around inside the briefcase. As expected, a piece of paper was inside with four different numbers written which is clearly the password of the Portable Safe.


    Quickly and with a tinge of excitement, Kayn inputted the four numbers and as soon as it was confirmed, the 50,000 from the Portable Safe was rapidly being transferred to his phone.


    He watches the four-digit number on his bank ount swiftly moving up until it reaches five digits.


    Once that was all done, Kayn said, "Let''s go!"

 Chapter 51 Clearing A Dungeon

    ?Chapter 51: Clearing a Dungeon


    Two days passed, and it is finally the day that Kayn would meet with Rys and the team from thetter''s father''s guild to enter a dungeon.


    But before he can meet the team, he has to meet with Rys at the Moon Core first because thetter had informed him beforehand that the location of the dungeon is being strictly kept confidential by his father''s guild so for him to get there he has to meet with one of the team members, which in his case is Rys, and it would be him who will take him to the location of the dungeon.


    Honestly, every single time a dungeon raid is being conducted, all teams or guilds that won the right to do a dungeon raid on the said dungeon would actually operate in a very strict and secretive manner. This is done so that other guilds, especially Viins, can''t pull any tricks and schemes to the former.


    Moreover, because this is a private dungeon, only the teams and the certain guild that they are a part of have the right to know the location, and any other third parties that are hired would have to go through a lot of trouble and processing in order to get to the location.


    Only public dungeons won''t operate in such a manner since it is essible by the masses, albeit limited in numbers and the benefit that one could get is barely worth the effort and time they have invested. In addition to that, there''s also a huge risk of meeting a Viin.


    After he finished all of his morning routines, Kayn left his home with Natas. Not longter, they arrived at the Moon Core where they immediately spotted Rys who was waiting for Kayn.


    "Sorry for arriving just now,"


    "No worries, no worries. I also just arrived. Anyways, are you ready for the job?"


    "Yes,"


    "Then let''s make our way there," Rys said as he started walking.


    "Are we just going to walk to get there?" Kayn wonders while following Rys.


    "The reason why I ask you to meet me here is that the dungeon is actually very close to the Moon Core," Rys exined.


    Hearing that, Kayn felt a bit surprised. Although this wasn''t his first time encountering a dungeon that opened right in the middle of a city. But whenever something like that happens, it''s usually the big guilds that would take care of them. After all, the management of a city naturally can''t just let any weak guilds take care of a dungeon that has the potential to bring a lot of harm to their city.


    Based on the standard of the Dragon Beast Republic, Rys'' father''s guild, ''Ying Yang Dynasty'', is not considered a small guild, but it is also not considered big as well. So, he is very surprised to find out that they actually got a dungeon that normally a big guild would contest. Not to mention, the environment of this dungeon is special, which means that it should have attracted even more attention from the big guilds.


    The reason for that is that for a dungeon''s environment to be considered special, it first must be a level higher than its counterparts.


    All dungeons are ranked differently, respectively SSS, SS, S, A, B, C, D, E, F, and G rank. SSS rank is the highest-ranking dungeon, while G rank is the lowest-ranking dungeon. But each rank is further ssified into three different levels; for example, A-, A, and A+. Each level implies that although the ranking of the dungeon is A rank, its difficulty is considered high-tier or low-tier from the rest of the dungeon with a simr rank, but still, it isn''t yet in the same level of the rank after or below it.


    Most of the time, in the case of dungeons with a special environment inside of them, they arebeled with the character ''+'' in their rank.


    And all dungeons like that give better loot and inhabit stronger monsters. Simply put, more risk and more reward.


    "If it is okay to ask, what is the rank of the dungeon your father''s guild has bought?"


    "Hmmm¡­ If I heard it correctly, they said that it was an E+ rank dungeon under the 100th floor," Rys replied after thinking for a bit.


    ''E+ rank dungeon under the 100th floor'' implies that the dungeon is located on the 21st floor to the 30th floor of the ''Tower.


    Kayn breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, it wasn''t a dungeon C- rank dungeon or above. Otherwise, with his current capability, it would be very difficult for him to survive even as a mere Porter.


    The reason for why he thought of that is because only Heroes could actually clear dungeons from C- rank and above as this deres that the dungeon is located on the 41st floor until the 100th floor of the ''Tower''.<novelnext></novelnext>


    If a group of superhumans tries fighting against the monsters from the 41st floor to the 100th floor onward, then it would be no different frommitting suicide or just giving their own lives away.


    A good example of that is when he fought against the me Gori. If it wasn''t because of his fighting experience and battle sense, then he would have long died in that battle. However, that me Gori is nothingpared to the monsters that will appear on the 41st floor to the 100th floor onward.


    Although this kind of rule only applies to the floors under the 100th floor. The floors from the 101st and onward can only be cleared by Heroes and any Superhumans that dare to enter will have their lives taken away the moment they stepped foot on their soil due to how strong the mana density is.


    "If it''s okay to ask, where is the dungeon located?" No matter how much he thought about it, he can''t think of any possible location where a dungeon could be secretly hidden from the eyes of the masses, especially considering that it is located somewhere nearby the center of the Moon Dragon City.


    "It''s alright, we''d get there soon anyways," Rys trust that Kayn isn''t a person that works for another Guild that opposes his father''s guild. Well, if he was, then he wouldn''t be living in such a poor condition.


    "Do you remember the caf¨¦ we used to hang out at before we got fed up with the taste of their coffee?"


    "Yeah. What about it?" In the past, they used to hang out in a coffee shop called Sunny''s Coffee Shop. At first, the taste of the coffee the owner personally brewed was good, but with the new change in management, their coffee started to slowly get worst. Eventually, the sales dropped, and the manager who changed everything was fired. But despite that, the customers who already left never returned anymore.


    "Just a few weeks ago, their coffee shop was closed for renovation. You have probably noticed their signs outside their doors,"


    "Yeah¡­" Although Kayn has already forgotten about this, he still decided to nod his head and go with the flow.


    "Well, the truth is, they didn''t actually close for renovation. In reality, a dungeon gate actually opened in their basement storage. The store owner reported it immediately, and after a few days, the men that the Dragon Beast Republic had sent finally finished gathering information about the dungeon and started the bidding war amongst all the guilds that are interested,"


    "Since the report says that the dungeon is E+ rank, how did you win the bidding?" Although an E+ rank dungeon isn''t much or a huge deal for big guilds, it''s actually a good opportunity for them to train their backup and reserve teams to adapt to the next dungeon rank. Moreover, it can also provide them the opportunity to equip themselves without affecting their budget that much since the loots inside dungeons with the character ''+'' are guaranteed to be good and no small or medium-sized guild would dare topete with them in fear that they would experience a hard time afterward in the future bidding wars.


    "Fortunately for us, at that time, the 200th floor of the ''Tower'' was coincidentally about to open. So, all big guilds in the Moon Dragon City focus their attention over there, hence leaving us medium-sized guild topete with good dungeon gates," Rys exins.


    To put it simply, when the lion is away, the hyenas woulde to y.


    Since no big guilds were present during that time, the power naturally temporarily shifted to the medium-sized guilds. And because the bidding war was already over, even if the big guildse to know of this information, they are already toote to change anything. Albeit underhanded and under-the-table methods still exist to get a guild to transfer their right to clear a dungeon to another guild, but they can''t force that to happen or else they would make an enemy out of the Dragon Beast Republic itself.


    "How lucky for the Ying Yang Dynasty,"


    "Yeah," Rys agreed. It''s indeed very rare for his father''s guild to receive such a huge piece of a pie. And whenever they do, they won''t let go of it no matter what.


    "We are here," Rys announced. But instead of getting inside through the front door, they instead made their way to the back door located at the side alley. In that way, they won''t attract any unwanted attention. After all, this ce is supposedly under renovation.


    As soon as Kayn walked inside the store, a bunch of men wearing different armor and pieces of cloth greeted him.


    Tens of weapon racks could be seen neatly arranged on the side on a horizontal line.


    High-performingputers with dozens of cables connected to the dungeon gate were currently analyzing the performance of the dungeon gate so as to get as much information about the dungeon before the team of Heroes would get inside.


    In the center, a piece of huge map was lying on top with multiple gs with different symbols drawn on them spread all across some crucial points.


    "How nostalgic," Kayn muttered under his breath. In the past, he used to always experience scenes like this, especially when his guild was still in its start-up phase. But as he gets stronger and stronger, over time his guild shifted all of their focus from clearing dungeons to helping clear the floors inside the ''Tower''.


    All guilds would eventuallye to that certain point in time in the future as long as they continue to develop. As a matter of fact, that''s currently the case of the Ying Yang Dynasty right now. After all, this team in front of him is made up of a bunch of newbie Heroes, which means to say that the main team is currently doing something else that an E+ rank gate can''tpare. And where else could one get that other than the floors inside the ''Tower'', right?

 Chapter 52 Becoming The Head Porter Of Team Black Panda

    ?Chapter 52: Bing the Head Porter of team ck Panda


    "Yow, Rys!" A man with ck-colored heavy armor went to approach Kayn and Rys the moment he saw the two walk inside. He stops in front of them and turns to look at Kayn before saying, "Is this the ssmate you have been talking about?"


    "Yes," Rys nodded his head before proceeding to introduce the two to each other. "Kayn, this is Frank. Frank, this is Kayn!"


    "Hi, Frank!" Kayn greeted as he started observing the man named Frank.


    Based on the aura around Frank and the way people looked at him, he seems to be the leader of the team.


    "Nice to finally meet you, Kayn!" Frank greeted back. "Rys has been talking about this great ssmate of his all the time. Singing a lot of praises, like how he is one the best students of the Starlight Hero Academy. Now that I finally meet you though, I don''t see any signs of you being that great, at all,"


    The look on Kayn''s face instantly turned solemn the moment he heard Frank''s words.


    "Oh, please don''t misunderstand. I am simply making a joke to brighten up your mood since you look so tense," Frank startedughing as if his way of clearing himself after noticing the look on Kayn''s face.


    Hearing this, Kayn decided to might as wellugh along with Frank. However, deep inside, he already understood that this man clearly holds some bitterness toward him. He doesn''t know why as he hadn''t met this man in the past nor did he do something to upset him in any way the moment he entered the room.


    "Just what''s wrong with this man?" Kayn wondered to himself.


    On the side, Rys immediately realized what Frank is doing to his friend Kayn. So, he quickly pulled Kayn away from Frank and started introducing thetter to the rest of the team.


    "Please don''t mind Frank," Rys said to Kayn after he finished introducing Kayn to the team members.


    "Since you are my friend, I''ll drop this matter. But I am really curious. What''s up with that guy?" Kayn finally decided to ask Rys'' why Frank jumped at him like that.


    "To tell you the truth, there was someone else who was supposed to fill in your spot after I promised to give it to you. That person was Frank''s younger brother. But because of my intervention, his younger brother didn''t make the cut to be a part of the team,"


    "How troublesome," Kayn honestly didn''t expect that the first thing he''d experience today would be something awful. He didn''t even do anything yet, and he already offended someone.


    "Don''t worry though, Frank can''t do anything to you," Rys assured Kayn.


    "I highly doubt that,"


    "That guy might give you the aura of someone with high standing in the team, but in reality, he is one of the people on the bottom level,"


    "What do you mean?" It seems like he has mistaken Frank as the leader of the team.


    "Those team members that I''ve introduced to you just now were only the supporting team. The real team, which I am also a part of, is over here," Rys gently push the cover that acted as the door to another room.


    Inside, Kayn immediately spotted a group of seven people gathering around a table. What was on the table was almost the same as the one outside, only that there are a few more pieces added to the map on this one.


    In the center of the group, a middle-aged man wearing a white-colored heavy armor with a silver mane around his neck was talking about their n once they enter the dungeon. Clearly, this man was the real leader of the team.


    Seeing Rys walking in with an unfamiliar man on his side, the middle-aged man immediately stopped talking as he turned his focus towards the two along with the rest of the group.


    "Rys, may you introduce me to that friend of yours?" The middle-aged man muttered with a smile on his face.


    "Sir Victor, this is my friend and ssmate Kayn, whom I have been talking to you about before," Rys replied.


    Kayn quickly noticed that the tone of Rys'' voice exceedingly changed when talking to this middle-aged man named Victor. He could already guess in his mind that Rys hugely respects this man for him to have a respectful tone in his voice.


    "Oh, so you are Kayn!" Victor nodded at Kayn in greeting as he started approaching them.


    Stopping in front of them, Victor immediately put his hand in front, requesting to shake hands with Kayn, "I know that we haven''t met before, but I am d to have finally met you in person,"


    Just from this exchange alone, Kayn could already notice the vast difference between Victor and Frank. The former shows respect to establish a good first impression, while thetter shows dominance to establish his. Between the two, he prefers Victor''s way of doing things. Not because Victor is being good to him, but rather because he simply believes that there''s no better way to get the approval of others but through their manners. Frank clearly doesn''t have any manners, even the bare minimum of it.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "The pleasure is mine," Kayn greeted back.


    "Let me introduce everyone to you," Victor immediately took the helm from Rys, which thetter dly epted.


    "That woman is Alice, she is the mage of our group," Victor pointed towards a woman with short hair and wearing a sky-blue-colored robe.


    "That tough-looking man is Alex, he is our tank," The man was six feet tall and his bulging muscles could still be seen around his body despite how much the armor tried to cover them.


    "That mysterious-looking person is our scout, Echo," A man that covers his entire body with a ck-colored cloth piece nodded his head at Kayn.


    "That beautifuldy is my wife, Diana, she is our healer," The woman with blond hair and wearing a priestess attire smiles in response.


    "Those twins are Joshua and James, they are our warriors," The twins with respectively blue and red color hair waves their hands at Kayn excitedly.


    "I guess you already know Rys, so there''s no need to further introduce him to you. And as for me, I am Victor, the Captain of team ck Panda,"


    ck Panda was clearly the name of this team. And if he remembers correctly, the main team of the Yin Yang Dynasty is called White Panda. Without even needing to think deeply about it, the two names are obviously derived from the symbol of Yin Yang.


    "Hello everyone, I am Kayn!" Kayn quickly introduced himself as he noticed his cue.


    "Nice to meet you Kayn!" Everyone from ck Panda greeted back.


    "Anyways," Victor quickly changed the topic. "As you are someone that Rys put a lot of trust into, I will put my trust in you as well. So, I am assigning you as the Head Porter. Will that be okay for you?"


    "That is a huge responsibility, so I suggest that you think it through first, Kayn," Alex, the main tank, kindly suggested.


    "What''s there to think about? Just ept it!" Joshua encourages.


    "I agree!" James added in support to his brother.


    "Will the two of you just behave!" Diana fumes in irritation at Joshua and James, prompting the duo to sit on the sofa and behave.


    It is quite evident that Joshua and James have already received a piece of mind from Diana in the past, that''s why the duo didn''t dare to talk back and simply choose to do exactly what she ordered them to.


    Contrary to them, Kayn has a different thought in mind, "Rather than asking whether I agree or not, is it really fine to offer me that kind of position?"


    Although being the Head Porter isn''t that high of a position, it is still one of the most important positions in a team. He basically has control over whether the team would earn a lot or not after clearing the dungeon. If hismand isckluster, then the team would no doubt me him for not earning enough credits for all of them.


    But on second thought, this is actually a lot better for him. Because his responsibility is to simply oversee the rest of the Porters. In other words, as long as he prepares a concrete n on what the porters should do, then he could tag along with the main team to clear the dungeon.


    "The only requirement for the Head Porter of ck Panda is he should be someone we could trust. I''ve read some information about you that Rys gave me beforehand, and so far, your background doesn''t concern me, at all. As a matter of fact, your performances in your previous jobs were all excellent. To top it off, you are surprisingly the son-inw of Mayor Sebastian. Just that reason alone is already more than enough for our team to give you the position of the Head Porter,"


    Simply put, "We won''t waste this opportunity to establish a connection with the son-inw of Mayor Sebastian,"


    Kayn wasn''t ignorant not to see the underlying meaning behind Victor''s words. But rather than saying that he doesn''t like it, this kind of treatment is honestly better for him. Although he doesn''t like receiving something for free, he doesn''t doubt his capability to manage a bunch of Porters. So, there''s absolutely nothing wrong with giving him the responsibility of the Head Porter as he is confident that he can perform better than anyone else, hence the pay he would receive is just fair.


    "Since you thought of me that high, then you leave me with no other choice but to ept your offer," Kayn finally relented and epted the position of bing the Head Porter of team ck Panda.


    "Since we have an agreement, you go sign this contract," Victor handed Kayn an employment contract that he had prepared beforehand. "And once you are done with that, hand the contract to my wife, Diana, ande to the table so we can brief you on our n,"


    After saying that, Victor returned to the table and continued with what he was doing.


    As for him, he started reading the content of the contract. After confirming that there was nothing wrong with the terms, he didn''t hesitate to sign his name on it and went to hand the contract to Diana.


    Once everything was done, he walked to the table and started listening to Victor''s n on how they should raid the dungeon.

 Chapter 53 Kany’s First Step In Achieving His Goal

    ?Chapter 53: Kany''s first step in achieving his goal


    When all things were set, Victor and the rest of the ck Panda team gathered together in front of the dungeon gate.


    The dungeon gate wasn''t literally a gate. It was more like a portal that shines a bright blue light. The size of this portal in front of them is also as tall as a man, hence the reason why it can be hidden perfectly well in the storage room.


    Although this is only possible because it is an E+ rank dungeon. If it was D rank and above, then the size of the portal would start increasing from one-story tall and so on. And once it reaches the S rank, the size of the gate would depend on how strong the monsters inside are. If they are extremely strong, then the size of the dungeon gate would be as tall as a twenty-story building. Not to forget, there are still the remaining SS rank and SSS rank dungeons. Just how huge those portals would be in that case.


    "Are you all ready?"


    Victor''s voice broke the silence around the room.


    "YESSSSSSSSSS!"


    A loud response was instantly received.


    "Then let''s go in!" Victor entered the dungeon gate first tomence the beginning of the raid.


    In the next moment, Diana, Alice, Alex, Echo, James, Joshua, and Rys quickly followed Victor to the portal. And following after them were Frank and the rest of the members of the reserve team.


    However, before getting inside the portal, Frank looked at Kayn as if telling thetter that he''d be in trouble once they are inside the dungeon.


    Seeing this, Kayn simply shook his head and muttered, "As if I am scared of you,"


    "He should be the one feeling afraid of you once you are both inside the dungeon," Natas could only show a look of pity at Frank. Even though Frank is a Hero, he was nothing more than a rookie Hero just like those that Kayn encountered when he was trying to save Rowan Starlight. Considering that Kayn can even defeat a me Gori and in the process take out an Earth Worm monster, he best believes that Frank won''t be that difficult to defeat.


    "Just leave him alone," A male Porter that Kayn had gotten to know voiced out behind him.


    The Porter''s name is Marlon, he was the previous Head Porter that he temporarily reced so that the ck Panda team can build up a connection with the son-inw of Mayor Sebastian.


    At first, Kayn thought that Marlon would hate him because he took his job. But after getting to know the guy, he realized that he is pretty chill about it. Clearly, the guy has already experienced this multiple times, implying that the ck Panda team uses the position of Head Porter as a way to make a good first impression with someone special.


    Honestly, it isn''t that bad of an idea. It makes the person who receives the title feel a sense that he is being treated special by the team, and his goal of experiencing a dungeon for the first time would also be fulfilled as he could cooperate with the team as long as he can manage the Porters correctly. Moreover, as he is the one responsible for whether the team would earn a lot or not, thus chances are he would treat it seriously. That''s because ording to some research, people that enter a dungeon for the first time focus more on how to earn more credits rather than how to kill the monsters inside. They would only start treating the monsters seriously once faced with a lot of difficulty in clearing a dungeon. In the case of experiencing a dungeon for the first time with the ck Panda team, that might not happen for them yet.


    Regardless, that clearly won''t work on him. His main goal in joining this raid from the start wasn''t to earn credits or to experience a dungeon raid for the first it. Rather, it is to adapt to the current state of his body and get a clear understanding of how he should start developing his physique afterward.


    "Frank has long been known to be a huge troublemaker in the ck Panda team. If it wasn''t for the fact that his father is one of the executives of the Ying Yang Dynasty''s White Panda team, then he would have been kicked out from this team a long time ago by Captain Victor," Marlon expressed that a lot of people doesn''t like Frank.


    "Oh, no wonder," Kayn finally understood why Rys decided to avoid Frank instead of confronting him despite the fact that he is the son of the owner of the Yin Yang Dynasty guild. That''s because he can''t casually offend thetter as it might affect his father''s guild.


    "By the way, Kayn, do you need any help in managing the Porters?" Marlon kindly offered.


    "Don''t worry, I got this," Kayn graciously rejected Marlon''s kindness.


    "Okay. But don''t hesitate to call me if ever you need any help, okay?" Marlon insisted.


    "Now that you mention it, do you happen to have any cloth that I can use?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Well, we do," Marlon turned to look at his trusted men and ordered them to bring all the cloth here.


    It didn''t take long for the men to return while carrying several rolls of cloth.


    "This is perfect!" Kayn felt contented.


    "If it''s okay to ask, what do you n to do with these?" Marlon can''t help but wonder.


    "I''ll exinter. But first, help me cut these three colors into small pieces," Kayn pointed at the blue, green, and red rolls of cloth, "¡ª Around two inches wide and twenty inches high,"


    "You heard our Head Porter! Start getting to work people!" Marlon immediately started assisting Kayn.


    As they still have some time before the Porters would start entering the dungeon gate, Kayn decided to prepare something that will be able to help him ease his job. In that way, he can head to the main team and if there''s any chance, help them.


    After ten minutes or so, the three rolls of cloth were finally finished being cut into pieces.


    "I''ll only say this once, so please listen closely to my instructions, okay?!" Kayn eximed loudly so that all Porters would be able to hear him. He went to grab one piece of the blue, green, and red cloth. "These three colors would represent three different orders. First, the blue cloth. If you spot the blue cloth, this means that the object has mana content, thus is the most valuable material. Second, the green cloth. Any item that has green cloth means that you have to decide which group should stay and be responsible for gathering as there is a considerable number to be gathered. Lastly, the red cloth. Just like what its color suggests, anything with the red cloth means that they are carcasses of the dead monsters,"


    "Now, if you see two cloth pieces present, you simply have tobine the meaning of each of the cloth pieces. Blue cloth and green cloth mean that there are a lot of resources with mana content. Green cloth and red cloth imply that there are a lot of carcasses of dead monsters around. And red cloth and blue cloth signifies that there are a lot of carcasses of dead monsters with mana content,"


    "What if all three cloth pieces are present? It means that you should run away or don''t get close to it, because anything that isbeled with that should be taken by the main team long before we arrive. So, if there''s any that we find along the way, that doesn''t mean that we are lucky. Rather it means there''s a trap, something bad is going on, or to simply put, bad stuff will happen if we get ourselves involved with it,"


    "Do you all understand?!"


    "Yes!!!"


    "Good¡­" Just when Kayn was about to continue with his instructions, Marlon, who was beside him, expectedly raised his hand.


    "About that cloth thingy, you are talking about. Is that something you have invented?" Marlon felt quite s


    "Yeah," Kayn grinned.


    "Take this," Without exining any further, Marlon quickly handed Kayn a business card. Looking at the card, he sees that it was ck-colored with nothing on it other than someone else''s number. As to how he was able to tell that it was a personal number and not apany number, that''s because he purposely did this knowing that this would happen. As to whose personal number this was, it was none other than Rys'' father.


    Any individual that is part of the main lineup would always have a personal connection with the owner of the guild. This was especially the case for the Yin Yang Dynasty. Both the main roosters of the White Panda team and ck Panda team are people that have the power to recruit people that they deemed to possess potential that is worth having in their guild.


    He knew about this since he had made plenty of interactions with the Yin Yang Dynasty in the past. Although the guild didn''t end up bing one of his allies in the future, he still got to know a lot of things about the guild''s internal structure. And what Marlon is doing right now is just one of them.


    The reason why he is doing this is that he realized that he has to do something that would help him solve his problem rted to the matter of having not enough credits. Otherwise, a lot of his ns and events that he might be required to participate in would be put on hold due tocking sufficient funds.


    Another reason is, his goal would obviously require a lot of credits to make it into a reality, and to support his ns in the long run for it to be of use in the future he''d have to invest a lot of credits in them. That''s why he has to find ways that will allow him to earn credits. Fortunately for him, he has a lot of information about the future which he can use to earn some quick credits. And the set of instructions that he shared with Marlon and the rest of the Porters just now happens to be one of those things that will only appear in the future which he knew for certain made the creator of it earn a lot of credits.


    This is his first step in achieving his goal ¡ª finding ways to earn as many credits as possible!

 Chapter 54 Raiding An E+ Rank Dungeon Part 1

    ?Chapter 54: Raiding an E+ Rank Dungeon Part 1


    Kayn and the rest of the Porters continued waiting for about half an hour before one of the members of the reserve team exited the dungeon gate and informed them that they can get inside now and start gathering all resources and materials.


    "I''ll go ahead first, while the rest of you follow behind me," Kayn announced to the Porters. Before finally entering though, Marlon handed him a Storage Ring where all the pieces of cloth are stored inside.


    The moment he got inside the dungeon gate, he was immediately greeted by a strange yet familiar feeling. It was strange in a way that his body needs to adapt to it for a few seconds, yet at the same time familiar because he is finally back inside the ''Tower''.


    Although the surrounding was still considerably far from what he was truly familiar with. After all, he was used to living on the high floors inside the ''Tower''. Still, the atmosphere he is sensing is very simr.


    Unlike the outside world, the environment inside the dungeon is very unique and mystical in the sense that mana surrounds him everywhere. In addition to that, the nts are more vibrant, the trees significantly taller, the des of grasses a lot denser, and the ground seems to be moist but once he steps on it, he could hardly leave any footprint behind, implying that it was strong enough to resist his weight, andstly, the air is also pure and humid.


    Simply put, everything seems to not possess any sort of impurities and the condition all around him is thriving.


    "I''m back!" Kayn excitedly announced. There was no one around him right now, so he wasn''t afraid to say it loudly.


    Although it didn''t take that long as the man who called out to them quickly followed after him. And the rest of the porters started entering one by one.


    "I''ll go ahead, just try your best to keep up!" Kayn informed everyone before starting to run in a certain direction.


    "Wait¡­"


    Kaynpletely ignored the voice of the man who was supposedly in charge of guiding them inside.


    He is already very familiar with how a dungeon works. The direction he is facing the moment he entered the dungeon gate is where he should head toward.


    Even though it is still possible to walk in the other direction, doing so won''t grant him any sort of reward. It would be nothing more than just a waste of his precious time.


    Moreover, he has to be ahead of everyone else if he wants his n to work and to achieve his goal of joining up with the main team.


    He could already guess that at this point in time, Victor and the rest of the ck Panda team should already be halfway from the end of the dungeon. Otherwise, he won''t call for the Porters to get inside the dungeon.


    "As long as I keep my phase, I would eventually be able to catch up to them," Kayn thought positively.


    Along the way, Kayn started leaving behind pieces of cloth in order to inform the Porters following after him about what they should be doing.


    They already know what to do, so he isn''t worried that they would mess up or something would go wrong. Having said that, even if something bad took ce, he can still rest assured because anything that has the cloth tied on it simply means that they should gather them. The only purpose of having three different pieces of cloth is so that Porters won''t have trouble separating the different resources from one another, thus saving them a lot of time once the dungeon raid is over.


    As Kayn continued on moving forward, he started spotting a considerable number of monster carcasses lying motionless on the grass that has been tainted by their blood. Every now and then, he also caught in his sight a few members of the reserve team healing or applying first aid to some of their injuredrades.


    So far though, he still didn''t spot any member of the main team, making him sigh in relief as this implies that the dungeon isn''t that difficult. Nevertheless, he didn''t lower his guard down. After all, any dungeon with thebel ''Special'' isn''t something to be taken lightly.


    Also, he wasn''t given any of the promised gear and equipment for the Porters yet despite the fact that they informed him beforehand that they would be the ones to provide the Porters with their equipment. Meaning to say, the time to use those items still hasn''te.


    A few meters of movingter, Kayn started being greeted by a chilling blow of wind.


    "It seems like we are going to be fighting in a cold environment,"


    Over the distance, Kayn spotted a bunch of tents. He could recognize that those were the tents that the ck Panda team has prepared a while ago, so he didn''t hesitate to approach.


    Evidently, the ce he is seeing right now is the base of operation of the ck Panda team. And further up ahead is the main hurdle of this dungeon raid.


    "Kayn?" A woman''s voice suddenly called out to him.


    Turning his head around, Kayn quickly spotted Alice not too far away from him.


    At this moment, Alice is conjuring a magic barrier using the fire element in hopes of heating up the surrounding area around the tent.


    Considering that she is a Mage of the ck Panda team, it''s not surprising to see her doing something like that.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The moment Kayn got close enough to the base of operation, he started sensing a bit of a warm feeling.


    "Thank goodness," Kayn can''t help but mutter infort.


    One can only imagine what it feels like to experience warmth while being a cold environment. It''s like being given coffee when you really needed it.


    "Howe you got here so fast?" If she could remember correctly, there were a lot of resources and materials along the way to this location. She roughly guessed that it would probably take the Porters more than an hour to finish gathering everything and reach this ce.


    "And I can''t seem to see the rest of the Porters," She added shortly after noticing that no one was following behind Kayn.


    "Oh, about that," Kayn started exining to Alice his n so that she would be rest assured that nothing bad has happened.


    "Rys'' opinion about you surely isn''t an overstatement now that I''ve heard about your n,"


    "I am simply doing my best as the Head Porter. And also, I want to join the main team in raiding this dungeon, and this is the best way for me to achieve that,"


    "Since I am more or less done here, let me take you to Victor and help you convey your intention. Rest assured, I will do my best to make sure that you can get the best result," It''s only right to give Kayn this much benefit since he had helped make all the Porters'' jobs significantly easier.


    "By the way, did Marlon give you something already? Like a piece of paper," Alice can''t help but ask.


    "You mean a ck card with only a number written on it?"


    "Yes! Please consider calling that number once we get out of this ce,"


    "Alright!"


    With Alice leading the way, Kayn soon reached the tent where Victor and the main members of the ck Panda team are gathered together.


    Although he was still outside, he could already hear that Victor and the rest of the team is facing a great problem rted to this cold environment.


    "Let''s wait for a bit," Alice decided to wait first since the topic inside the tent seems to be very serious and she doesn''t want to cause any sort of disturbance.


    Kayn simply nodded his head to express his understanding.


    Even though it''s not his ce to listen to the conversation inside the tent, he still can''t help himself from eavesdropping on what Victor is saying right now as it was very loud.


    "The race that we are going to face henceforth is most likely going to be the Frost Undeads,"


    "In that case, are we going to be facing an Ice Dread Lich?"


    "Considering that this is an E+ rank dungeon, then it''s either going to be an Ice Dread Lich or an Ice Dread Queen. Either way, it''s going to be very difficult and disadvantageous for us,"


    "Did we perhaps receive false information from the seller? It was clearly stated in the report that the environment inside the dungeon is going to be hot,"


    "Indeed! This is really terrible because all the equipment we have prepared for the Porters won''t be of any use! Also, we can''t make use of the fire-resistance armors, and water and ice-enhancement items and weapons that we have prepared,"


    "In this kind of situation, I believe that our best option is to go back and make another preparation. Otherwise, we might face a dire and grim situation,"


    "I think you forgot to consider something really important. If we really go back now, then that would simply give an opportunity for ourpetitors to take this dungeon gate from us. A lot of different guilds, especially the big guilds, have already been causing plenty of trouble to our Guild Leader after they found out about the existence of this dungeon. We absolutely can''t give them any more reason to try and take this opportunity from us,"


    "As much as I hate to agree, Frank is actually correct. Before we entered the dungeon, I actually received a report from our Guild Leader informing me that another big guild had tried to steal this dungeon from us. This time, that big guild had decided to directly approach the owner of Sunny''s Caf¨¦ and offered him five times his asking price just so that they can take get this dungeon,"


    "In my opinion, this dungeon seems to hold some unique treasures inside, thus the reason why a lot of guilds are trying to steal it from us,"


    "I can''t tell you the exact information I have received. But more or less, Frank is once again correct,"


    "Thank you, Captain Victor. I have a n. I say, why don''t we just risk it all and clear this dungeon? In that way, the big guilds would stop bothering the Ying Yang Dynasty, and more importantly, we will get whatever treasure is in this dungeon for ourselves!"

 Chapter 55 Raiding An E+ Rank Dungeon Part 2

    ?Chapter 54: Raiding an E+ Rank Dungeon Part 2


    "Does Frank seriously hold that much power in the ck Panda team?" Kayn can''t help but ask Alice whose face was twitching in annoyance.


    "No," Alice shook her head. "That guy is clearly nning something else,"


    "Luckily, I am not the only one who notices that," Kayn chuckled.


    "He is always like that. Acting as if he is the Vice-captain just because he has a backer from the White Panda team. But he is not. The real Vice-captain is sadly preupied with something extremely important along with the White Panda team, that''s why Rys'' had to rece him temporarily," Alice always felt displeased at Frank. That guy seems to be like those people who believe that they hold some sort of privilege or some sort. I think they call those kinds of people ¡ª Karen.


    "He is bitching around a bit, don''t you think?"


    "I agree,"


    "So, why don''t we do this¡­" Kayn started whispering to Alice his n.


    Meanwhile, inside the tent, Frank was still trying his best counter arguing everyone''s opinion. But unbeknownst to him, he is literally exposing himself that he is scheming something. As a matter of fact, the rest of the main members of the ck Panda team were already feeling tired of the noises he was making, and if only it wasn''t because they don''t want to offend Frank in fear of offending an Executive in the White Panda team, then it''s quite possible that they would have strangled his neck a long time ago for not knowing his ce and for obviously trying to bring harm to the team.


    All of a sudden, the meeting inside the tent was interrupted as they started feeling cold. As time went on, the coldness they are feeling was turning freezing at an rming rate.


    "I think something bad is happening outside," Victor immediately interrupted Frank from talking.


    "Alice and the reserve team could probably handle it," Frank tried to assure everyone.


    "I don''t think so," Diana didn''t hesitate as he signaled for both Joshua and James to follow him outside.


    Seeing this, Victor, Rys, Alex, and Frank were left with no choice but to quickly follow behind them. After all, they can''t continue the meeting with half of the main members of the ck Panda team not being present.


    Unbeknownst to everyone, this was exactly what Kayn intended to achieve. As someone who has a lot of experience when ites to meetings, he knows that once half of the members of a meeting are away or not present in the scene, the meeting would have toe to a halt no matter what. That''s because regardless of all of them agreeing to the n, there''s still the remaining half that hasn''t voiced out their opinions yet.


    A moment after, Diana, Joshua, and James saw Alice who was having trouble trying to block out the cold from seeping inside their base of operation.


    Looking around, they notice a few of the Mages of the reserve team were already present trying to lend assistance to Alice, but despite that, it seems that they still can''t handle the cold from breaking inside the barrier made of the fire element.


    Of course, they can''t, because it was Alice herself that''s purposely causing the cold inside the main base of operation.


    "See! This is what I meant when I told you that it''s much better for us to go back and make another preparation," Alex expressed his opinion once again. This time, he has evidence to prove why his im is correct.


    "I agree," Rys added, albeit he didn''t exin why because unlike Frank, he knows his ce in the ck Panda team.


    "Oh," Frank could only nod his head to show to everyone that he agrees, though in truth he doesn''t. If back inside the tent he has the opportunity to specte freely, but now that everyone is outside and sees and experiences for themselves the reality of their current situation, regardless of how much he persuades everyone right now, it won''t be of any use as they can easily counter his argument. At this moment, he has no other choice but to go with the flow so that people won''t know that he is nning something else.


    Apparently, Frank still thought that the main members of the ck Panda team didn''t notice that he is nning to do something. Albeit they don''t know what yet. But nevertheless, they are aware that it isn''t going to be good, especially knowing that Frank is always up to something that doesn''t bring any benefits to the ck Panda team.


    "Let me help you with that," Diana quickly offered after seeing that Alice is having a lot of trouble.


    "Much appreciated," Alice expressed her gratefulness.


    Without wasting any time, Diana gathered mana from her surroundings. Simultaneously, she started establishing contact with Alice''s spell and as soon as shepleted it, she then directed all the mana she has gathered toward the barrier that Alice had conjured.


    However, the moment Diana''s mana touched the barrier, Alice instantly directed it toward the secret that she''s been preventing all the mages from discovering. It was the main reason why everyone is feeling cold right now.


    In one unsuspected corner of the barrier, a small hole could be felt using one''s mana. But around this hole, another barrier was created as a way to block everyone''s senses from detecting this hole. This hole was the cause of why everyone is feeling cold right now as the cold air passes through this hole to get inside the base of operation.


    In other words, there''s nothing wrong with the barrier. It''s just that, there''s a hole where the cold air could get inside. As long as they cover this hole, everything would instantly go back to normal.


    Upon discovering this, Diana turned to look at Alice in surprise.


    Seeing Diana looking at her, Alice winked at her meaningfully.


    Diana finally understood what is going on. Evidently, Alice heard their conversation inside the tent just now. And as means to interrupt Frank without offending thetter, she decided to stage a harmful and disastrous event.


    "Who thought of this idea?" Diana asked. Alice was never someone who can think of something like this. So, she believes that someone else lent her a hand.


    "Kayn," Alice didn''t hide the truth. She pointed to where Kayn is hiding with her eyes so that no one else would notice. "Not only that, but he also made a new n to make the work of the Porters more effective,"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I guess Rys'' wasn''t lying to us," Diana finally believe Rys'' description of Kayn. In fact, Rys'' might still not know thetter that much as he didn''t mention him being an excellent nner.


    "No wonder that he is the son-inw of Mayor Sebastian," Alice finally understood.


    "I believe that young man is still hiding a lot more things from everyone," Diana thought. After all, just this much won''t be enough for someone to be the son-inw of Mayor Sebastian. There should be something more than what meets the eye which is what holds him in such high regard by one of the greatest men of the Moon Dragon City.


    Diana was actually right. Other than being a good nner, Kayn can also predict the oue of his n. Take for example the situation right now. He already expected that the person who will assist Alice in repairing the barrier would be Diana as she is the only other magic user among the main members of the ck Panda team due to her being a priestess. And because she is the wife of Captain Victor, there''s no doubt that she would ry this information to him once everything is done.


    "Anyways, what did he say once you inform one of us about his n?"


    "He told me that we can begin slowly fixing the barrier,"


    "Understood," It''s probably because one of his main intentions was to interrupt the meeting. And since he already achieved that, there''s no need to continue with this stage event. And besides, he''s probably the one who''s suffering the most right now. After all, he should be the weakest person in this group.


    Diana couldn''t be any more correct. Regardless of how smart and experienced Kayn is, his body still can''t handle something at this level of coldness. It was simply too freezing. If this continues, then there''s a huge risk that he''ll start experiencing frostbite, which is still not good even though he is a Superhuman.


    Not long after, the barrier was finally patched up. Soon, everyone started feeling warm, making them sigh in relief.


    No one other than Alice and Diana knew the truth. The rest of the Mages simply thought that there was a mana deficit that''s why they weren''t able to solve the problem. And Diana simply filled up the required mana.


    "Finally," Alice and Diana pretended like they were tired. The people who are genuinely tired are clearly the rest of the Mages.


    After pretending to rest for some time, Diana approached Victor and started telling him about what exactly happened.


    Victor turned to look in the direction of Kayn secretly and nodded at him to express that he is thankful for his assistance.


    Kayn nodded back in response.


    Just when Victor was about to turn his attention back to the important matter on his hand, he suddenly noticed Kayn beckoning him toe.


    "Why?" Victor asked.


    "What do you mean why?" Diana wondered.


    "Kayn seems to want to discuss something with me,"


    "Is that so? Then, go to him. I believe he has something in mind that can help us fix our problem,"


    "Will you be able to distract the others while I sneak to Kayn?"


    "I''ll ask for Alice''s assistance,"


    "Okay, I''ll wait," Victor decided to patiently wait for how Diana and Alice intended to distract the others.


    Diana approached Alice and informed her that Victor needs a distraction so that he can go to Kayn without anyone noticing, or at least, without Frank and the reserve team noticing.


    The two discussed for a bit before finally thinking of a n.


    "Everyone, I want you to group yourselves into five different groups,"


    "Why?" Frank was curious as he watched everything unfold and felt that something suspicious is going on. He just can''t figure out why.


    "Since me, Diana, and the rest of the Mages are already feeling tired. I want to ask for assistance from the rest of you to patrol the surrounding area and see if everything is okay,"


    "It might seem like the barrier is already fixed, but we can''t be certain yet that no problem will pop upter on. To make sure of that, group yourselves into five different groups and spread out to check every part of the barrier. If you notice something is wrong, quickly report the situation to us so that we can start fixing it,"


    "Okay!" Everyone finallyplied after hearing that. Evidently, no one wants to feel that freezing feeling once again, even Frank wasn''t excepted to that as thetter hastily gathered some people from the reserve members to form a group with them.


    Respectively, Joshua, James, Alex, and Rys also went to form a group of their own with some other members of the reserve team.


    As soon as that was done, the five groups immediately split up and started checking the barrier.


    Seeing this, Victor didn''t waste any time as he walked back towards the main tent, which is where he and Kayn agreed just now to meet together. As the tent was located at the center of the base of operation, thus they can expect that none of the groups would go there as it is far from the barrier.

 Chapter 56 Raiding An E+ Rank Dungeon Part 3

    ?Chapter 56: Raiding an E+ Rank Dungeon Part 3


    Kayn didn''t wait long for Victor to arrive inside the tent.


    "What''s up?" Victor asked.


    "I heard just now that you''re having trouble on how to clear this dungeon," Kayn didn''t bother with any useless pleasantries.


    "Do you perhaps have any idea that can help us?" It seems like Diana was correct.


    "I do," Kayn smiled. He pulled a chair beside him and sat down while simultaneously inviting Victor to take a seat as well. "But what would I get if I told you about it?"


    Obviously, there''s no free lunch in this world. Not to mention, what he is offering is not just any ordinary free lunch, but something else that will allow the ck Panda team to save themselves the trouble of going back and making another preparation. Not to mention, it will prevent the other guilds from taking advantage of thier unfortunate situation.


    "As long as we can clear this dungeon today, I will allow you to pick at least two items from the boss loot,"


    "Hmmm..." Kayn thought for a bit. Albeit he already has a clear idea of what he wanted from Victor. "How about you let me pick two items from all the loots that we gather from this dungeon?"


    "Are you sure?" The loot from the boss is the best loot that can be found inside the dungeon. Yet, Kayn actually wants something else. Is it because he doesn''t want to take advantage of him?


    "I think you''re forgetting something. I am still a Superhuman, so there''s no certainty if I can really find something I need from the loot that the boss has dropped,"


    Indeed. Victor finally understood the reason behind Kayn''s decision. It wasn''t that he doesn''t want to take advantage of him, it''s just that he is being practical, that''s all.


    Unbeknownst to Victor, Kayn simply wanted to expand the scope of his choices. What if the item he needed is not one of those that dropped from the boss? In that case, he would have no other choice but to pick something that he doesn''t like.


    "It''s great that you are clearly aware of the extent of what you need," Victor can''t helpplimenting Kayn.


    "I merely know my ce,"


    "Are you talking about Frank?" Victor chuckled.


    "Who else?" As if there was somebody else who acts like they are entitled for something just because their father is an executive of the White Panda team.


    "Just don''t mind that guy,"


    "If you keep on doing that, Frank would believe that he possess a certain level of authority over the ck Panda team,"


    "Rest assured, we have our own ns on how to deal with Frank. One of these days, he would be kicked out,"


    "That''s good to hear,"


    "Anyways, what''s your n?"


    "It''s honestly quite simple," Kayn started sharing to Victor his n.


    .....


    By the time Victor left the tent, he is carrying in his mind a n that canpletely turn around their situation for the better.


    Upon returning to where the ck Panda team was gathered, Victor immediately called out to Diana and the others to share the n that Kayn enlightened him about.


    Even though Frank wasn''t called out, as soon as he saw Diana and the others being gathered by Victor, he


    "Change of n. We will no longer return to make another preparation," Victor announced.


    "But, how do you n to solve our problem with theck of enough necessary equipment and weapon?" Alex truly wondered.


    "Indeed. It''s not like we can just magically summon those items," Rys added.


    "How about you let Captain Victor continue talking about his n?" Frank expressed his displeasure. Since Victor is thinking of continuing with the raid, he of course has to give his utmost support as his hidden agenda is inline with it.


    Meanwhile, Diana, Alice, Joshua, and James decided to stay silent and wait for Victor to finish speaking.


    "The n is honestly very simple. Me and Alex will find Echo who is currently scouting for the location of the boss. Once we find him, we will make preparations to lure the boss to this location,"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "That..." Alex was amazed. Victor''s n seems to be the best solution to solve their problem.


    "Was this Kayn''s n?" Diana whispered to Victor.


    "Yes," Honestly, until now he still can''t believe that a young man like Kayn is actually capable of thinking of this genius and outside of the box kind of n.


    "Marlon already gave him the thing. But I don''t think that would be enough to pull that young man to our guild,"


    "What you are doing is useless. That young man is clearly already a part of Mayor Sebastian''s force," He wasn''t stupid enough to believe that a young man with the talent like what Kayn posseses is not yet part of a big force. Not to mention, there''s no way on Earth that the Ying Yang Dynasty guild could hope to contend with what Mayor Sebastian could offer to Kayn, especially considering that he is his son-inw.


    "Thought so," Diana was also thinking the same. And since Victor has confirm her thoughts, she didn''t hesitate to abandon her ideas about recruiting Kayn to their guild.


    "Anyways," Victor continued briefing everyone with his n. "While we are luring the boss to this ce, the rest of you would start making preparations to increase our chances of defeating the boss as quickly as possible,"


    After all, the n that he proposed can''t change the fact that they are surrounded by a cold environment that can affect them negatively if they are exposed for a long period of time.


    Even though they are surrounded by a barrier that brought warmth to their bodies and prevents the cold from getting inside their base of operation. However, once the boss arrives, that barrier would instantly be destroyed. Hence, they only have a limited amount of time to kill the boss. Otherwise, they would be defeated.


    Without needing to confirm, Victor could see that everyone present understood his point.


    "Everyone that agrees with my n, please raise your hand," Nevertheless, Victor still gave a chance for everyone to vote. But as he expected, everyone raised their hands, except for Frank.


    It''s quite obvious that Victor''s n isn''t inline with Frank''s goal despite the fact that they both intend to continue with the dungeon raid. Even a fool would be able to see through what Frank is feeling at this moment.


    "This is bad! I thought that Victor nned to continue moving until we find the boss'' location," Frank thought inwardly. He seriously never expected that they would just be staying here while waiting for the boss toe to them. "I won''t be able to get the item I want in this case,"


    Victorpletely ignored Frank as he turns to look at Alex, "Quickly switch your equipment to cold resistance so that we can proceed with our n,"


    "Understood, Captain Victor!" Alex didn''t hesitate toply.


    Without wasting any time, Alex went into a somewhat secluded corner and hastily started changing his equipment.


    It didn''t take long for Alex to return to the group with a new set of equipment covering his entire body.


    Victor had also just finished informing Diana and the rest on what to do while they are away. So, as soon as Alex returned, he immediately left with him to find Echo.


    "Let''s go!"


    As soon as Victor and Alex left, Kayn finally revealed himself. He pretended like he just arrived so that Frank won''t be suspicious of him.


    "Hello, everyone!" Kayn greeted Diana and the others.


    "What are you doing here? And where are the Porters?" Frank called out to Kayn the moment he saw him approaching them.


    "I decided to go on ahead,"


    "You''re the Head Porter. You''re supposed to be with your men!" Frank scolded Kayn.


    "Rest assured. I got it covered," Kayn didn''t mind Frank''s tone of voice. Thetter is clearly just trying to find someone to release his anger, and it just so happens that he arrived. Hence, he because his target.


    "Just make sure that''s the case!" Frank coldly harrumph before deciding to make his way toward his group from the reserve team.


    "How childish!" Alice rolled her eyes at Frank. "Don''t worry about that guy, Kayn. If ever he tries to harm you, I''ll make sure that he''ll get a piece of my mind,"


    "Thank you," Kayn expressed his appreciation.


    Seeing that Frank is far enough, Diana excitedly approached Kayn. She grabbed both thetter''s hand and said, "How on Earth did you think of that n?"


    "It wasn''t a big deal," Kayn pretended like it was nothing so serious so that Diana won''t continue asking him about it. "It was just something I learned from Mayor Sebastian," To make it even more convincing, he used Mayor Sebastian as a shield.


    "As expected from the Mayor''s son-inw," Rys jokingly muttered.


    "Jokes aside," Kayn turned solemn. "I am guessing that it won''t be long for Victor to return," After all, Echo has probably found the boss by now considering how long he has been searching. "So before that, let''s start making preparations,"

 Chapter 57 Raiding An E+ Rank Dungeon Part 4

    ?Chapter 57: Raiding an E+ Rank Dungeon Part 4


    "I never truly expect that such a simple strategy would be regarded as a genius n for these people," Natas expressed his thoughts to Kayn. Until now, he has been following behind Kayn silently. That''s because he is very cautious now that he is inside the ''Tower''. Fortunately, so far, nothing strange has happened to him, nor did he notice any signs that the ''Tower'' has found out about his existence. Because of this, it confirmed his theory that other than Kayn and the people to who he chooses to reveal himself, no one else could see or notice him.


    "That''s only natural since this is a new team that''s made up of Heroes that probably haven''t crossed the 50th floor of the ''Tower'' yet," Kayn exined.


    "Indeed," Natas agreed.


    Unbeknownst to Victor and the rest of the main members of the ck Panda team, the n that Kayn had given them is actually a verymon strategy that Heroes perform once they start exploring the 51st floor and onward in the ''Tower''.


    That''s because starting from the 51st floor, the opponents that the Heroes would be facing are no longer the races that are incapable of thinking critically and brainless.


    On second thought though, even if they happened to know of that strategy being used above the 51st floor, there''s still a good enough reason that they would take Kayn as a genius. The reason being is that Kayn hasn''t yet entered the ''Tower'', yet he is actually already able to think of that n. Just imagine what someone with that level of thinking could achieve once granted ess to enter the ''Tower''.


    "Anyways, what do you n on doing next?" Natas could already guess that Kayn won''t be helping Diana and the others on preparing for Victor''s group return along with the boss of this dungeon.


    "Probably wait until Victor returns," After all, he can''t casually leave this ce. Otherwise, he''d be frozen to death if he is exposed to the cold for a long period of time.


    "Are you still nning on seeing what exactly is the full extent that your body could perform right now?"


    "Of course," Is that even a question? Obviously, he entered this dungeon with only that goal in mind. The events that happened so far are only part of the process for him to achieve that.


    "Then how do you n to do that?"


    "Very simple,"


    In truth, he could actually leave this ce by simply returning back to where he came from ¡ª the path he took to reach here from the portal. Over there, the environment is still not cold yet, nor are there any signs of a freezing atmosphere.


    However, finding targets he could test would be very difficult since the ck Panda team has more or less killed the majority of the monsters that can be found over that part.


    Fortunately, there''s another solution.


    If he remembers correctly, the E+ rank dungeon under the 100th floor of the ''Tower'' is where the Undeads reside.


    Undeads are akin to the souls that Rowan Starlight could summon using the Sitan''s Ring. The only difference is, rather than having a spiritual body, the Undeads have a physical body. Needless to say, they still have a soul inside of them, albeit there''s merely a tiny speck remaining throughout the years of their existence in such a state. After all, with the physical body not in the control of the spirit, there''s no way for the spirit to nourish itself. Hence, as time goes on, the spirit starts diminishing. Fortunately, since there was still mana in their surroundings, thus the Undeads were able to retain a bit of their spirit.


    An Undead''s spirit actually has a secret. If one is lucky enough, the spirit of the Undead could sometimes help one find the location of treasures, get clues about the past, and the best of it, receive an inheritance from someone who was a great figure back then when they were still alive.


    Although he hasn''t spotted any Undeads so far along his way to this ce. But he''s certain that the boss of this dungeon is going to be one. And considering that he is a boss, he would no doubt be able to summon Undeads to assist in the fight. Those Undeads are his test subjects.


    Natas only needed to think for a bit to understand what Kayn is nning. "The merit of being a reincarnator,"


    "I''ll wait over there so that I won''t disturb the others," Kayn decided to pick a tent to stay in while waiting. In truth though, he actually wants to eavesdrop on what Frank is nning. So, he picked a tent right beside the tent that thetter and his group has picked.


    He was very curious about what Frank intended to achieve from the moment he found out that thetter is very insistent on clearing this dungeon. There should be a good reason why he acts like that to the point that he seems to be desperate.


    Upon getting inside the tent, Kayn didn''t waste any time and went on to the very edge near where Frank and his group''s tent so that he can start eavesdropping.


    "This is bad!"


    "We won''t be able to get that item from the boss'' room if Victor is going to bring the boss here,"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I think we would still go to the boss room once we finally defeated the boss? After all, oftentimes, there is still valuable loot to be found inside the boss'' room,"


    "Idiot! It would be very difficult for us to secretly take that item once there''s no boss inside. Don''t forget, we initially thought of using the boss as a distraction to secretly take that item,"


    "How about this? Some of us will go to the boss'' room while Victor and his team are preupied with defeating the boss. By the time the boss is defeated, we would long be gone with that item in our possession," This time, Kayn could recognize that the voice came from Frank.


    "I agree with that!"


    "Now that''s a good idea!"


    "We will follow boss Frank,"


    Frank''s chuckle could be heard amidst his group showering him withpliments.


    "The question is, who is going to be assigned to secretly take that item,"


    "Unfortunately, with my status in the ck Panda team, I can''t just casually leave," Frank expresses.


    Hearing this, Kayn can''t help rolling his eyes. It is very clear to him that Frank simply doesn''t want to be given such a troublesome task. Well, it''s only natural, since there''s no guarantee whether it would be soft sailing to get to the boss room. After all, other than Victor, Echo, and Alex that went out to look for the boss, no one else knows the exact situation outside the main base of operation.


    In other words, they''d be faced with a lot of risks once they are assigned that job.


    Evidently, it wasn''t only Frank who thought of that as the tent quite down right after he finished talking.


    "Birds of the same feathers indeed flock together," Kayn chuckled silently. Even though he is not inside Frank and his group''s tent, he could still imagine the look on everyone''s faces right now ¡ª hrious.


    This is what happens when one gathers a bunch of greedy individuals together. No one would dare to make the first move for fear of getting taken advantage of by the rest. Moreover, they are also cautious of one another as they don''t want to be cannon fodder to be used to benefit the rest.


    Kayn truly wants to know how Frank ns to handle this kind of stalemate.


    "It seems like no one other than me can''t participate in this very important matter for the wellness of our group. So, since I am the leader in our group, I n on giving the spot to the person who losses from rock-paper-scissor. Does anyone disagree?"


    "No¡­"


    Even if they do, they don''t have any other choice but to stillply with Frank. Not to mention, they''ll stand out once they voice out their opinions, and they''ll automatically be given one of those spots.


    "I''ll be sitting here while all of you decide amongst yourselves who will get one of the lucky spots," Frank startedughing.


    In the next moment, everyone quickly picked a partner to y rock-paper-scissor.


    "By the way, the game would be best of five. So, whoever scores three points first, wins," Frank added. In his opinion, it''s going to be a lot more interesting if the game is yed in the best of five. Because if they don''t y seriously, thinking that they can win the game easily, they are in huge trouble as any wrong move could give their opponent more chances to win instead. And the more rounds they y and the longer it takes to decide the winner, the more entertaining it would be.


    "I thought that Frank is nothing more than an annoying and entitled asshole. Turns out, he can also be as viinous as actual viins," Kayn muttered. On second thought, who was he tobel Frank a Viin anyways, when he, who heard everything just now, decided to simply stand at the side and not care about what''s happening to those people.


    Honestly, ever since he reincarnated back to the past, he no longer puts that much emphasis on the two titles ¡ª ''Hero'' and ''Viin''. For him, it''s nothing more than a way to trick the masses and paint someone ck and the other white.


    "The status of who is a Hero and Viin today could be switched in a snap of a finger tomorrow," Meaning, it doesn''t matter whatever one does in the present as either doing good or bad would not matter in the future.

 Chapter 58 Raiding An E+ Rank Dungeon Part 5

    ?Chapter 58: Raiding an E+ Rank Dungeon Part 5


    The rock-paper-scissor that Frank hosted finally came to an end with the winners cheering happily while the losers mourning for their unluckiness.


    Unfortunately for Kayn, he has no way of knowing about who the people Frank is going to send to the boss'' room to steal a certain item. Not to mention, he also doesn''t know what item exactly they are going to steal.


    Although this doesn''t necessarily mean that it''s bad for him. Still, it''s better to know about it just to be safe. Moreover, no one knows, maybe that item could be of some use to him, right?


    "Should I follow them?" Kayn asked Natas who was beside him.


    "Do you want to?" Natas believes that the person who can answer this question is not him, but Kayn himself.


    "But I don''t know who to follow," Kayn felt troubled.


    "If you want, I can actually get inside their tent and find out who the losers are. In that way, you will know,"


    "Never mind," Kayn finally decided not to do it. Anyways, now that he knows about Frank''s hidden agenda, it seems like it wouldn''t hurt him in any sort of way. So, there''s no need to get himself involved any further than necessary. He would no doubt benefit by doing so, but it''s not like he''s going to lose something if he doesn''t do it.


    Furthermore, there''s also the possibility of him offending Frank once something unfortunate happens to him which leads to thetter finding out about what he has been doing all this time.


    Certainly, he won''t be able to avoid offending people in his path to achieve his goal, he understood that clearly well. But if he can avoid it, that would definitely be better. After all, it''s more beneficial for him to have fewer enemies.


    "Since I have nothing better to do, I''ll check the boss'' room myself to see what item exactly they are talking about. I''ll inform you about it once I am back," Natas informs Kayn.


    "Okay, go do your own thing," He doesn''t need Natas right now, so there''s no problem with letting him do whatever he wants or ns on doing.


    "I''ll be off now," After saying that, Natas left and flew toward the same path that Victor and Alex went.


    "I guess it is also time for me to leave this tent in case Frank notices me,"


    With that being said, Kayn hurriedly left the tent.


    As soon as he arrived outside, Diana and the members of the ck Panda team were finally done setting up their preparation for the boss'' arrival.


    "There you are Kayn," Diana called out upon noticing Kayn.


    "Do you happen to need me for something?"


    "Not really. We were just curious where you went," Alice exined the reason why they were looking for him.


    "We thought that you lost your way," Joshua unveil the true reason.


    "Hey! Why did you tell him about that?!" James smacks Joshua''s head.


    "Eh? Are we not supposed to say that?" Joshua felt like he was wronged by James.


    "How ignorant," Alice can''t help shaking her head.


    "I agree," Rys added.


    "Leave them alone," Diana chuckled awkwardly. "Anyways, what do you think about our preparation? Since you were the one who nned all of this, I need your opinion on whether its enough or stillcking,"


    Hearing Diana''s request, Kayn started looking around his surroundings to see the supposed preparation that Diana was talking about.


    Ropes.


    Nets.


    Deep Holes.


    Magic Formations.


    Barriers.


    "I think you''ve pretty much prepared all the things you needed to face the boss of this E-rank dungeon,"


    "You think so?" Diana still felt doubtful about that.


    It''s only natural for Diana to feel that way. After all, this is her first time executing this kind of strategy. Unlike other strategies she had experienced before, this time she has no prior information about what kind of boss they are going to face.


    "Don''t worry, this is not that different from what your team has been doing all this time when fighting against a boss. The only difference is, rather than facing the boss in an environment where it clearly has the advantage over all of you, in this case, you are setting up the most optimal stage for your team,"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "So, you''re saying that there''s no need to know what preparation is necessary since we can still do what we have always been doing during a boss raid?"


    "Yes," Kayn nodded his head to confirm.


    "It seems like you have thought of everything from the start to finish," Diana greatly admires Kayn''s arrangements.


    "You''re overestimating me," If only they knew that this is actually not a unique n.


    "Being humble is good, but overdoing it would make people misunderstand you and think that you are being arrogant," Alice kindly advise Kayn. "Just to be clear, we have not misunderstood you, it''s just that, other people might if you talk to them like that,"


    "Indeed. There''s nothing wrong with eptingpliments from time to time," James patted Kayn''s shoulder.


    "Thank you for the enlightenment, seniors," Seeing them acting like this, Kayn is left with no other choice but to act like he has learned something new. If Natas was present right now, there''s no doubt that thetter wouldugh loudly at this scene. Even he feels likeughing at them since they are acting so knowledgeable in front of someone who already cleared the 1,000th floor of the ''Tower''.


    The conversation was instantly interrupted when everyone suddenly heard a loud noiseing from the direction where Victor and Alex went.


    Even Frank and his group hurriedly left their tent after noticing such a great disturbance.


    "Everyone! Go to your position!" Diana immediately ordered everyone to prepare.


    "Hurry, hurry!" Alice tried to hasten everyone. "That includes you three," she pointed at Joshua, James, and Rys.


    "You are included as well!" Diana interrupted.


    "Roger!" Alice went to her position after getting called out by Diana.


    "Do I have to¡ª"


    Before Kayn could finish his line, Diana abruptly interrupted him, "Just stay by my side. You''ll be safe with me,"


    "Okay," As much as he wanted to leave since he wanted to do something else, unfortunately since Diana ordered him not to, he could only choose toply.


    Being a reincarnator might have its pros, yet it also has its fair share of cons as well.


    "I''ll just make a move once I see an opportunity," Kayn thought to himself. On second thought, it''s actually better this way, as he can use Diana as a shield to make himself remain as inconspicuous as possible. Moreover, he still doesn''t know what to do yet, and being with Diana would certainly provide him a better view of the surroundings with her being a priestess.


    A priestess would always position themselves in a location where they can see everyone. In that way, providing heal would be easy for them since they can anyone who is injured or requires immediate healing.


    In his case, seeing everything would allow him to have a view of the entire battlefield and thus allow him to consider all important things first before making a n on where he can insert himself and not disturb the teamwork of the ck Panda team.


    Just like what they anticipated, Victor, Alex, and Echo are finally back.


    Following closely behind them, a vague figure of the boss that is covered by the smoke from the sshing snow on the ground could be seen.


    The trio is currently running for their lives ¡ª at least Victor and Alex are, as Echo seems to be far at the side where he is far from the boss'' reach.


    As expected from the scout, he knows how to not get caught even if his target has already spotted him.


    Not long after, Victor, Alex, and Echo were finally able to join the rest of the members of the ck Panda team.


    "Have you prepared everything?" Victor asked Diana while still trying to catch his breath. To tell the truth, he wouldn''t be like this if only he temporarily put aside his heavy armor first before he went to look for Echo and lure the boss here. Because of that, he had to run tens of kilometers while wearing heavy armor.


    "I hope you did¡­ because¡­ I guarantee you¡­ we haven''t faced anything the same as this boss¡­," Alex, who is in an even worst state than Victor since the armor he is wearing is of those that tanks use, muttered while silently praying deep inside.


    "Is it that serious?" Diana turned to look at Echo.


    "Yes," Echo nodded his head. "The boss of this E+ rank dungeon is an Ice Dread Queen,"


    Ice Dread Queen, or Dread Queen in general. Just like what her name suggests, she is a member of the Undead race that is greatly feared and regarded with revered. That''s because she is the queen of all Liches. Needless to say, that is obviously not the only reason why they are treated that way.


    If Liches are capable of turning dead people into a member of the Undead race and controlling them to do their own bidding. In the case of a Dread Queen, she can turn members of the Undead into Liches and control them to do whatever she wants. In other words, she canmand an army.


    It would have been fine if their enemy right now is just a normal Dream Queen. As she can only summon normal Liches, and thus those liches can also only summon ordinary Undeads.


    However, since it is an Ice Dread Queen, hence she can summon Ice Liches, and those Ice Liches could thus summon Ice Undeads.


    Any race or monster with an elemental attribute would always be more powerful and dangerouspared to the normal and ordinary ones. That''s because they can use magic, whereas the others could only use the mostmon skills and abilities that are granted to their own kind.


    "This is bad," Even Kayn, who has seen a lot of dangerous foes in the future and fought against them, still holds the Ice Dread Queen in such high regard. This simply shows just how difficult the Ice Dread Queen is.

 Chapter 59 Raiding An E+ Rank Dungeon Part 6

    ?Chapter 59: Raiding an E+ Rank Dungeon Part 6


    It isn''t just bad.


    It is seriously bad!


    "I suggest that we start evacuating all the Porters outside the dungeon right now before something bad happens," Kayn expressed his thoughts after realizing the direness of their current situation.


    "Okay!" Victor agreed with Kayn. The Ice Dread Queen could create an army of Undead, and that army will no doubt attack the Porters once they see them. The majority of the Porters are merely Superhumans, so it would be truly dangerous for them toe face to face against an Undead. Not to mention, an Undead with an elemental attribute.


    Since Victor needed Kayn here because of his genius ideas and to assist him, he decided to look for someone else to inform the Porters.


    Coincidentally, the man he ordered to bring Kayn and the Porters inside the dungeon a while ago had just arrived. So, without any hesitation, "You, go and inform the Porters to retreat outside the dungeon!"


    "Eyhhh!" Helpless, the man could only choose toply and started walking back to the way he came from. He felt that he was wronged. But before he could finally leave, he saw over the distance a giant figure approaching them. In an instant, his mood turned from sour to appreciative.


    "It''sing," Echo notifies everyone.


    "Alice," Victor turned to look at Alice, "As much as possible, try your best to keep Kayn safe, and please make sure that he won''t die from the cold, will you?"


    "Understood, Captain!" Alice saluted.


    After saying that, Victor started allocating orders to everyone and preparing them for the iing Ice Dread Queen.


    Meanwhile, Kayn grabbed a chair by the side and sat on it to watch the show. "Too bad I don''t have any popcorn with me right now,"


    Seeing Kayn''s action, Alice can''t help asking, "Does this situation not scare you even a bit?"


    "I am actually scared," He''s telling the truth. "But is there anything I can do against that Ice Dread Queen?"


    "Well¡­" Alice was instantly rendered speechless.


    "And besides, I also can''t run away, because Victor ordered me to stay here," He heaved a heavy sigh.


    "So, you''re telling me it''s our fault that you can''t act scared?"


    "Of course not! I am simply telling you why I decided to just sit down and watch. And to answer your question. This face you are seeing right now is me feeling scared," Kayn returned his attention to his front.


    "You''re crazy!" Alice finally arrived at the conclusion that Kayn is someone who is out of his mind. If it was anyone else in his situation right now, they would have insisted on leaving this ce already. Heck, they might even run away the moment Victor turns his head around. But on the other hand, she also understood that Kayn is nning something else for himself. She doesn''t know whether it''s good or not for the ck Panda team, but since she''s staying by his side along with Diana, she''d definitely be able to stop him if it would endanger the team.


    "Alice, don''t forget that you still have to fight against the boss while protecting Kayn," Diana reminded Alice.


    "I know,"


    "Don''t worry, I''ll be right here to assist you," Diana rest assured Alice. Thetter is the main Mage of the ck Panda team, so her responsibility is very heavy. Now that guaranteeing Kayn''s safety is added on top of that, she''d no doubt find herself in a difficult situationter on. She''s here to make sure to lighten her burden even for just a bit.


    "I needed to hear that," Alice smiled.


    "Wake up people, here ites!" Victor eximed loudly.


    Booooom!


    In the next second, a loud explosion sted through the barrier that Alice and the other Mages had set up.


    The cloud of snow started settling down and soon revealed the face of the Ice Dread Queen.


    It was a woman''s face that greeted everyone. A beautiful one on top of that. She has white-colored hair, red as a rose lip, eyes that are as ck as a raven, and unique pale skin that only the Undead race inherits as it is what marks them as dead. Her height though wasn''t something that ismonly seen in a woman, as she is more or less seven feet tall. Nevertheless, it fit her.


    If only the Ice Dread Queen wasn''t the boss of this dungeon and is here to kill everyone that is not part of her race right now, then the majority of the men here present would have long fallen heels over head on her.


    Fortunately, the men of the ck Panda team weren''t idiots and lunatics to do something as foolish as that in their situation.


    Contrary, upon seeing the Ice Dread Queen, they immediately pointed their weapons toward her and waited patiently for Victor''s order to fight.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Deep inside, they were feeling all sorts of emotions due to sensing the heavy dread and deep horror the Ice Dread Queen is releasing from her body. The freezing feeling that she brought along with her is also attributed further to what they are feeling.


    On the other hand, the Ice Dread Queen also momentarily came to a stop, evidently to observe everyone in front of her and understand whether they are considered a threat to her or not.


    While that was happening, Alice quickly conjured a barrier around Kayn to help keep him warm.


    "Thank you," Kayn appreciated the instantaneous assistance of Alice.


    "Just make sure to keep yourself away from trouble," Alice urges Kayn. Now that she sees the boss up close, she isn''t feeling confident anymore that they can win against her.


    "I''ll be stupid to do that," The Ice Dread Queen could basically squash him if she wanted to. He won''t even dare to get close to her. So, causing trouble ispletely out of the question.


    "Everyone, charge!" Victor leads the charge along with Alex by his side. Thetter is the tank of the ck Panda team, with him being the secondary tank. So, it is their job to initiate the fight against the boss.


    Despite feeling unconfident, Alex, being the main tank of the ck Panda team, overtook Victor. He waved his hand, quickly taking out a huge shield and a giant hammer from his Storage Ring. These two items are his weapons.


    On the other hand, Victor took out a giant axe and a huge shield that is just like Alex''s.


    In the next second, the duo finally arrived in front of the Ice Dread Queen. Without waiting for her to react, Alex smashed her face with his hammer. Following that, Victor chopped at the other side with his axe.


    Victor and Alex''s action marked the beginning of the boss raid.


    The meleebatants quickly positioned themselves tond a hit to the Ice Dread Queen. Alternatively, the Mages started casting all sorts of Magic spells that counters the ice element. For instance, fire element and earth element. Unfortunately, other than Alice, no one else could cast a lightning element Magic spell.


    With everyone in their position, the fight issued.


    Countless magic spells started flying into the air andnding on the body of the Ice Dread Queen.


    Swords shes with her thick skin, leaving cuts and marks on her body.


    Being the receiving end of all of the attack, the Ice Dread Queen screamed loudly in pain. Subsequently, multiple voices could be heard behind her.


    "Her army ising," Echo warned. He already saw the Ice Dread Queen''s army when he was scouting for her location. There weren''t that many, but it''s still not something to underestimate about.


    "Split into two equal groups and follow after Alex," Victor immediately ordered after hearing Echo.


    Splitting into two groups while in the midst of a fight isn''t something that the ck Panda team is new about. They have basically been doing this in all the previous boss fights they''ve experienced in the past.


    The reason why they split into two groups is so that they can deal with the soldiers of the boss.


    It''s already amon situation where a boss would have a considerable number of soldiers rallying to her. As a matter of fact, sometimes the boss is not the problem in a boss raid but their troops instead as there are just far too many of them to deal with.


    And because of that, the ck Panda team has already trained and prepared its members to deal with this kind of situation.


    "On me!" Alex already knew what to do as he had a talk with Victor and Echo when they were nning on how to lure the boss here a while ago. "There are five liches and nearly a hundred Undead Swordsman in their army. I''ll gather the liches together and the Mages will assist me to fight them while the rest of you will deal with the Undead Swordsmen,"


    "Copy!" The second group nodded in understanding.


    In great unison, half of the ck Panda team left the fight against the Ice Dread Queen to face her army of Undeads.


    Since Alex is no longer here, it is now solely Victor''s responsibility to tank the Ice Dread Queen. That''s not a problem, as he could deal with her alone, at least as far as he was able to observe.


    "What a perfectly executed and coordinated move," Kayn can''t helpplimenting the ck Panda team.


    "That''s a given since we have already done this multiple times," Diana smiled proudly.


    "No wonder," Kayn understood. Although he isn''t new to the strategy that the ck Panda has pulled, it''s rare to see it being executed in such a manner. In most cases, there would still be some confusion. Even in his guild before that still happened. But in the ck Panda team''s case, it is as if everyone already knew long before that they are part of the first team and second team.


    Nevertheless, it still doesn''t guarantee their chances of defeating the boss yet. Not to mention, there''s no certainty whether their n is going to work against the Ice Dread Queen or not.


    Hopefully, it would¡­

 Chapter 60 Raiding An E+ Rank Dungeon Part 7

    ?Chapter 60: Raiding an E+ Rank Dungeon Part 7


    The second group under themand of Alex positioned themselves to face the iing army of the Ice Dread Queen.


    Over the distance, they could see the tall figure of the five Liches that Alex had mentioned, and in front of them were a hundred undead carrying swords in their hands.


    "Mages!" Alex called out.


    The Mages immediately readied themselves with different areas of effect types of Magic spells.


    "Fire!"


    Whooooosh!


    Dozens of Magic spells started raining toward the approaching Undead army.


    Booom!


    Numerous explosions echoed throughout the surroundings as the Magic spellsnded one after the other.


    Bodies of the unlucky Undead sttered all over the ce, tainting the snowy ground with some sort of gooey substance that was mixed with red and green and smelled horribly bad.


    Before the cloud of snow could settle down, Alex eximed loudly, "Charge!"


    In the next moment, the meleebatants of the second ground started running towards the army of Undead under the lead of Alex.


    Bang!


    Boom!


    Alex started smashing all the Undeads thate his way into a pulp to pave a road for everyone to follow.


    The road slowly expanded bigger and bigger as the meleebatants started paving the path along with him.


    Simultaneously, the Mages followed behind them.


    In this way, the second group was finally separatedpletely from the first group. Not only that, they are also far from the reach of the Ice Dread Queen, thus making sure that they won''t have to deal with two sides.


    Seeing this, Kayn admired the ck Panda team even more. It was quite clear to him that not only have they executed this n many times, but they have also found ways to counter its weaknesses, one being the fact that their rear would be left unguarded if they charge on ahead.


    With the second group out of the picture, Victor could finally focus on the Ice Dread Queen with no worries.


    "Mages, keep on firing at its arm!" Victormanded. The reason why he opted for the Mages to attack the arm is so that the Ice Dread Queen can''t summon any Liches. Mages or any Magic users use their arms to gather mana from their surroundings and cast a Magic spell. Although there are exceptions, but in the case of the Ice Dread Queen, that is one of its weaknesses. As long as they keep her arm distracted, she would have trouble summoning more Liches. Moreover, the Ice Dread Queen also attacks using her arm. So, by attacking her arm, she would also find it difficult to attack.


    Everyone understood the meaning behind Victor''s order. So, everyone simplyplied.


    Boom!


    The Ice Dread Queen''s arm received an onught of different Magic spells, which prevented her from doing any offensive counterattack toward Victor and the other meleebatants attacking her. Because of that, she was left with no other choice but to defend herself and keep on bellowing to her soldiers, hoping for them toe to her aid.


    Unfortunately, no matter how loud and how many times the Ice Dread Queen calls out, her soldiers could still not break through the blockage of Alex and the second group.


    No! The word blocking them is not the right phrase to describe the situation, rather it is more like they are destroying them like a spear striking its opponent.


    The five Liches are also being rendered helpless with Alex and the Mages preventing them from summoning more soldiers using the same strategy that Alex is making use of right now. It''s even more effective in their case as the Liches are much weakerpared to the Ice Dread Queen.


    ? However, even though the situation was like that, no one from the ck Panda team celebrated. Their guard was still on full alert, never wavering regardless of what.


    The reason for that is that they are all aware of just how dangerous an Ice Dread Queen is. They might have her in a disadvantageous situation right now, but that''s only because she still hasn''t broken their formation and strategy yet. To make sure that doesn''t happen, they cannot lower their guard or even release a bit of tension. Once they do, there''s no telling what will possibly happen next.


    Honestly, the majority of the boss raids in the dungeon, especially those that are done by guilds, would follow a simr fashion to what is happening right now.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The team fighting against the boss will exert tremendous effort to prevent the boss from attacking. In some cases, they''ll force the boss to remain defensive until it is finally killed. While the majority of the time, it will depend on the stages of the boss and their movement pattern.


    Just like in popr MMORPG games, every living being has their own predetermined set of health points, or HP for short. Even though this is not a game, some parts of it still follow that same rule and logic.


    Once certain damage is dealt to the boss, they will explode in strength, marking the next stage. In every stage, the boss will either be stronger or execute something unexpected in hopes of changing the status quo.


    On the other hand, the so-called movement pattern simply describes the way a boss initiates a move when he or she is about to use a certain skill. For example, in a sword, they will show that they are about to swing. In an axe, they''ll show signs that they are going to cut something. So, whenever a boss shows signs of doing so and there''s no way to block it, that''s the only time when they''ll allow it to attack.


    Regardless, a team will still try their best to make the boss remain in a defensive state. Because once they don''t, it would be very difficult to fight against them, even if they have the numerical advantage and are Heroes.


    That''s just how the dungeons and anything inside the ''Tower'' works.


    That''s why a few chosen minorities are treated special and are given certain privileges, like Admiral Robert, Mercenary King Grey, Mayor Sebastian, and World President Nichs because these people can do something that the majority of the Heroes can''t do.


    Speaking about stages and movement patterns, the Ice Dread Queen is finally showing signs of doing one of those two.


    Whooosh!


    A powerful freezing wind pushed Victor and the meleebatants a few tens of meters away from the Ice Dread Queen.


    "Everyone, use your defensive equipment!" Victor warned.


    Without wasting any time, Victor and the rest of the meleebatants took out a shield to block their front.


    The Mages also concocted a barrier to protect themselves. Even though they are far away from the Ice Dread Queen, it is still much better to be safe than to be sorry.


    As expected, the Ice Dread Queen crossed both of her hands together and a shining blue light appeared on a small ring on her ring finger. The ring started gathering mana from the surrounding, and in the next moment, with a wave of both of her hands, a powerful freezing current swooshed throughout the nearby surroundings.


    Despite having a shield in front of them, Victor and the rest of the meleebatants were still slowly being pushed away farther and farther from the Ice Dread Queen.


    Victor immediately understood what is about to happen next. Most likely, the Ice Dread Queen is pushing them as far away as possible so they won''t be able to disturb her from summoning more Liches to assist her in the fight. So, as a means to try and prevent it from happening, he tried to push against the strong freezing wind before it is toote.


    Seeing Victor''s action, some of the meleebatants who are strong enough also followed him with the intention of assisting their Captain.


    Echo, who chooses to remain in one ce and observe the ongoing fight until now finally decided to make a move.


    "Oh, what''s he going to do?" Kayn was intrigued. Echo was one of the main members of the ck Panda team that he is very interested in. The reason being is that he feels a strangely familiar aura with thetter. He just doesn''t know where exactly he felt it. But one thing for certain is it isn''t the same as those he felt from his newpanions.


    Echo is the main scout, or to be more precise, the only scout in the ck Panda team. He moves sneakily and precisely, thus it is very clear that he is an assassin. In addition, he dresses in a very mysterious and secretive fashion, further adding more support to that assumption.


    In a very inconspicuous manner, Echo sneaked behind the Ice Dread Queen. Strangely, the powerful force that everyone is feeling right now seems to not affect him even a bit as he is still able to move smoothly.


    Suddenly, Echo stops in his tracks just a few tens of meters away from the Ice Dread Queen and turns his head to look in Victor''s direction. Looking at his hand, he could be seen sending signals to Victor about what he is nning on doing.


    Understanding Echo''s n, Victor proceeded vigorously toward the Ice Dread Queen. The meleebatants who are following him also did the same. Obviously, they understood the n as well.


    Meanwhile, those that are having difficulty moving, started moving together in a straight line so they can get close to the Ice Dread Queen by pushing each other from the back.


    "They should have done that a long time ago," Kayn said as a remark.


    After saying that, Kayn can''t help but notice in his peripheral vision that there are a few people who are secretly sneaking away from the first group using the cover of the snow.


    "Oh, they are starting to move," Kayn muttered under his breath as he also looks in the direction of the second group. As expected, two people left the group secretly and started sneaking away to meet up with the others that sneaked away from the first group.


    "Did you say anything?" Alice asked as she vaguely heard Kayn saying something.


    "I said I am curious as to what Echo is nning to do next," Kayn lied. There is no reason for him to snitch on Frank''s n. In addition to that, he also wants to know what item they are trying to secretly steal. Perhaps it''s something that is useful to him. In that case, they are doing him a favor as he can just go and steal it from them.

 Chapter 61 Raiding An E+ Rank Dungeon Part 8

    ?Chapter 61: Raiding an E+ Rank Dungeon Part 8


    "I didn''t see the signal, but as far I have observed, I think Echo wants Victor and the others to distract the Ice Dread Queen for him," Alice exined.


    "I can see that," Kayn wasn''t blind not to notice. Why else would Victor and the rest of the meleebatants do their best to approach the Ice Dread Queen instead of just waiting until she finishes with her defensive counterattack?


    Rather, what he is curious about is what will Echo do while Victor and the rest are distracting the Ice Dread Queen.


    What would a single man, a single scout, a single assassin try to pull off to change the current situation and prevent the Ice Dread Queen from summoning more Liches?


    Looking at Echo''s weapons, Kayn notices that the former only has two daggers to his waist, nothing more. The daggers were a bit bigger and widerpared to other daggers, but nheless, they are merely daggers.


    Against the Ice Dread Queen, a mere dagger won''t be enough to deal that much damage to her. Unless the Hero who is using that dagger is the President of the Pandora or those renowned assassins in the ''Tower''.


    He seriously doubts that Echo is one of those people, at least not yet¡­


    Speaking about Echo, the man coordinated his distance from the Ice Dread Queen with Victor quite perfectly.


    At this moment, Victor and Echo are fifty meters away from the Ice Dread Queen.


    That''s right! They were thrown off really far after being pushed by that tremendous force through some kind of defensive Magic spell that the Ice Dread Queen is still using against them.


    Although, through that Magic spell, they learned that probably summoning a Lich would take a considerable amount of time even for the Ice Dread Queen. Hence, the reason why she had to do her best to make them stay away as far as possible from her.


    As if to prove their assumption correct, upon noticing Victor and the rest of the meleebatants trying to approach her, the Ice Dread Queen releases an even more powerful force from the ring she''s wearing.


    "What''s up with that ring?" Victor was annoyed as he got pushed ten or so meters. He worked a lot to cover that distance only to get pushed away. "Alice! Can you and the rest of the Mages hit that ring?!"


    "We''ll try!" Alice responded. She nodded her head to the Mages before starting to cast a Magic spell together.


    What Alice is trying to cast is a simple Wind Arrow spell as there''s no need for any extravagant or area of effect types of Magic spell to target a single ring. They need a Magic spell that can allow them to hit their target precisely and urately.


    "Remember, only aim at the ring! Don''t try to hit anything else as we don''t have any clue yet as to what will happen," Alice warns everyone. "If you are not confident that you can hit the ring, try your best to hit something else other than the Ice Dread Queen, understand?"


    All the Mages nodded their heads in confirmation.


    "Good," Alice turns her focus to her front. Using the Magic circle that she conjured through the Magic spell, she tried her best to point the Wind Arrow to her desired target ¡ª the blue ring that the Ice Dread Queen is wearing on her right hand''s ring finger.


    "This is going to be difficult," She has done some precise and urate target practices in the past but never once has she put it to practical use. It isn''t that she never tried, it''s just that, there was no opportunity to do so as her firepower was what''s always needed on the battlefield. Although she figured out before that she might have to use it someday. But not once has she expected that it would be to a boss. This is no doubt the best way to experience something for the first time.


    "Here goes nothing!"


    Boom!


    A bright green-colored light shoots forward from the Magic circle as it travels straight toward the location of the Ice Dread Queen.


    In the midst of the travel, the Wind Arrow moves left to right under the will of Alice. She was trying her best to precisely hit the Wind Arrow to her target while thetter is moving her hands every time.


    Behind Alice''s Wind Arrow were the Wind Arrows that the other Mages had conjured. Unlike her Wind Arrow though, it was quite evident that the rest of the Mages are all having trouble trying to control their Wind Arrows.


    Although it was clearly not because they suck in controlling their Wind Arrows, it''s just that they also have to consider the wind pressure of the Ice Dread Queen''s defensive counterattack. Even a Hero wearing heavy armor and a huge shield to his front could still be pushed away, not to mention mere arrows that are made of mana, a wind element on top of that, which is not a good element to use when ites to endurance. It''s already great that their Wind Arrows couldst until now, showing that each individual wasn''t cking during their training.


    Unfortunately, the farther their Wind Arrows travels, the difficulty to control simrly started increasing. No matter how good their control was, the wind pressure was just too strong, causing the mana they have inputted into their Wind Arrows to start diminishing slowly.


    Bang!


    Not long after, the first Wind Arrow lost control and crashed to the ground, causing some snow to stter nearby.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The sttering of the snow causes a few more of the wind arrows to lose control as they started crashing to the ground one after the other.


    As time continues to pass, more and more Mages lost control of their Wind Arrows. Some simply hit the ground, while others hit the other Wind Arrows.


    What''s even worst is, the sttering of the snow distracts the visions of some of the strong Mages, causing their Wind Arrows to start crashing as well.


    Seeing all of this happening, Alice realized that her Wind Arrow seems to be the only hope left to hit the ring of the Ice Dread Queen.


    Some of the smart Mages also understood this, so they used their Wind Arrows to clear a path for Alice''s Wind Arrow to reach their target as they aren''t confident that they can do it themselves.


    Unfortunately, despite all of their effort, Alice''s Wind Arrow still didn''t reach the Ice Dread Queen as thetter notices it and sent a powerful wind pressure to redirect it and send it crashing down toward an unlucky meleebatant that was nearby.


    Bang!


    "Argh!"


    The unlucky guy got hit on the arm that was holding the shield, causing him to let go of his shield, and right after that, he receives the full onught of the wind pressure. He was sent stumbling down a few tens of meters beforeing to a stop as he hit a huge rock.


    He coughed out a mouthful of blood and could no longer make any move as his body was slowly being pushed inside the rock due to the wind pressure.


    Basically, the wind pressure acts like a heavy weight that''s pushing him inside the stone and preventing him from moving.


    "Help¡­"


    Honestly, it wasn''t mainly because he was unlucky though that he received that Wind Arrow. The truth is, the Ice Dread Queen made that move with that exact intention in mind.


    What everyone forgot is to actually summon a Lich, first a dead person is necessary. That''s because a Lich is not like any of the normal or ordinary Undead. It is a special Undead that is capable of expanding and creating more Undeads.


    As of this point in time, other than the Undead race that is blocked by Alex and the second party, no one from the ck Panda team has died yet, nor are there even any casualties.


    The Ice Dread Queen understood that no matter how long she tries to continuously use her defensive counterattack, it would only prolong her death as she hasn''t met the most basic requirement to summon a Lich yet. Her army is also hopeless, so she obviously can''t count on them to help her.


    Fortunately for the Ice Dread Queen, the Mages of the ck Panda team tried to attack her. What''s even better was, they are using a single target Magic spell ¡ª Wind Arrow, which is perfect for her to take advantage of to attack one of their teammates with little to no effort at all, and if lucky enough, she can use them as the sacrifice to summon a Lich.


    As Victor and the rest of the meleebatants were trying to get close to the Ice Dread Queen all this time, because of that the man who is helpless right now is put into the most dangerous situation as it wouldn''t take the Ice Dread Queen long to reach him if it wanted to.


    Just like what they have predicted ¡ª the Ice Dread Queen indeed started approaching the unlucky man.


    It was only at this moment that everyone finally remembers the fact that a sacrifice is needed to summon a Lich.


    "No, no, no!" Victor scream loudly as he exerted even more strength to try and chase after the Ice Dread Queen.


    Too bad though as this time the Ice Dread Queen was no longer holding back from her defensive counterattack to the point that even Echo, who has not been affected a while ago by the wind pressure, is now having slight difficulty in approaching her.


    The rest of the meleebatants also tried their best to catch up to the Ice Dread Queen. But because there is a considerable distance separating each of them, plus the wind pressure has gotten a lot stronger now, hence they could only make a very careful and slow one step at a time.


    Moreover, they can''t just casually approach the Ice Dread Queen for fear that she might suddenly turn around and attack them instead. That would be even worse for the ck Panda team as that would cause two casualties. Meaning, two Liches.


    "That was a bad call," Kayn thought to himself. He didn''t dare say it out loud in this kind of situation.


    Although he wanted to help, he just can''t as he isn''t capable of doing anything against the Ice Dread Queen. He''ll simply be causing more trouble for the ck Panda team. Also, Victor and Echo can''t help that man, not to mention him, who is merely a Superhuman. Just the environment of this ce can already affect him tremendously.


    With everything going all ording to the Ice Dread Queen''s n and with no way to prevent it from happening anymore, the helpless man became the first sacrifice for her to summon a Lich.

 Chapter 62 Raiding An E+ Rank Dungeon Part 9

    ?Chapter 62: Raiding an E+ Rank Dungeon Part 9


    The helpless man was stabbed straight in his left chest. His armor waspletely useless to prevent it from happening as the Ice Dread Queen is more powerful than a well-crafted and refined piece of metal.


    With a sudden pull of the Ice Dread Queen''s hand, his still weakly beating heart was revealed.


    The helpless man stared at his heart for a bit before finally taking hisst breath.


    This action wasn''t a way for the Ice Dread Queen to scare the ck Panda team or something rted to that, but rather the heart is what the Ice Dread Queen needed in order to summon a Lich. The dead body, on the other hand, is what the Lich will use to summon an Undead soldier.


    Without wasting any more time, the Ice Dread Queen used the heart as a medium to summon a Lich.


    Mana was being gathered by the Ice Dread Queen from the surroundings as it started condensing inside the heart. As more and more mana was being gathered, a vague figure of a person was slowly being formed.


    That mana though wasn''t merely ordinary mana, but also the soul of the deceased man. It was being pulled back by the Ice Dread Queen from going into the afterlife. Although some had still escaped, what''s important is that she got some portion of it, which is good enough to summon a Lich.


    As evidence of that im, the figure that was formed seems to almost look identical to the man that the Ice Dread Queen had just killed. Moreover, he was also wearing the same set of armor that the dead man is still wearing, albeit it was created using mana.


    After some time, the Ice Dread Queen suddenly exhaled a mouthful of air from inside her body to the heart that was gathering mana. That air though wasn''t just any ordinary or normal air, it was actually a part of her life, her very existence called ¡ª Breath of Undead.


    That''s right! To create a Lich, an Ice Dread Queen has to take a portion of her existence. At least, in the case of the Liches that an Ice Dread Queen had summoned. There also exist Liches that started from merely being ordinary Undead soldiers. This is the main reason why the Undead race cannot create an infinite number of Liches. Otherwise, the Undead would have long taken over the world by now.


    As soon as the Breath of Undead was added, an explosion erupted inwardly from the heart, and the vague figure made by mana slowly materialized into an actual being.


    Boom!


    Wind exploded throughout the nearby surroundings and a Lich was finally brought to life¡­ or to existence¡­


    The Lich immediately kneeled down on one of his knees in front of the Ice Dread Queen, clearly understanding that this woman is his master that he must swear to protect with his existence for as long as he is alive.


    On the other hand, the Ice Dread Queen merely nodded her head to the Lich as a way of recognizing his existence.


    After that, the Ice Dread Queen made a low grumpy sound as if like a queen telling her loyal subordinates that someone is bullying her.


    As a response, the Lich looked at the surroundings and soon spotted the ck Panda team approaching them.


    Without any second thought, the Lich stood up and turned to look at the dead body behind him. He recognizes the dead body instantly as it was him when he was still alive. Despite that though, he didn''t feel any sense of camaraderie or fondness for the ck Panda team. Rather, hatred and rage were boiling inside of him as he realized that they dared to hurt her master.


    With a wave of the Lich''s hand, the dead body slowly started rising up. Soon after, the lifeless eyes shone blue light, and the eyeballs instantly turned to dust and were reced by two burning blue wisps.


    Although thend was covered in snow and there were no other dead bodies to be found, strangely enough, more and more Undeads were crawling out from the ground.


    As this is the territory of the Undead, it is only natural for there to be a lot of dead bodies buried under the ground. And as Lich, he could use it to call forth Undead soldiers.


    Unfortunately, despite that fact, the Ice Dread Queen can''t take advantage of the undead bodies buried underground as she needs the heart to summon a Lich. And that''s the only existence she could create. As for creating more Undead soldiers, that''s the ability of the Liches.


    Not long after, Undeads finally stopped crawling out of the ground. Nevertheless, there are now more than twenty Undead soldiers ready to fight the ck Panda team.


    Since her n was alreadypleted, the Ice Dread Queen stopped releasing the freezing wind pressure. Otherwise, her mana would soon dry outpletely. By then, she won''t be able to use any Magic spells.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "This is bad!" Victor muttered. He quickly ordered, "Quickly regroup together everyone!"


    Although they have just lost one of their team members, all the meleebatants still immediately retreated away from the Ice Dread Queen and started gathering together. Well, after all, it is not rare for there to be casualties in a dungeon raid. As a matter of fact, their situation right now is already a lot betterpared to their previous experience as they have only lost one member and it is during the boss raid as well. Albeit there are still a few casualties at the back line. Lucky still as there''s no way for them to be liabilities during the boss raid.


    Now that things have turned out this way, they can no longer use the same strategy again. Well, at least as of now as they have to take care of the Lich and the twenty or so Undead soldiers first before being able to do it once again.


    "You know what to do!" Victor eximed.


    Naturally, the ck Panda team already has a strategy prepared to use when a situation like this everes.


    Evidently, it is a verymon urrence for the army of the boss to still break out of the second team''s blockage. Although that didn''t happen in this case, it still doesn''t change the fact that the troops of the boss have been summoned to assist her.


    In the next moment, under the leadership of Frank, a third group was formed from the members of the first group. Moreover, some members from the second group also separated and prepared themselves tounch an attack from behind.


    The members of the third group were clearly made up of the men that gathered inside the tent earlier ago.


    Kayn was finally able to identify all of them, "Now I know who I should be wary against,"


    Surprisingly, Rys is actually part of the third group.


    It''s probably to keep a close watch on the third group. After all, Rys is part of the main members of the ck Panda team, which are all Victor''s men. So, if ever Frank does something that will hurt the interest of the ck Panda team, he''ll be reported immediately to Victor.


    As simple as that, the Lich and the Undead soldiers he had summoned are now surrounded by the ck Panda team.


    "Are these all of your boys?" Victor felt suspicious as he quickly notices that there are only half of the members of the original third group.


    "I don''t know where they went," Frank said in excuse. If he knew that this would happen, then he would have never dared to send his men to go to the boss'' room. Because of that, the third group would no doubt find themselves in a very difficult position. He is already expecting that he would probably lose a considerable amount of men once this end.


    It wasn''t only Frank who was thinking like that. His men simrly thought as well. In fact, they now believe that the real actual winners back then inside the tent were the people who lost the rock-paper-scissor game because at least in their case, there is a well fifty-fifty chance that they got to live or die. As for their situation right now, there''s an eighty percent chance that they would die, or probably even ny.


    The reason why they thought of that isn''t that they can''t handle a Lich and a few Undead soldiers. What''s to even worry about that? In fact, that''s a lot betterpared to fighting against the Ice Dread Queen. Rather, it''s actually because of the fact that there are only half of them right now. Meaning, they have to do twice the amount of effort in order to execute well any of the strategies they have prepared to fight against a considerable number of opponents.


    "Regardless, try to do your best to distract them!" Victor no longer minded that as he turned his focus to the Ice Dread Queen once again. As long as the third group can keep the Lich and the Undead soldiers preupied, then they would be able to continue putting pressure on the Ice Dread Queen to make her remain in a defensive position. Maybe by then, he can send some of his men to assist the third group.


    Honestly, if this wasn''t a very dire situation that they are in right now, he would have made a big deal about what happened to the third team. However, because he has to focus on something more important, he has no choice but to put that aside and put his priorities straight. Nheless, Frank would get a piece of his mind after this is over.


    "This is going to be a lot of trouble for the remaining of us," Frank said to his men. He could already guess that Victor is going to report his actions to his father.


    "Turns out his move was a double-edged sword," Kayn can''t help but mutter.


    "Frank had clearly sent half of his men to the boss'' room," Alice said.


    "This isn''t the first time that this happened," Diana shook his head.


    "Seriously?" Kayn really wonders why they still kept Frank in the ck Panda team if he has done something like this on many asions. His only guess is thetter''s father isn''t just any ordinary Executive of the White Panda team since the ck Panda team can''t seem to get rid of him despite multiple offenses.


    "It seems like I have to think it through first before offending Frank," Kayn thought to himself.

 Chapter 63 Raiding An E+ Rank Dungeon Part 10

    ?Chapter 63: Raiding an E+ Rank Dungeon Part 10


    As soon as the third group surrounded the Lich and the Undead Soldiers, they immediately started their assault to pull them away from the Ice Dread Queen.


    Meanwhile, the first group simultaneously assaulted the Ice Dread Queen so that she would remain in her spot and not try to approach her soldiers.


    Victor was kiting the Ice Dread Queen quite well, making sure that with every move she makes she''d be following the direction that he wanted.


    It was as if Victor and the Ice Dread Queen is dancing together.


    Honestly, that''s actually a quite difficult skill to pull off as that requires one to have great awareness of not only themselves and their target, but of their surroundings as well. All three things have to be taken into consideration at the same time.


    It shows greatly just how talented Victor is and why he is perfectly fitted to have the role of Captain in the ck Panda team.


    Even Kayn was tempted to recruit Victor after seeing how he is kitting the boss. Unfortunately, he can''t just casually invite people to join his future Guild anymore in fear that the same fate would befall him.


    Boom!


    The Ice Dread Queen smacked Victor''s shield to the side, causing him to retreat a few meters to his rear, and as a result, making his chest wide open.


    Seeing this, the Ice Dread Queen took the chance tounch another attack.


    As a response to this, Victor simply used the backward momentum to retreat farther to the back.


    For that reason, the Ice Dread Queen followed suit. But the moment she tried to attack him once again, Victor''s shield was already in front, ready to block her next attack. With no other choice, she could only try her luck one more time.


    Unbeknownst to the Ice Dread Queen, what happened just now was actually just one of Victor''s ways to kite her to his desired location.


    Now, as the Ice Dread Queen continues to follow suit toward Victor due to him purposely giving her openings to attack, she slowly and slowly got farther away from the Lich and the Undead Soldiers.


    Unfortunately, Frank and his third group were having serious trouble with how to hasten their paste. They are able to kite the Lich and the Undead Soldiers away from the Ice Dread Queen, but it was clearly not in the same phase as Victor. So, even though Victor has already kited the boss quite a considerable distance away from the third group, it is still not far enough.


    Supposedly, the distance between the Ice Dread Queen and her Lich and the Undead Soldiers would widen with the cooperation of the first group and the third group. The first group would kite the Ice Dread Queen, while the third group would kite the Lich and the Undead Soldiers. In that way, with both parties being kited at the same time, the distance between the two would widen quickly.


    However, because of Frank''s greed, the third groupcks enough manpower to effectively kite the Lich and the Undead Soldiers away from the Ice Dread Queen. If they turn their focus on the Lich, some of the Undead Soldiers would be able to assist the Ice Dread Queen. And if they do the opposite, the Lich would instead be able to help the Ice Dread Queen, which is an even bigger problem.


    It wasn''t only Frank and his third group that notices their situation, but also Victor and his first group, and Alex and the second group.


    "How troublesome," Alex heaved a heavy sigh. Since the second group is almost about to finish their side, with there being only two Liches left and a few dozen Undead Soldiers, it should be safe to send a few of his men to support the third group.


    A few men from the second group quickly separated and joined the third group so that they can at the very least catch up to Victor''s phase to some degree. Although they are feeling a lot of irritation at the hassle that Frank and the third group had brought to them, they have no other choice since if they fail all of Victor''s effort would go down to drain. Plus, if another teammate dies, the Ice Dread Queen would be able to summon another Lich, which equals more trouble. That''s obviously an even greater problempared to the hassle they are experiencing right now.


    Frank can''t help heaving a sigh of relief after getting some assistance from the second group. But his relief wasn''t on the fact that their trouble has lessen, but that he no longer has to feel guilty about what he did and that his decision of sending half of his men to go to the boss'' room before ultimately made him hit two birds with one stone ¡ª he helped clear the dungeon and get the item he wanted as well. With him helping clear the dungeon, his father would not punish him so badly since he had done one good thing despite doing something bad.


    Victor and the rest of the ck Panda team were oblivious to what was going on inside Frank''s mind right now. If they knew though, they''d no doubt sacrifice the entire third team to clear this dungeon. And honestly, that would be lesser trouble for them as the only reason why they are experiencing all of this difficulty right now is so that they can reduce their casualties to the barest minimum possible.


    With the assistance of the second group, the Lich and the Undead Soldiers were finally being kited quickly away from the Ice Dread Queen.<novelnext></novelnext>


    As soon as the Ice Dread Queen realizes what is happening, she could only helplessly watch as the Lich she had just summoned and his Undead soldiers are now far away from her as well.


    Moreover, she can no longer pull the same thing anymore as she had used a lot of mana back then. Her only choices remaining now are to wish for Victor to make a mistake or wait until herst passive ability gets activated when she is in low health.


    The onught on the Ice Dread Queen continued wildly.


    Not long after, the Lich and the Undead Soldier that the Ice Dread Queen had just summoned were finally in by Frank. Because of that, he joined forces with the first group once again.


    A few minutes after that, the second group also rejoins the first group as they already finished cleaning up their side.


    Seeing all of this happen, Echo no longer bothered with his n and he started retreating. Nevertheless, he still kept his guard as he knew that when the Ice Dread Queen''s health finally drops too low, that is his time to make a move. After all, he is the ace of the ck Panda team, whose sole purpose other than scouting is tond a critical hit that can give the team an advantage or turn around the bad situation in their team''s favor.


    It wasn''t long before that finally came.


    As soon as Alice''s Magic spellnded on the Ice Dread Queen, thetter''s final phase finally exploded.


    One thing to note about the final phase of a boss is that each of them would more or less be different. That''s because inhabitants of the ''Tower'' follows the same concept as the monsters when ites to receiving their Gifts ¡ª it would depend on their past experiences.


    Booom!


    A loud explosion erupted as the surrounding freezing area strangely started heating up.


    Victor and the rest of the ck Panda team were instantly sent retreating tens of meters away from the Ice Dread Queen. They already expected this to happen. And unlike before, they choose to remain on guard as they don''t know what will happen next. It is favorable for them to wait until everything clears up. Otherwise, they might face unexpected dangers which in turn could cause casualties. And as they have all witnessed before, having casualties is going to add more enemies for them.


    The heat they felt wasn''t that rming at first, but as the smoke around the Ice Dread Queen started bing denser and denser, finally covering her entire figure, everyone finally started sweating despite the freezing weather around them.


    Eventually, the heat came to a point where Alice had to remove the barrier surrounding Kayn, instantly bringingfort to his body.


    All of a sudden, the snowy ground started cracking.


    In the next moment, bits and bits ofva were starting to spew out from the ground.


    "Seriously?! Lava in a freezing environment?" Alex can''t help eximing in surprise.


    "Well, that isn''t something surprising," Rys muttered.


    Situations, where a boss or a monster received a Gift that is of their opposing element, have already happened multiple times in the past. In most of those cases, it''s normally because the opposing element is their only weakness or that it is the only element that can pose a threat against them in the environment they lived in, thus the reason why they built up resistance against it which eventually became their Gift.


    "Most of the time we encountered something like this, it always turns out bad," Daina started to feel worried.


    Because a boss has received a Gift that is of their opposing element, this means to say that they no longer have a weakness. Although not all the time that''s how it goes. But in their case right now with the Ice Dread Queen, the weakness of the ice element is either fire element orva element.


    Based on what they have observed right now, the Gift of the Ice Dread Queen is something that is rted to controllingva elements. As to what extent she can control it, that''s something they can only find out during the fight.

 Chapter 64 Raiding An E+ Rank Dungeon Part 11

    ?Chapter 64: Raiding an E+ Rank Dungeon Part 11


    An Ice Dread Queen withva element as her Gift.


    From that alone, everyone could already smell that trouble ising their way.


    "Everyone, retreat!" Victor didn''t hesitate to order a retreat to all meleebatants.


    Even without the need for Victor to tell them what to do, all meleebatants were already slowly retreating away as the cracks on the ground continued to expand. So, as soon as they heard hismand, they instantly quicken the phase of their retreat.


    As if the Ice Dread Queen was ying a trick against the ck Panda team, the cracks on the ground actually started chasing after them. And the longer the crack goes, the wider the hole in its wake became.


    Because of that, it could be expected already that it''s going to be very difficult from now on to reach the Ice Dread Queen.


    Fortunately, the Mages could stillunch their attacks despite the current situation. As a matter of fact, they still continuously sent one Magic spell after the other toward the Ice Dread Queen. Albeit this time they are using elements that counter the fire element. For instance, water element and ice element. That''s because they are hoping to lessen the heat around them.


    Eventually, the cracking of the ground finally came to a stop after extending for dozens of meters away from the center.


    "Let''s hold here!" Victor signaled everyone to stop retreating. It was the cracking of the ground that they were trying to get away as far as possible just now. But since it already came to a stop, going any farther behind them might make them miss an opportunity to counterattack.


    Over the distance, everyone could see quite obviously the changes that happened to the Ice Dread Queen.


    At the moment, the light blue color around the Ice Dread Queen''s body has now been mixed with some tinge of redness. And it wasn''t just any ordinary red, it was like ava kind of red and it also moves like it is moltenva that is continuously flowing all over her body.


    Moreover, around her, the surroundings would distort asionally, evidently showing that it''s very hot nearby her.


    As of now, the word ''Ice'' in the name Ice Dread Queen could also be called ''Molten Ice'', which basically trantes to ice that is liquefied by heat to the point that it turns into moltenva.


    Everyone from the ck Panda team can''t dare to imagine just how hot the heat would be like if it wasn''t for the fact that they are in a freezing cold environment right now.


    They are already sweating hard despite how cold it is around them. In addition to that, the snow has already started to melt.


    "I can''t help but wish that it was still freezing right now," Alex muttered. At least with the cold, their body won''t get tired that easily. In the case of the heat, their body would start sweating, thus they would get dehydrated.


    Everyone felt the same as they started looking for thefort provided by the freezing feeling back then.


    "Forget about that and focus on the boss!" Victor interrupted everyone''s thoughts as he noticed the Ice Dread Queen starting to make a move.


    The Ice Dread Queen started waving her hand as if she was dancing. Albeit she clearly wasn''t as mana was beginning to gather in her hands. At the same time, the magma down under the cracks was beginning to rise and spew out of the ground to turn into moltenva.


    All of a sudden, the Ice Dread Queen stopped moving her hand. With a turn of her head, she stared at Victor directly. Slowly, her lips turn into a smile.


    In the next moment, powerful mana with the fire element erupted from the Ice Dread Queen''s hands straight toward the direction of the ck Panda team.


    Along with the mana was the moltenva from the ground turning into something akin to a wave as it threaten to crash into the ck Panda team''s location.


    It was a Molten Lava Wave.


    Seeing this, Alice immediately started conjuring a barrier in front of everyone along with the other Mages in order to block the iing danger.


    Since there is a considerable distance in between the ck Panda team and the Ice Dread Queen due to the former retreating a while ago, Alice and the other Mages had enough time to finish with the barrier.


    The moment the barrier was erected, the Molten Lava Wave came crashing down toward it.


    Cracks started to form around the barrier. But it was quickly being restored as Alice, Diana, and the rest of the Mages continuously infused mana to it to prevent it from getting destroyed.


    That Molten Lava Wavested for a considerable amount of time beforeing to a stop. However, that wasn''t the end.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The moment the Molten Lava Wave settled down, everyone immediately spotted over the distance the Ice Dread Queen preparing to cast another Magic spell.


    "This is bad!" Victor was rmed. But then he quickly noticed Echo sneaking behind the Ice Dread Queen. Without wasting any time, he signaled for Alice and the Mages to try their best to cooperate with Echo. But to his surprise, they seemed to already know about that. Then he abruptly remembered that Kayn is with them, so it must be him that had informed them about Echo''s whereabouts.


    That''s right! Kayn already noticed Echo''s action way back when the Ice Dread Queen was still casting the Molten Lava Wave. He quickly informed Alice and Daina about it so that they can cooperate with Echo and would not identally interrupt whatever he is nning on doing.


    Echo sneakily made his way behind the Ice Dread Queen. Because of his skill in being an assassin plus his years of training, she didn''t notice his arrival.


    Without wasting any time, Echo threw one of his daggers straight to the hand with the blue ring on the ring finger as he realized that it is what the Ice Dread Queen used as a medium whenever she try to cast a Magic spell.


    As soon as the dagger left Echo''s hand, Kayn immediately notices a small chain attached to its end.


    He instantly understood that Echo''s weapon is called a Long Distance Dagger or also moremonly known as Kyoketsu-shoge.


    Kyoketsu-shogen is a weapon that a lot of assassins prefer to use due to the fact that it allows them to throw a dagger and retrieve it afterward in a quick motion and without the need for Magic, and at the same time use the chain to defend or entrap their target. Aside from that, it can also be used for maneuvering, especially in environments that require climbing.


    However, only a few really talented individuals are able to truly master how to use a Kyoketsu-shoge and thus be able to use it properly. That''s because it''s veryplicated to use it as it is a weapon that is abination of dagger, whip, and rope.


    Fortunately, Echo seems to be one of the individuals that have mastered how to use a Kyoketsu-shoge.


    Upon leaving Echo''s hand, the dagger hit the target quite precisely and urately, causing the ring to get damaged and the Ice Dread Queen''s casting to get interrupted.


    Instantly, the Ice Dread Queen found out about Echo''s presence behind her. But as soon as she turns around to find him, she was immediately greeted by another dagger that aims to hit her eyes.


    The Ice Dread Queen swiftly uses her left hand to block the iing dagger. Sadly, the dagger still hurt her as it impaled itself into her left hand.


    Unbeknownst to the Ice Dread Queen, that was exactly what Echo aimed to achieve.


    The moment that both daggers were attached to the Ice Dread Queen, Echo immediately uses them to propel himself toward her.


    Bang!


    The Ice Dread Queen soon received a kick to her face, causing her to retreat a few steps.


    That must have hurt a lot as her nose started bleeding green-colored blood.


    After kicking the face of the Ice Dread Queen, Echo quickly pulled with his left arm to retrieve the dagger that had impaled the Ice Dread Queen''s left hand. In one smooth motion, he twisted his body around while in mid-air, which in turn made the dagger swing in a circle and soon it hit the face of the Ice Dread Queen.


    The Ice Dread Queen instantly screamed in pain as she notices a dagger that impaled her face.


    However, that wasn''t the end yet.


    After a brief moment, Echo pulled with his right arm and simultaneously made another twist of his body in mid-air. The momentum of his twist causes the dagger to make a circle and soon itnded straight into the shoulder of the Ice Dread Queen.


    Just like thest time, Echo immediately propels himself forward and kicked the face of the Ice Dread Queen. The kick sent him mid-air again, thus giving him another opportunity tounch another assault using his daggers.


    Echo repeated the way he attacks the Ice Dread Queen over and over again while targeting different parts of her body. But the majority of those attacks were actually nothing more than a distraction to mask his real target, to attack her head.


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Looking from afar, one can''t help mistaking Echo''s performance as a dance. That''s because he is literally dancing in mid-air. He propels himself forward, pulls his arms, twists his body, kicks with his feet, and repeats it once again, albeit in a different location from before. Those kinds of moves are something that can be seen in someone who is dancing.

 Chapter 65 Raiding An E+ Rank Dungeon Part 12

    ?Chapter 65: Raiding an E+ Rank Dungeon Part 12


    The Ice Dread Queen could only helplessly try her best to catch Echo who is maneuvering all over her in a quick and fluid motion.


    There were times when the Ice Dread Queen was so close to catching Echo, but only to find out that he is far from her reach.


    That''s obviously because every time Echo would kick the Ice Dread Queen, it would also send him flying out of her reach. Plus, his attacks were done in quick session, so before he falls within the range of her reach, he would already send himself flying once more.


    Everyone can''t still help themselves bing mesmerized by Echo''s style of fighting despite the fact that this is something that they have already seen on multiple asions.


    Contrary to them though, Kayn finally realized why he felt a sense of familiarity with Echo. This person was the Hero who earned the nickname Phantom Dancer in the future.


    Phantom Dancer was one of the greatest assassins on Earth and in the ''Tower'' in the future who masters using weapons with chains attached to them ¡ª scythe, daggers, sickle. Those were just one of the many weapons he would use. His signature move was the art of dancing that''sbined with both martial arts and assassination. Every time he makes an appearance in a battle, the battlefield would be his dancefloor, thus the reason for the ''Dancer'' in his nickname.


    "Phantom Dancer¡­" Kayn unconsciously mutters the name as he felt great admiration for the fight that he is currently watching.


    "That perfectly suits him!" Alice felt that Phantom Dancer is a perfect nickname for Echo.


    "What?" Kayn was instantly pulled from his thoughts.


    "I said, Phantom Dancer perfectly suits Echo,"


    "Oh, yeah, it does," Only now did Kayn realize that he said his thoughts out loud.


    "From now on, we will call Echo Phantom Dancer!" Alice imed while looking at Diana who also seems to agree with her.


    "Sounds good to me," Diana said in a remark.


    Kayn truly didn''t expect that in this life, he would be the one to bestow Echo his famous nickname from the future. But on second thought, that''s actually quite nice as he can use that to build a strong rtionship with someone with the potential to be one of the greatest assassins. He hopes so¡­


    Just like the fact that all good things muste to an end, the Ice Dread Queen was finally able to think of a strategy to capture Echo after he repeated his attack dozens of times already.


    Instead of grabbing Echo, the Ice Dread Queen decided to grab the chain that he uses to maneuver mid-air. It was a very smart move as this hindered Echo''s next move. And since he only has two weapons with him, he could only use one now that she has grabbed hold of the other.


    "Alice!" Victor eximed to Alice. "Do something, now!"


    "I know!" Even without Victor to remind her, Alice already knew what to do.


    It wasn''t only her, but all the Mages as well.


    Although they were mesmerized by Echo just now, they still kept themselves aware of their current situation. As such, the moment one of Echo''s weapons was caught by the Ice Dread Queen, they already prepared a Magic spell to assist him


    Whoosh!


    Whoosh!


    Whoosh!


    Multiple Magic spells came raining down toward the Ice Dread Queen.


    Unfortunately, it didn''t affect the Ice Dread Queen a bit. She simply used one of her hands to block the Magic spells from hitting her vital spots while allowing the rest to hit anywhere else.


    Nevertheless, that was good enough for Echo to get himself away from the close danger.


    Seeing Echo getting out of her reach, the Ice Dread Queen became enraged. In the moment of fit, she threw the dagger in her hand to the burning magma inside the cracks.


    "I guess I''ll have to get myself more weapons in case something like thises again," Echo muttered to himself while staring at the only dagger he has left.


    Regardless, Echo still didn''t give up. He is already close to defeating the Ice Dread Queen, so giving up now would be a stupid thing to do. The only question is, how?


    As an assassin, his biggest advantage is executing a surprise attack. But how can he do that now considering that the Ice Dread Queen can see where he is?


    Moreover, his way of fighting was interrupted just now, and repeating it once more is going to be difficult with only a single dagger.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Echo!" Victor called out as he approaches the Ice Dread Queen along with Alex, Rys, Joshua, and James. "Retreat for a while, we''ll try to create another opportunity for you,"


    "Understood," Echo nodded his head before running away from the Ice Dread Queen. Since he can''t find a way in the meantime, he''ll just wait and watch for another opportunityter. At the very least, he has already turned the table slightly in the favor of the ck Panda team.


    It didn''t take long for Victor and the others to arrive in front of the Ice Dread Queen. She was already aware of theiring, so she immediately faces them for a fight.


    As always, Victor and Alex tanked the Ice Dread Queen to distract her while Rys, Joshua, and Jamesunch their attacks.


    On the other hand, Diana cooperated with Victor and the others in providing support while Alice cooperated with the rest of the Mages in providing firepower. Albeit, this time, they have to be extra careful as there''s a huge risk involved which is they might cause an unfortunate ident to befall the team due to the current environment around the Ice Dread Queen. In that case, they''ll no doubt cause one of the main members to die.


    Sounds of metal hitting against a hard object continuously sounded throughout the surroundings as Victor and the others exchanged attacks with the Ice Dread Queen.


    Although the Ice Dread Queen is close to dying, she''s not showing any signs of bing weak. In fact, she''s bing stronger and stronger every time theynd a hit on her.


    "Fortunately, she doesn''t have any Liches or Undead Soldiers with her right now," Victor said. If that was the case, they''d be in huge trouble right now.


    Previously, the Ice Dread Queen could barely attack of any sort as she mainly relies upon her soldiers to do those things. But if back then she was in the state she''s currently at this moment, her soldiers would simply be adding more trouble, which is unlike back then when they were merely distractions so that she can continue summoning more soldiers.


    To simply put, the current Ice Dread Queen is a warrior and no longer a Mage or Summoner like thest time.


    As if Victor''s words were a jinx, everyone suddenly felt a powerful tremor underground. Because of this, Victor and the others retreated for a bit from the Ice Dread Queen.


    In the next second, Undead Soldiers started climbing out of the cracks.


    Looking down below the cracks, everyone could clearly see that the Undead Soldiers areing out from the magma. Considering that this is the Undead''s territory, it isn''t strange for something like this to happen. What''s strange however is how they are surviving the magma.


    Albeit it didn''t take them long to understand.


    The moment a single Undead Soldier climbed out of the crack, they immediately spotted it having red-colored bones. This simply means that they are fire element Undead Soldiers.


    Considering that the Ice Dread Queen is using her Gift, it''s understandable why the Undead Soldiers possess fire element right now instead of ice element.


    "You¡­" Alex, Rys, Joshua, and James pointed their fingers at Victor. Although thetter is their captain, they still put the me on him for what is happening right now.


    "I have nothing to do with this!" Victor is fully aware that his words just now didn''t identally summon Undead soldiers from the magma. If that was true, he''d rather be endlessly praying for everything right now to be over.


    "Focus everyone!" Echo interrupted everyone. "This is a sign that the Ice Dread Queen is close to dying,"


    Echo believes that the Ice Dread Queen is using everything she got, even doing something she is not supposed to be capable of executing, in hopes of defeating the ck Panda team. Only a boss that is close to dying would show this type of desperation.


    Hearing Echo''s reminder, Victor nodded his head in understanding and quickly ordered the meleebatants, "Everyone, try to keep the Undead Soldiers away from us while we continue attacking her!"


    Without any hesitation, the meleebatants brace themselves as they charge toward the Undead Soldiers. Of course, they made sure to be careful not to fall onto the magma underneath them.


    Because of the sudden and unexpected arrival of the Undead Soldiers, a full-on sh took ce.


    The ck Panda team versus the Ice Dread Queen and herst desperate measures.


    Realizing that it is close to an end, Kayn no longer sat and watch the battle. He stood up from his seat, grabbed his weapon, and before Alice and Diana could notice what he is doing, he charged straight towards the battlefield.


    "Kayn!"


    "Kayn!"


    Alice and Diana called out at the same time.


    "Don''t worry, I''ll just stay around the edges!" He isn''t stupid to try and go to the main battle. All that he wants is to achieve hisst remaining goal ¡ª to test and see the limit of his physique.


    Holding a sword in his hand, Kayn entered the battlefield and joined with the ck Panda team in the fight against the Undead Soldiers.


    Since the Undead Soldiers continuously climbed out of the magma, it isn''t difficult for Kayn to find a target to fight one on one without anyone interrupting or assisting him.

 Chapter 66 Raiding An E+ Rank Dungeon Part 13

    ?Chapter 66: Raiding an E+ Rank Dungeon Part 13


    As soon as Kayn found a target, he didn''t hesitate to charge straight toward the Undead Soldiers in front of him.


    Just like what he said to Mayor Sebastian back then, a swordsman will always charge straight regardless of what.


    Kayn brandished his sword.


    Whoosh!


    Bang!


    The arm of the Undead Soldier was cut easily. It turned to look at Kayn in surprise, but in the next second, it uses its other arm to w at him.


    Bang!


    Kayn blocked the iing arm with his sword before kicking the Undead soldier back inside the crack.


    In the next moment, he docked down.


    Whoosh!


    An arm of another Undead Soldier went wing at his previous location. If he didn''t duck just now, he would have received a direct hit.


    Without wasting any time, Kayn swings his body around along with his sword.


    Boom!


    One of the feet of the Undead Soldier thatunch a failed surprise attack at him was cut.


    As the Undead Soldier went falling down to the snowy ground because of losing its bnce, Kayn, on the other hand, suddenly pulled both of his feet close to his chest before kicking them toward its head.


    Bang!


    With the force of Kayn''s kick, the Undead Soldier''s head sted away from his body.


    However, just like what Kayn expected, it still wasn''t enough to kill the Undead Soldier. After all, they are Undead. They can even survive without having a heart, let alone a head.


    So, Kayn quickly stood up and brandished his sword toward the chest of the Undead Soldiers.


    As soon as the sword prated to a certain degree inside the chest of the Undead Soldier, its entire body instantly started falling apart.


    "It seems like their weakness is still located in the same spot," Kayn muttered. To be precise, the weakness of the Undead Soldier is right in the center of both of their chest. That''s where the mana that gave them another chance to walk onnd is gathered and also their remaining spirit. So, as long as that''s damaged to a certain degree, the Undead Soldier would return to being dead, literally by then.


    What he was doing all this time was to find the weakness of the Undead Soldiers. Any living beings, including Humans, always have a weakness.


    Although he already knew beforehand where the weakness of the Undead Soldier is. But due to the fact that it is an Undead Soldier created through fire element, he assumed the possibility that the location of the weakness has changed.


    The majority of the time that a new variant would equal to new weakness. That''s why he specifically targeted the arm, the leg, and the head before going for the chest. Simply put, he looked for the weakness by eliminating all possible locations one by one.


    Through his peripheral vision, Kayn spotted two Undead Soldiers charging at him.


    "I guess I can''t take a break for long,"


    Instantly, Kayn swings his body around. This time, he no longer held his strength back.


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Both the Undead Soldiers were easily cut in a half with a single wave of Kayn''s sword, thus returning back to being dead.


    Immediately, Kayn charged toward a group of Undead Soldiers that turned in his direction.


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Every single wave of Kayn''s sword one or two Undead would instantaneously perish from the battlefield.


    He didn''t just stop after eliminating a group of Undead Soldiers. After killing them all, he didn''t hesitate to charge toward more and more Undead Soldiers.


    The speed that Kayn was killing every Undead Soldier thates in his way was way too fast, causing all attention to befall him.


    "Who''s that?"


    "That''s Kayn, the guy that Young Master Rys brought along with him,"


    "You mean the Head Porter?"


    "Isn''t he supposed to be leading the Porters?"


    "You idiot! He was here all this time while under the protection of Alice and Diana!"


    It also didn''t escape the attention of Frank and his group.


    "Wasn''t that student you underestimated back then?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Kayn¡­" Frank muttered as he quickly remembered the name of the student that Rys introduced to him before entering the dungeon.


    "Holy molly! He instantly eliminated three Undead Soldiers with a single swing of his sword!"


    "Does that mean he is a lot stronger than us?"


    Unlike Kayn, it would normally take them three or more swings of their weapons in order to eliminate an Undead Soldier. Needless to say, they know about their weakness. It''s just that, reaching it isn''t as easy as how Kayn executes it.


    The only person they knew who can rival Kayn is Echo, who is a Hero.


    "That guy''s potential is already equal to those of Heroes," As much as he hates it, Frank has to admit the truth of Kayn''s capability.


    "Just how on Earth does the Starlight Hero Academy trains their students?!" Frank felt a bit disbelief. Rys was also strong when he was first introduced to the ck Panda team, hence the reason why he was quickly epted to be part of the main team.


    "If I knew that studying in a Hero Academy would give me that kind of result, I wouldn''t have dropped out of school,"


    "Indeed!"


    "Is it toote to enroll again for us?"


    "Idiot! They only ept Superhumans!"


    "Oh yeah, I almost forgot!"


    "Anyways, do we do something about Kayn?"


    "Let''s wait," Frank knew that Kayn''s background isn''t as simple as it seems on the surface. The only thing he knew about thetter is that he is an orphan that became one of the brightest Stars of the Starlight Hero Academy.


    Evidently, Frank wasn''t shown theplete information about Kayn.


    But merely having those achievements alone isn''t going to be enough to warrant Kayn to receive the position of Head Porter which Victor and the main members of the ck Panda team only give to people that they deemed worthy of building connections.


    Moreover, so far Kayn hasn''t shown any threat against their group''s interest yet, so it would be quite frankly unjustified for them to try and harm him just because he showed his capability.


    Frank might be a troublemaker, but he isn''t a stupid and unreasonable person.


    In contrast to Frank and his group, Victor and the main members of the ck Panda team finally gain another reason as to why Kayn is the son-inw of Mayor Sebastian.


    "If it wasn''t for the unfavorable condition of the environment, I truly believe that Kayn would have long already joined the fight against the Ice Dread Queen," Alice shook her head out of worry.


    "It''s honestly unfortunate that he is already part of Mayor Sebastian''s force," Diana heave a regretful sigh.


    "Well, at the very least he epted the card from Marlon. That means to say that he has ns to cooperate with our ck Panda team in the future, hopefully¡­" Alice felt slightlyforted by that thought.


    "Yeah, hopefully¡­" Diana also hopes so.


    Kayn waspletely oblivious to the conversation everyone had while he is busy fighting against the Undead Soldiers. Regardless, it still wouldn''t interest him a bit as he is used to always receivingpliments when he was the number one Hero on Earth back then. As a matter of fact, he''s already tired of always hearing people singing praises of him as oftentimes it''s always proven that they are nothing more than useless pleasantries.


    Although Kayn was eliminating Undead Soldiers from left and right, he made sure to always remain on the edge of the battlefield while only asionally going slightly deep. Well, unlike the Undead Soldiers from the edge who are weak and fragile, over the center there are stronger and bigger versions of them.


    He is quite curious if he can handle one of them, but his curiosity is always overpowered by his sense of safety and cautiousness. Albeit he isn''t the type of guy that stays away from trouble, he is also not someone that would endanger his own life. Unless of course if there are a lot of profits and benefits to get if he tackles such danger.


    Nevertheless, if one of them unexpectedly strays away from the center, he doesn''t mind fighting against them. Naturally, that''s because Alice and Diana would no doubt make sure that he is safe, and they can also provide timely aid as he is very close to their location.


    "I do hope that happens," Kayn licked his lips while thinking about that possibility.


    All of a sudden, Rys suddenly arrived beside Kayn.


    "Sup!" Rys greeted.


    "What are you doing here?" Kayn felt slightly surprised.


    "Captain Victor told me to make sure that you are safe," Rys scratch his head apologetically. He knows that Kayn doesn''t like it when people underestimate him. All the time people did that to thetter, they''ll always get punished in a very humiliating way possible in the Starlight Hero Academy.


    Contrary to Rys'' expectations though, Kayn actually smiled excitedly.


    "Your smile¡­ I sense something bad is about to happen to me," Rys muttered as he felt a shiver in his spine.


    "Your arrival is perfect!" Kayn eximed. "You see those," He pointed towards a group of six feet tall Undead Soldiers.


    "Don''t tell me¡­" Rys could already guess what was inside Kayn''s mind right now.


    "Help me fight against them!" Kayn said excitedly.


    "That¡­" Rys hesitated.


    "Don''t worry, we won''t be fighting them over there since that would be really dangerous," Kayn assures Rys. "I''ll lure them to a location somewhere around us where no other Undead Soldiers can disturb us or possibly cause any unexpected dangers. Anyways, Alice and Diana are likely going to support us as well,"


    "I know¡­" Rys expects that to be the case. But he is curious. "If it''s okay to ask, Why do you want to do this?"


    "Not long from now, you, me, and the rest of our ssmates will start clearing dungeons and eventually start entering the ''Tower''. I''ve seen what I can do in the Starlight Hero Academy, but I still don''t feel that it''s going to be enough by the time I start clearing dungeons, and when I finally enter the ''Tower''. So, before that, I would like to understand the extent of my capability and see where I have to improve,"


    Technically, he wasn''t lying. But he also won''t deny that he sugarcoated his words so that it would be easier to persuade Rys.


    "I never thought that you have those kinds of thoughts in you," Rys admired Kayn. "Okay, I''ll help you with your n!"


    "Great!" Kayn was ecstatic. "So, here''s what we are going to do¡­"

 Chapter 67 Raiding An E+ Rank Dungeon Part 14

    ?Chapter 67: Raiding an E+ Rank Dungeon Part 14


    After telling Rys his n, Kayn immediately separated from the former as he started approaching the six feet tall Undead Soldiers over the distance.


    There aren''t any members of the ck Panda team nearby as the group made up of four Undead Soldiers had just climbed out from the cracks.


    Of course, that isn''t the main reason why no one is taking care of those Undead Soldiers yet. Since there are four of them, naturally a group should also fight against them. Otherwise, it would be very dangerous. But since everyone is preupied at the moment, they could only leave them alone for now and try to gather some people to take care of themter on.


    However, since Kayn is nning on dealing with those Undead Soldiers right now, that time would probably not happen anymore.


    Since the four Undead Soldiers weren''t that far, Kayn soon reached them.


    Picking four stones beside his feet, Kayn didn''t hesitate to throw them to each one of the Undead Soldiers to attract their attention.


    Upon getting by a stone, the four Under Soldiers bawled at Kayn.


    With his right hand in front, Kayn taunted the four Undead Soldiers, "Come at me if you dare!"


    Instantly, the four Undead Soldiers charged straight toward Kayn.


    With a kick of his feet, Kaynunch himself back to where he came from. He had already sessfully taunted the four Undead Soldiers, so it is time to start kiting them to his desired location.


    asionally, Kayn would stop running away and inflict some attacks on one of the Undead Soldiers that is nearby him before quickly continuing to run away.


    He wasn''t doing that to weaken one of the four Undead Soldiers, rather he simply wants to keep their attention fully focused on him. If he doesn''t do that, then there''s a good chance that they might try to attack one member of the ck Panda team. It would be fine if that certain someone is able to defend himself, but if he is preupied and didn''t notice the approaching Undead Soldiers, then there''s a high chance that he''d seriously get injured, or worst, even die.


    By then, it would be his fault because he didn''t kite the four Undead Soldiers well.


    In addition to that, there''s no telling what the Ice Dread Queen would do once she notices that there''s a heart that she can use to summon a Lich.


    Considering that the Ice Dread Queen right now possesses thebined element of ice element and fire element, then surely the Lich she would summon is going to be a dual-element Lich.


    The variable that a Lich with two elements could bring to the current battlefield would no doubt be enough to change the tide of the battle possibly in the Ice Dread Queen''s favor.


    Imagine this, the Ice Dread Queen is already constantly summoning a neverending wave of Undead Soldiers to aid her in herst stand against the ck Panda team. If supposed a dual-element Lich is summoned, then the number of the Undead Soldiers that would be joining the fight is going to increase. Not to mention, the speed of summoning is going to multiply by two as well. At that time, more casualties are guaranteed from the ck Panda team, and more casualties equal more Liches, and more Liches equals to more Undead Soldiers.


    In other words, there''s a chance that the situation would spiral out of control.


    He definitely doesn''t want that to happen. That is why he is doing his best to execute a perfect kite for the four Undead Soldiers.


    Fortunately, the distance between the location of the four Undead Soldiers and his desired location wasn''t that far. So, after a bit of time kiting, he finally reached his destination.


    All of sudden, Rys, who was hiding under a small hill of snow,unch himself toward the rear of the four Undead Soldiers.


    Whoosh!


    Whoosh!


    Rys brandished his sword twice, hitting the back of two of the four Undead Soldiers, causing him to instantly get their attention.


    In the next second, Rys distanced himself away from the two Undead Soldiers. Since he already got their attention, the two quickly followed after him.


    Just like what they initially nned, Kayn will take care of two Undead Soldiers while Rys will take care of the other two.


    Needless to say, Rys is obviously at a disadvantage here as he has to deal with two Undead Soldiers alone whereas Kayn would surely get the assistance of Alice and Diana.


    But that is also part of the n.


    Alice and Diana quickly noticed the predicament that Kayn has put himself into along with Rys.


    "Those idiots!" Alice eximed, feeling irritated at what Kayn and Rys are doing.


    "Are they trying to cause trouble or something?" Diana can''t help but ask.


    "I don''t know what they are nning on doing, but Victor told me to make sure that Kayn is safe," Alice muttered as she quickly redirected her focus away from the main fight against the Ice Dread Queen.


    "I''ll try my best to asionally help you," Diana promised.


    It waspletely out of Alice and Diana''s expectations that Kayn would pull such a dangerous stunt. After all, until now he has been staying true to his words to stay at the edge of the battlefield.


    Naturally, Alice and Diana won''t expect that the reason why Kayn suddenly lured four Undead Soldiers from the center is so that he can test the extent that his body could handle.<novelnext></novelnext>


    But even if they knew, they''d certainly still be against it as they have something they are supposed to put all of their full focus onto. That is why Kayn put himself into this situation so that they will be forced to turn their focus to him. Albeit it was only Alice that decided to help, while Diana decided to continue supporting the main battle against the Ice Dread Queen.


    "What do we do? Only Alice decided to help us," Rys asked, feeling worried.


    Bang!


    Rys quickly raised his sword to block one of the Undead Soldiers'' ws.


    "I already expected that to happen," Kayn smiled calmly. He would be foolish if he thinks everything would go all ording to his n. So, he already prepared himself for this.


    In the next moment, Kayn evaded a w attack from one of the Undead Soldiers by jumping. He thennded on the head of that Undead Soldier, and quickly he jumped to the head of the other Undead Soldier. Using thetter as his springboard, heunches himself toward the second Undead Soldier that Rys has kited.


    Bang!


    One of the arms of the Undead Soldier was severed.


    "Switch!" Kayn muttered.


    Rys quickly understood Kayn''s n as this wasn''t his first time encountering this kind of strategy. So, without wasting any time, he charges toward the two Undead Soldiers that are chasing after Kayn in order to keep them preupied.


    After saying ''Switch'', Kayn immediately crouch down to avoid an iing w attack from the Undead Soldier whose arm he had just severed. And in one fluid motion, he kicked one of its feet, causing it to slip and start falling to the other side.


    Surprisingly, the second Undead Soldier used that opportunity tounch a w attack toward Kayn.


    "What perfect timing," Kayn muttered under his breath.


    He quickly raised his sword to block the Undead Soldier''s attack. But with how powerful the attack was, Kayn was sent flying for a few meters.


    Coincidentally, that few meters were enough for Kayn to get to the other two Undead Soldiers.


    "Switch!" Kayn once again said to Rys.


    Just like thest time, Rys didn''t hesitate to change targets.


    Using the momentum from being thrown away, Kayn kicked the ground to send himself flying up above the two Undead Soldiers that Rys was facing just now.


    With a twist of his body, he brandished his sword toward the head of the closest Undead Soldier.


    Whoosh!


    These Undead Soldiers might be huge and powerful, but since they are still Undead Soldiers, thus the durability that their bodies could handle still didn''t change.


    Because of that, Kayn was easily able to cut the head of that Undead Soldier.


    Simr to thest time though, the Undead Soldier whose head he had just severed didn''t fall apart and return to being dead. Albeit he has taken away its capability to see. But because it knew Kayn''s location already, it simply wed toward where it hadst seen him.


    That was exactly what Kayn was waiting for.


    Seeing the iing arm of the Undead Soldier, Kayn blocks using his sword, which instantly sent him flying back to the other two Undead Soldiers.


    "Switch!"


    "How on Earth are you so fast?!" Rys felt slightly annoyed at how fast the phase Kayn was switching with him. Upon turning his body though, he quickly understood the reason why. "You¡­"


    In that short moment, Kayn already cut the head of one of the Undead Soldiers.


    "I can''t believe you''re giving me the easy opponents," Of course, Rys isn''t against it. As a matter of fact, he wants Kayn to keep doing that. In that way, he won''t have any trouble. Regardless, he still felt slightly worried about Kayn as he knows that what thetter is doing right now is extremely strenuous to one''s body. If this continues, it wouldn''t be long for Kayn to start feeling fatigued.


    What Rys was thinking is actually correct.


    "Shit! My arm is already shaking after blocking their attacks twice," Kayn thought to himself after noticing the condition of his arm.


    Honestly, it wasn''t only his arm that was hurting right now, but both his feet and legs as well. After all, he had to be forceful every time he kicks, plus he also moves extremely fast every single time he maneuvered, thus causing a lot of stress to the muscles under his waist.


    "If this continues, I would onlyst for five more minutes, give or take, before my body can no longer move out of exhaustion," So, he has to make sure that this fight would end in under five minutes.


    It shouldn''t be that difficult, right?


    Hopefully¡­

 Chapter 68 Raiding An E+ Rank Dungeon Part 15

    ?Chapter 68: Raiding an E+ Rank Dungeon Part 15


    Kayn twisted his body and brandished his sword. As simple as that, he severed the head of another Undead Soldier.


    After doing so, he quickly grabbed the shoulder of that Undead Soldier and swing himself back to the ground.


    He cannot remain mid-air as that would make him vulnerable to the Undead Soldiers.


    Uponnding on the ground, he didn''t waste any time to make a roll as he noticed the other Undead Soldier wing toward his direction.


    "That was close," Kayn breathes a sigh of relief. He stares at the Undead Soldier and the other stares back at him.


    "Luckily, the other Undead Soldier can no longer see right now," Because of that, it lost its sense of direction and started attacking randomly. In other words, it''s no longer considered a threat to him.


    That was also the case with the other Undead Soldier that Rys is fighting right now. It''s even in a much worst situation as it started walking away from the fight.


    "Let''s stop switching and focus on the Undead Soldiers in front of us," Rys suggested. He can''t allow Kayn to continue jumping from one ce to another since he is worried that he might overexert his body.


    "I thought the same," Kayn also has a simr idea in mind. He had thought of doing so ever since he noticed his arms are shaking. Moreover, he would be able to quickly finish dealing against these Undead Soldiers if he focuses on one group only and won''t keep on switching to the other.


    With that being said, Kaynunches himself forward.


    Bang!


    The w of the Undead Soldiernded on the ground as he evaded just in time.


    Arriving beside the legs of the Undead Soldier, he brandished his sword directly at them.


    Whoosh!


    Bang!


    One of the legs of the Undead Soldier was instantly severed. Albeit, he noticed that it was considerably tougherpared to the previous Undead Soldiers he had been dealing against. As a result, his arms were shaking even more.


    "I should have thought better before thinking of doing this," Kayn felt slightly regretful. But there''s no use regretting now since he is already close to defeating these Undead Soldiers.


    Whoosh!


    Whoosh!


    All of a sudden, two fireballsnded on the two Undead Soldiers, causing the one-legged Undead Soldier to fall on its knees while the headless Undead Soldier dropped down on the snowy ground.


    "Finally!" Kayn can''t help but exim. He had been waiting all this time for Alice to attack. To tell the truth, he even thought that she had abandoned them already.


    "I was thinking of leaving you alone after seeing your marvelous performance, but I noticed that you are starting to feel fatigued now," Alice exined.


    "They went beyond my expectations," Kayn could only use that as an excuse. Albeit it was also the truth as he had thought earlier ago that as long as Rys, Alice, and Diana assisted him he would be fine.


    "You can take it easy now," Alice assured.


    With Alice''s assistance, Kayn no longer had to overexert his body to deal with the two Undead Soldiers.


    The moment the one-legged Undead Soldier was eliminated, it didn''t take long for the headless Undead Soldier to follow suit.


    Not long after, Rys was also able to take care of the two Undead Soldiers on his side.


    With all of that done, Kayn sat on the snowy ground and started recuperating. Rys also sat beside him as the two of them watches the ongoing battle over the distance.


    "It seems that they are about to finish over their side as well," Rys muttered.


    "The Ice Dread Queen was already very weak, so it''s more surprising that it took this long," Kayn said a remark.


    With Echonding thest critical hit, the Ice Dread Queen''s body started falling apart like the Undead Soldiers.


    Arghhh¡­


    The Ice Dread Queen bellowed for onest time as her soul slowly diminished to oblivion.


    As soon as the Ice Dread Queen was defeated, no more Undead Soldiers climbed the cracks. Because of that, the ck Panda team soon cleared all Undead Soldiers.


    "d that it is finally over," Victor said as he wipe the sweat on his forehead. Although the Ice Dread Queen is already gone, the cracks around them and the magma underneath still didn''t disappear.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Good worknding thest hit Echo," Alex smiled at Echo who is walking toward them.


    "Likewise," Echo replied.


    "That was really awesome what you did earlier mister Echo," Joshua expressed his great admiration at Echo''s dancing maneuver in mid-air a while ago.


    "Although we''ve seen it dozens of times already, you still don''t fail to amaze us," James quickly added.


    "It was nothing," Echo just casually waved Joshua and James''pliment. He had already heard theirpliments multiple times, so their words are like passing wind to him.


    "So, is everything taken care of?" Frank suddenly interrupted.


    "More or less," Victor replied, but he quickly added, "Why you''d ask though?" If Frank is thinking that he had forgotten what he did, then he is hugely mistaken.


    "Nothing," Frank turn around and started walking toward his group.


    It was quite evident that Frank has another goal for his question.


    "Echo," Victor called out. "I know that you are tired, but I want you to check the boss'' room and see if there are any people over there right now,"


    "I understand," Echo already expected that Victor would send him to check the boss'' room once they are done dealing with the Ice Dread Queen. After all, this wasn''t the only time that Frank did something like this.


    "Bring Joshua and James with you," Since the twins are carrying light armor, they should be able to keep up with Echo.


    Although he trusts Echo''s capability, it is still much safer for him if he doesn''t go alone. There''s no telling what Frank and his men would do in desperation. They might even just ignore the fact that they are part of the same guild and team out of greed or whatsoever the reason they went to the boss'' room.


    Frank quickly noticed Echo, Joshua, and James suddenly leaving toward the location of the boss'' room.


    Seeing that, he could already guess that they knew of his n, or at the very least, suspects what he had done. Unfortunately, he can''t do anything to stop them at this moment, because if does anything, he''d be leaving himself with no way out once his men are discovered by Echo''s group.


    He could only hope deep inside that his men has already gotten out of the boss'' room right now so that Echo and his group won''t be able to discover them once they arrive. Or if they are unlucky and got caught, they won''t snitch on him right away. At least by then, he can try to do something to save himself.


    On the other side, Kayn already noticed Echo, Joshua, and James setting off toward the direction of what he assumed to be the location of the boss'' room.


    "It seems like things aren''t over yet," Kayn said.


    "Serves him right!" Rys felt excited. "After what he has done a while ago," Nearly causing more casualties in their team, "¡ª he deserves to be punished once we return to the headquarters,"


    He already ns to report to his father what Frank has done so that he would finally be kicked out from the ck Panda team. He''d make sure will happen this time around as he doesn''t want something like this to keep on repeating.


    Alice and Diana approach Kayn and Rys.


    Before that though, they''d have to brace themselves from Alice and Diana, as they can already expect that they would be receiving a piece of their minds and an earful of words.


    "You two!" Alice called out angrily. "What were you two thinking that you actually lured four powerful Undead Soldiers?"


    "What you two did was very dangerous,"


    "We know¡­" Rys said in a low voice.


    "You, Kayn!" Alice pointed her finger at Kayn. "I thought you said that you''re only going to stay at the edge?"


    "I did¡­" Kayn also replied in a low voice. Although it hurts his pride to be treated this way, he also has to understand that Alice and Diana are simply worried about him. That''s not something that he has to make into a big deal just because he was the number one Hero on Earth.


    "But we did stay at the edge though," Rys tried to reason out.


    Kayn immediately elbowed Rys to signal thetter not to talk back.


    "Yeah, you did! But that still doesn''t change the fact that Kayn went in the middle for a moment. And also, weren''t you supposed to be making sure that he doesn''t get himself in danger? Yet, you allowed that to happen?" Alice scolded Rys.


    "I¡­" He finally understood why Kayn wanted him to shut up. It''s because there is no doubt that be med for everything if he dares to speak up. He turns to look at Kayn with eyes asking for help.


    Looking at Rys tearful look on his face, Kayn could only shake his head in response. He already warned Rys about this, albeit it was after thetter did something stupid. Regardless, it should bemon sense not to talk back to Alice and Diana right now.


    Honestly, if there''s anything that he doesn''t want to do right now, that is further adding annoyance to Alice and Diana. Once he does that, there''s no telling what will happen to him next.


    Rys could only lower his head down after receiving Kayn''s response. He muttered silently, "You traitor¡­"


    "Forgive me brother, but I can''t help you deal with this problem," Kayn thought to himself after hearing Rys calling him a ''Traitor''.

 Chapter 69 Harvesting The Reward Part 1

    ?Chapter 69: Harvesting the Reward part 1


    After thirty minutes, Echo, Joshua, and James returned along with a group of people.


    Looking at the group, some of them were injured. It''s very clear that they tried to fight Echo, Joshua, and James, thinking that they can defeat them.


    It was exactly like what Victor had expected, Frank''s other men went for a desperate move.


    "We caught them trying to steal this," Echo handed a gauntlet to Victor.


    As soon as he received the gauntlet, Victor immediately understood the reason why Frank and his men tried to steal it.


    "Molten Ice Gloves," Natas said as soon as he arrived beside Kayn. "It has passive skills which allow its user to have both fire resistance and cold resistance. In addition to that, it increases fire element and ice element attacks by two hundred percent. Meaning, any attack that uses those two elements brings an effect that is multiplied by three,"


    "It also possesses three active skills ¡ª Ice Punch, Molten Punch, and Molten Ice Punch, thus allowing one to execute abo attack,"


    "No wonder," Kayn finally understood why Frank wanted the Molten Ice Glove for himself. Just having the passive skill or the active skill alone is already more than enough to make a lot of people desire the item.


    Resistance to a specific element is a very important necessity to have, not only in clearing a dungeon but also inside the ''Tower''. That''s because there are countless of dangers everywhere, thus having an item that can, at the very least, lessen to some degree that danger coulde in very handy. Not to mention, the Molten Ice Glove grants the resistance of two specific elements ¡ª ice element and fire element.


    Moreover, it also enhances the damage of both ice elements and fire elements by a whopping two hundred percent. That might not be much for weaker Heroes, but for stronger Heroes, that''s a huge boost in power.


    On the other hand, the three active skills are also something that a lot of meleebatants would desire to have for themselves. The name might not sound domineering or powerful at all, but that''s only because one shouldn''t look at them individually. Instead, they should focus more on what the three active skills could bring once they arebined together to create abo attack. In addition to that, the passive skills also furtherplement the power of the three active skills.


    Kayn can''t help desiring the Molten Ice Gloves for himself after understanding its potential. However, he is aware of the fact that it is impossible for him to do that.


    Although Victor gave him the right to choose two items first, he is not so stupid as to believe that he can just get anything that he wants. If the item on the table is something like the Molten Ice Gloves, there''s no way that Victor or the majority of the members of the ck Panda team would just give it to him. And if he insists, there''s a good chance that they''ll let the executives or higher-ups of the Ying Yang Dynasty Guild decide on what items to give to him. By then, he''ll lose the chance to get a good item for himself.


    "It''s much better to stick with choosing something that I truly need," Anyways, the Molten Ice Gloves might be great, but it isn''t something that''s necessary for him to possess. If it was a sword though, that would be a different story.


    "I wonder what those gloves are?" Rys can''t help asking.


    "No idea," Kayn pretended not to know. He stood up as it is time for them to start gathering all the loot that they have gotten.


    Quite timely, the Porters arrived.


    "Why won''t you believe me that Captain Victor told me to bring your men out of the dungeon?"


    "That''s because our Head Porter is still inside!"


    "But it''s the Captain''s order,"


    "I couldn''t care less even if it was the Guild Master''s order¡­ Oh, wait! Kayn! There you are!"


    Marlon quickly approaches.


    "Are you okay?"


    "Yeah, I am fine," Kayn was surprised at Marlon''s arrival.


    It was surprising since he had clearly ordered them to leave the dungeon. But on second thought, it''s actually good that they are here, as it would save him a lot of time.


    He wants to leave the dungeon now that he already finished with his original goal.


    In conclusion, he should be fine if he enters ''The Bridge'' as long as he made enough preparation before entering. He is already fine dealing with the Undead race which inhabits the 21st floor until the 30th floor of the ''Tower'', let alone the dangers that will appear in ''The Bridge''.


    Although he hasn''t experienced the dangers inside ''The Bridge'' for himself, he knew a lot of information about it since someone has already cleared it in the future.


    "I was really worried about you,"


    "There''s no need. I am fully capable of taking care of myself," He could immediately understand why. If it was someone else who presents a revolutionary idea to Marlon a while ago, thetter would no doubt say the same thing to that person.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Still¡­"


    "Everything is already taken care of, Marlon," Diana interrupted as he notices the look on Kayn''s face. It''s quite evident that he felt weirded out by Marlon''s action.


    "Okay¡­" Although he wants to keep on trying to get into Kayn''s good side and build a connection with him. But since Diana told him to stop, Marlon could onlyply.


    "Anyways, since you''re here, tell all the Porters to bring everything they found over there," Diana pointed at a corner that remained unaffected by the boss raid.


    "Understood," Marlon quickly left.


    "Sorry about that," Diana apologizes to Kayn.


    "It''s alright," Kayn waved his hand. It couldn''t be helped anyways as he brought such treatment to himself.


    Since it is time to divide the loot, Kayn naturally started walking to where Diana wanted all of the loot to be gathered.


    "What are you thinking of choosing?" Natas asked along the way.


    "Probably something that can help me when I am in ''The Bridge''," Kayn replied in a low voice.


    Members of the ck Panda team started to gather together.


    After everything was done, Victor stepped on a podium.


    "Everyone!" Victor called out to get everyone''s attention. "As far as I am seeing right now, we have gotten quite a considerable amount of loot for our team,"


    "As a matter of fact, it''s a lot more than what I initially expected before we bought this dungeon,"


    "However, before we proceed to divide the loot amongst ourselves, I want to honor my promise first to certain individuals. So, I''ll be leaving you all here for the moment while I go talk to them," Victor looked at the main members of the ck Panda team, "Alex, Rys, Joshua, James, Diana, Alice, Echo, and Kayn, follow me,"


    Kayn already understood what Victor intended to do, so he followed thetter along with Rys, Diana, and Alice.


    It''s quite evident that the rest were mere distractions so that no one would think that it was Kayn who thought of the n they executed to deal with the Ice Dread Queen. After all, there''s no doubt that Frank will cause trouble to whoever that person is as he had ruined his n.


    Victor doesn''t want that to happen, and so does Kayn.


    They soon arrived in a tent that was just set up as the majority of the tents were destroyed during the boss raid.


    "Kayn," Victor immediately called out the moment Kayn stepped inside the tent. "Your n worked really well, and for that, I''ll give you the right to pick two items first,"


    "About that¡­" Kayn still hasn''t seen all items, so it''s obviously difficult for him to choose.


    "Marlonpiled a list of materials, resources, and items they have found along the way," Victor handed Kayn a stack of paper. "And this is the list Diana haspiled after looking at the items that dropped from the Ice Dread Queen," He handed another stack of paper.


    "You can go look over there, and if you fancy any item, just tell us,"


    "What if I didn''t fancy any resources, so I decided to pick the materials or resources instead?"


    "I guess one item is going to be equivalent to one ton of materials or resources since there''s plenty to spare anyways," Victor chuckled. ording to the list, there are five to six tons of each of the materials and resources. So, giving away one or two tons won''t hurt their team''s interest.


    "Fair enough," If he thinks about it, two tons of materials or resources is more than enough to get him a full set of equipment. So, he''s not in any way at a disadvantage in that deal.


    "Let''s see," Kayn started looking at the list of drops from the Ice Dread Queen first. After all, that''s where the real deal is. Anyways, it won''t be toote to look at the other list if ever he doesn''t find anything that he likes.


    "By the way, is the Molten Ice Gloves part of the list?" Kayn wanted to try his luck.


    "Unfortunately, it''s not," Victor could only awkwardly smile at Kayn. He felt slightly embarrassed because he is clearly preventing thetter from getting it. It also reveals to Kayn that he can''t get all the items that he wanted. To tell the truth, he already removed some really good items from the list, and those items that remain were the ones that they are willing to give away.


    Unbeknownst to Victor, Kayn already knew that as he noticed that some items he had seen along the way weren''t listed on the list that the former had handed him.

 Chapter 70 Harvesting The Reward Part 2

    ?Chapter 70: Harvesting the Reward part 2


    It''s not difficult for Kayn to recognize the items that were found in this dungeon raid as he had seen almost all of them in the future. Or probably even all items.


    To tell the truth, items that are found inside the dungeons are actually ranked at the very bottom inside the ''Tower''.


    All items arebeled into three different categories.


    Firstly, there is the equipment, which includes weapons, armor, armaments, jewelry, and many other more. Practically everything that a person equips themselves with that enhances their fighting or defending capabilities.


    Secondly, resources or mostmonly known as consumables, are what yers use as external aid, support, or buffs like potions, bandages, food, beverages, and more items that have a fixed number of uses.


    Thirdly, materials, are raw matters that are used to make equipment and consumables like mana stones, ores, herbs, wood, metal, and many others thate in the form of solid, liquid, and gas.


    All equipment, consumables, and materials are separated into six different ranks ¡ªmon rank, umon rank, elite rank, rare rank, epic rank, and legendary rank.


    Unbeknownst to everyone though, there are actually two hidden ranks, which are the glory rank and the mythic rank. These two ranks though are still not known to this date as they only start appearing when Heroes starts clearing the 500th floor of the ''Tower''.


    Although, to tell the truth, they actually exist even on the 1st floor. It''s just that certain individuals decided to keep them a secret from the masses. It was only when the Heroes cleared the 500th floor that the glory rank and mythic rank items were revealed as someone that wasn''t part of the perpetrators found them.


    The higher the rank, the more powerful an item is.


    In the case of the equipment, consumables, and materials that are found inside the dungeon, they are onlybeled asmon rank and umon rank, and if one is lucky enough, they''d stumble upon an elite rank. Rare rank and above cannot be found inside the dungeon, but only inside the ''Tower''.


    An example of an elite rank item would be the Molten Ice Gloves. That is why Victor kept it for the ck Panda team as he obviously deemed it necessary for the development and overall growth of the team.


    For those umon ranks, half of them were kept on the list, while the other half were unlisted. Meaning, they are also helpful, but not all of them.


    As much as Kayn wanted to know all the umon rank items that were found, he understood the fact that he is not the one who can decide what items to give away. Whatever is on the list are the only items he could choose from.


    [


    <<Ice Sword>>


    Rank: Umon


    Level: 20 - 30


    Durability: 100%


    Passive skill:


    Enhances ice element attacks.


    Active skill:


    Ice Core: There''s a 50% chance for the skill to multiply the effect of the passive skill. Cooldown: 120 seconds.


    Description: An iron sword that was tempered through the cold and has absorbed plenty of ice mana inside its body.


    ]


    [


    <<Molten Sword>>


    Rank: Umon


    Level: 20 - 30


    Durability: 100%


    Passive skill:


    Enhances fire element attacks.


    Active skill:


    Molten Core: There''s a 50% chance for the skill to multiply the effect of the passive skill. Cooldown: 120 seconds.


    Description: An iron sword that was tempered through the heat and has absorbed plenty of fire mana inside its body.


    ]


    [


    Crystal Helmet


    Rank: Umon


    Level: 20 - 30


    Durability: 100%


    Passive skill:


    Gives a 5% resistance to ice element attack


    If three Crystal Set Equipment is gathered, it can increase the ice resistance to 20%.


    If all six Crystal Set Equipment is gathered, it can increase the ice resistance to 35% and a 10% increase in ice element attacks.


    Active skill:


    Crystal Barrier: Creates a barrier around the helmet thatst for 3 second that blocks all ice element attack. Cooldown: 120 seconds.


    Description: An iron helmet that was tempered through the cold and has absorbed plenty of ice mana inside its body.


    ]


    [


    <<Ice Bearing Dagger>>


    Rank: Umon<novelnext></novelnext>


    Level: 20 - 30


    Durability: 100%


    Passive skill:


    Cause a bleeding effect on the wound thatsts for 5 seconds. It can stack for 6 stacks, and every stack increases the duration of the bleeding effect by 2 seconds.


    Active skill:


    Frozen Blood: There''s a 50% chance to freeze all the blood flow of monsters and a 25% chance for bosses. Cooldown: 120 seconds.


    Frostbite: Causes the tissue of the targeted area to freeze. Cooldown: 180 seconds.


    Description: An iron dagger that was tempered through the cold and has absorbed plenty of ice mana inside its body.


    ]


    [


    <<Molten Bearing Dagger>>


    Rank: Umon


    Level: 20 - 30


    Durability: 100%


    Passive skill:


    Cause a bleeding effect on the wound thatsts for 5 seconds. It can stack for 6 stacks, and every stack increases the duration of the bleeding effect by 2 seconds.


    Active skill:


    Molten Blood: There''s a 50% chance to burn all the blood of monsters and a 25% chance for bosses. Cooldown: 120 seconds.


    Heater: Causes the tissue of the targeted area to burn. Cooldown: 180 seconds.


    Description: An iron dagger that was tempered through the cold and has absorbed plenty of ice mana inside its body.


    ]


    These five items were the only drops of the Ice Dread Queen that were listed on the stack of paper that Kayn was handed.


    It''s quite clear from this list that Victor has hidden a lot of items from him. This just makes him even more curious about what they are and at the same time slightly displeased with them.


    "I guess it can''t be helped," Kayn thought. His n was just a small portion of the overall reason why the ck Panda team was able to kill the Ice Dread Queen. So, this is something to be expected.


    At least, they listed the items that are necessary for him, except for the Crystal Helmet. He seriously doubts the reason why it''s umon rank. Even amon-rank helmet has a much better effect than it.


    "How ignorant," Natas suddenly interrupted Kayn from his thoughts.


    As he can''t respond to Natas, Kayn simply showed a look of interest to the former.


    Seeing Kayn''s look, Natas exined, "Can you ask them if you can get all four items?"


    Kayn looks at the two swords and two daggers as if pointing them before looking at Natas again.


    "Yes, those four items. You can ignore the other list as they aren''t as useful as those four. It would even be better if you can hoard everything outside. In that way, no one else would be able to find out for the time being,"


    He wonders why. "I''ll try, I guess¡­"


    "I feel slightly offended," Kayn shook his head in displeasure.


    "Why?" Victor can''t help panicking slightly.


    "I saw more drops from the Ice Dread Queen along the way, yet I only see five in here? There were even a Crystal Chestte, Crystal Boots, and the weapon piece of the Crystal Set Amor, the Crystal Bow. But howe I don''t see them in this list you''ve given me?" Kayn stared solemnly with furrowed brows at Victor.


    "I could already guess that the only reason you added the Crystal Helmet to the list is that there were two of them that dropped,"


    "And these swords and daggers? Seriously?! I saw like ten to fifteen of each on a pile! And yet you''re only presenting me with the option to choose two items?"


    "Are you perhaps telling me that I can only get the extra equipment?"


    "I understand if it was in the case of the jewelry, as they are worth a lot. Not to mention, the passive skills they give to whoever wears them. But why can''t you show me more than five pieces of equipment? There were bows, hammers, axes, and many more in there!"


    "The n I presented to you a while ago prevented your team from spending a lot more money, resources, energy, and manpower. Moreover, I also saved you from the possibility of yourpetitors taking this dungeon away from the Ying Yang Dynasty Guild. If it wasn''t for that, you won''t even have a chance to see all of these. Furthermore, I gavemands on the backline so that it would be easier for Echo tond his attacks on the boss and also save him from a possibly dangerous situation back then," Kayn heaved a heavy sigh.


    "I seriously hate to break the good impression we''ve built on each other, but I just can''t help it. It''s like you put that little value to the favor I gave you,"


    "Ah¡­" Victor was rendered speechless. He was already embarrassed at the fact that he openly admitted his intention of coveting some items for the sake of the ck Panda team.


    "How about you try to look at the list of materials and consumables?" Alex tried to remedy the situation.


    "I can''t because if I do that, I might dislike your ck Panda team even more. Fate knows just how many more items you have not listed on that stockpile,"


    Alex could only lower his head out of guilt.


    "If this is how much you value your words, then I guess it can''t be helped¡­"


    Hearing Kayn''s words, Victor could only scratch his head as he felt even more embarrassed at his action. It''s actually not wrong that he prioritizes the ck Panda team. After all, that is one of the reasons why he was assigned as the team''s Captain. However, at the same time, he had made the im that he would be giving Kayn the chance to pick two items first. It''s already unfair that he had taken a considerable number from the list. Yet he also can''t honor his words.


    "Is there any way we can make it up to you?" Diana finally decided to step in after seeing Victor''s helplessness. "I have also noticed this before, and was already against it,"


    "Me too," Alice voiced out her concern. "But I am not in any position to say anything, so I decided to just remain silent. I apologize,"


    "I don''t know. And I also don''t want to present any ideas anymore seeing that you people don''t see its value," Kayn crossed his arms together and sat on a chair behind him as he decided to ignore everyone.


    Kayn''s action made everyone panic. If it was anyone else, they would have just insisted that they pick what''s given as they are already lucky enough that they are presented with the opportunity to get the first pick in the first ce. However, Kayn is different. This young man is the son-inw of Mayor Sebastian. Even a fool would understand that they have already offended Kayn with their recklessness.


    "How shameless," Natas smiled devilishly.

 Chapter 71 Harvesting The Reward Part 3

    ?Chapter 71: Harvesting the Reward part 3


    Out of Kayn''s expectations, Echo suddenly decided to step into the conversation, "I am really thankful for what you did for me a while ago. If it wasn''t for the timely assistance, there''s a good chance that I would have been seriously injured,"


    "Echo¡­" Victor looked at Echo in surprise. He is greatly aware of the capability of thetter, and yet he actually imed that he would be seriously injured if it wasn''t for the assistance that Kayn provided. If that''s really the case, then it seems like he had to reconsider his decision.


    "I am not that good at making decisions when ites to this kind of matter as this isn''t my area of specialty, but in hopes of mending your view on the ck Panda team for the better, I''ll concede my part of the loot," Echo expressed.


    "You can''t do that!" Alex interrupted. "That''s too much,"


    "You think Echo''s life is not worth that much?" Alice felt disbelief at Alex.


    "I don''t mean that," Alex shook his head. "It''s just that I believe Echo could have still saved himself even without Kayn''s assistance," After all, Echo is not just any ordinary assassin. He had even witnessed Echo facing a greater danger than today and still, he managed to survive.


    "Alex," Victor tapped Alex''s shoulder to stop him from speaking. He already understood what Echo is trying to do here ¡ª he is trying to remedy their rtionship with Kayn.


    "That depends on how much your share of the loot is," Kayn showed a look of interest.


    "Well, you could say that I can get a lot," Echo can''t say a clear number since what he is offering here is not merely his share of the loot from this dungeon raid as he is also willing to give more as long as it could fix their team''s problem.


    "I actually didn''t do much, so I''ll concede my share of the loot to Kayn as well," Rys added. He doesn''t want Kayn''s first experience in epting a job offer from one of his ssmates to turn out to be a terrible choice. If that ever happens, he''d be med by all of his ssmates for why Kayn would never ept their offer anymore. Moreover, he also doesn''t want to have any sort of unpleasant taint in his friendship with Kayn as he values the bond they built over the years of being ssmates.


    Joshua and James quickly understood what Echo and Rys'' is trying to do, but their Captain beat them to it first.


    "Since this is technically my fault, I''ll also concede my share of the loot," Victor finally decided. He can''t reinstate the items he had taken from the list as he deemed them necessary for the growth of the ck Panda team. At the same time, he also has to do something to fix their problem right now. After hearing Echo''s idea, he thought, "I can''t affect the interest of the ck Panda team, but I don''t mind if it only affects my own interest as long as it fixes this problem that I have recklessly created,"


    "Are all of your sharesbined together plus mine enough for me to get all the Molten Swords, Ice Swords, Ice Bearing Daggers, and Molten Bearing Daggers?" Kayn finally decided to reveal his intention.


    "If you don''t mind me asking, why do you need all of those items?" Victor can''t help but ask.


    "I want to have enough tost me until I reached the 31st floor of the ''Tower'',"


    "Having only two or three of each should be enough though,"


    "I beg to differ,"


    "Won''t you try to reconsider just having five¡­ no, ten of each?"


    "It would have been fine if you presented this idea to me a while ago, but because you took so long to decide, I ought to change my mind,"


    Understanding that Kayn won''t back down in his desire to get all the Molten Swords, Ice Swords, Ice Bearing Daggers, and Molten Bearing Daggers no matter what, Victor called out to his team to gather together at the corner and discuss whether they should agree on Kayn''s terms or not.


    "It''s very obvious that he is just trying to cause us trouble," Alex expressed.


    "Don''t forget that we cause trouble to him first," Alice reminded everyone.


    "But that still doesn''t warrant him to treat us this way, right?" Alex is still adamant about epting Kayn''s terms. "He is just alone, and there are eight of us here. Why don''t we go for a vote and see if there are more people that agree to ept Kayn''s terms or not? First off, I don''t agree. Just who does Kayn think he is? Now, how about all of you?"


    "I agree with Kayn''s terms," Echo muttered.


    Alice: "I agree, as well,"


    Diana: "I agree,"


    Rys: "Me too,"


    "I have to agree too," Victor felt helpless. He was the one that brought this situation to the ck Panda team, so he naturally has to fix it.


    "I abstain," Joshua expressed. With five people agreeing with Kayn''s terms, their vote obviously won''t matter anymore. Also, he would have expressed his agreement too. The only reason he did not do that is that he is concerned with Alex''s feelings.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I also abstain," James simrly felt the same as his twin brother.


    "You guys¡­" Alex felt disbelief. He seriously thought that everyone was feeling the same as him. Turns out that he is actually the only one who felt that way.


    "I guess we have reached a conclusion," Victor smiled at everyone. He approached Alex and tapped his back before muttering, "We have wronged Kayn, so this is the least we can do to make things fair, right? Moreover, we can''t offend the son-inw of Mayor Sebastian, lest he decides to cause trouble to the Yin Yang Dynasty. It''s not worth it to let that happen just for this small matter,"


    "I understand," As much as he doesn''t want to ept it, after hearing Victor''s exnation, Alex finally relented. Nevertheless, he no longer views Kayn in a positive light. "Everyone on top would always act arrogant and trample people like us,"


    Unbeknownst to Alex, Kayn actually felt apologetic for the way he is acting right now. Unfortunately, because Natas wanted him to get all the Molten Swords, Ice Swords, Ice Bearing Daggers, and Molten Bearing Daggers for fate know why he could only swallow his feelings.


    "I''ll make sure to make it up to you guys in the future," Kayn swore inwardly. Although he isn''t someone who likes to act heroic anymore after what he had went through, he still knows what is right and wrong. If he is going to act rudely and take advantage of everyone all the time just because he experienced betrayal and was mistreated, then he''d be no different from the enemies he swore to have his revenge. He refuses to be like them.


    "We decided to make a vote on whether to agree on your terms or not," Victor muttered.


    "And what is the answer?" Kayn felt a bit nervous deep inside. Of course, he made sure not to reveal it on his face. On the surface, he remained solemn.


    "We agree on your terms,"


    "I am d we reached a deal," Kayn put his arm forward.


    "I hope you''d forgive us for this," Victor shook Kayn''s hand.


    "What happened again?"


    "Oh, nothing,"


    Both Kayn and Victor startedughing it out.


    With that, Kayn left the tent in satisfaction.


    On the contrary, Victor and the main members of the ck Panda team felt like they got taken advantage of only that they don''t know how and where.


    Since the matter with Kayn was already finished, Victor proceeded to allocate each member of the ck Panda team their share of the loot.


    Everyone was shocked after knowing that all Molten Swords, Ice Swords, Ice Bearing Daggers, and Molten Bearing Daggers were picked by Victor and the rest of the main members. But on second thought, they assumed that it should be because they want to give better equipment, materials, and consumables to the rest of them.


    No one thought that it was because Kayn hoarded all of them.


    ? After everyone took their share, the remaining items were quickly recorded by Marlon and Kayn before being taken away by the Porters. Those items would be delivered to the Yin Yang Guild. As for what the guild would use them for, it''s obviously going to be used as capital for future expeditions and development, and to pay for any if not all expenses.


    Once all of that was finished, Victor lead the team to do onest search on the entire dungeon and do a clean sweep on anything that remains.


    Along the way, they found a fewmon-rank and umon-rank items, which no one wanted so they were recorded by Marlon to be taken to the Yin Yang Guild.


    After a few hours and making sure that the dungeon is already cleared, the ck Panda team finally decided to leave in triumph.


    "I''ll be going now," Kayn quickly bid farewell after exchanging some short pleasantries with everyone on the ck Panda team. It was necessary to conduct so that he won''t be treated or viewed as rude or anything negative by them.


    While walking, Kayn kept on ncing at the Storage Ring that Victor handed to him. Inside were obviously all Molten Swords, Ice Swords, Ice Bearing Daggers, and Molten Bearing Daggers that were found in the dungeon.


    He felt excited and at the same time dying to know what Natas intended to do with all of these.


    Although he is someone from the future, that doesn''t necessarily mean he knows everything.


    At the same time, deep inside of him, he hopes that it is going to be worth all of the efforts he had executed. Until now, he still feels guilty about what he had done to the ck Panda team.

 Chapter 72 The Three Main Classes, Subclasses, Arcane Classes, And Item Fusion

    ?Chapter 72: The Three Main sses, Subsses, Arcane sses, and Item Fusion


    After a few minutes of walking, Kayn can no longer hold himself back from his curiosity, so at longst, he decided to ask, "Since we are already far from the ck Panda team and no one around us could possibly steal whatever secret you are trying to hide, could I finally ask about what we are going to use all of these items for?"


    "You seriously can''t wait a little bit longer, don''t you?" Natas chuckled.


    "I can''t help it," He has been thinking along the way about what Natas has in mind for those items. Even though he knows a lot of things as he is someone from the future, he just can''t think of what possible use there is for them other than to utilize them as what they are intended to be used for.


    "How about you take a guess first?" Natas suggested. It wouldn''t be fun if he simply revealed the truth the moment Kayn as for it, right?


    "I don''t have any clue," That''s precisely the main reason why he said he can''t help it.


    "Oh, I forgot, you choose to be an Adventurer¡­"


    Adventurer is one of the three main sses that a Hero can pick once they are inside the ''Tower''.


    The moment a Hero is granted ess by the ''Tower'' to enter its floors. They will first enter a room where they have to actually pick what role or ss they want to follow once they start their expedition inside the ''Tower''.


    Firstly, the Adventurer. As soon as a Hero picks this ss, they be the mostmonly found role inside the ''Tower''  ¡ª the Heroes who y the major role in clearing each floor of the ''Tower''.


    Once they pick Adventurer, the Heroes would then be presented with more choices, which is going to be their sub-ss. The subsses are Knight, Guardian, Marksman, Mage, Assassin, and Priest.


    Using the ck Panda team as an example, the members with the subss of Knight are Joshua, James, and the majority of the meleebatants. The Guardian would be Victor, Alex, and Frank. Mage is none other than Alice and the others that stayed on the backline. Assassin is obviously Echo. And the Priest would be Diana.


    Unfortunately, they don''t seem to have anyone with the subss of Marksman. At least as far as Kayn had observed during the dungeon raid. But ording to the information he learned from the future, their Vice-Captain, which wasn''t present today, is the Marksman of the ck Panda team.


    Secondly, Merchants. This is the role that a lot of business-minded individuals, inventors, craftsmen, and scientists would pick. That''s because only the Heroes who picked this as their main ss can craft items, and consumables, and use the materials that are found inside the dungeon and the ''Tower''. Moreover, they are the only ones who have permission to take the items found inside the ''Tower'' back to Earth. Other main sses cannot perform such a feat.


    Although, there''s also a certain requirement to be met first before they can exercise that ability that''s solely given to the Merchants.


    Once a Hero picked the Merchant as their main ss, just like in the case of the Adventurers, they have to pick which sub-ss they would follow. The subsses are respectively Alchemist, Chef, cksmith, Forger, Tailor, Artificer, and Refiner.


    The Alchemist can brew and concoct potions and Chefs are those that cook the meat found from monsters. These two roles doesn''t restrict them from crafting helpful or harmful consumables.


    cksmiths are those that craft armor, including but not limited to te armor and heavy armor. On the other hand, Forgers crafts weapons and tools, like swords, axes, bows, and many others. Tailors sew cloth pieces using different kinds of cotton and leather armor using any type of leathers.


    Artificer makes the wands and staff that Mages use to strengthen their Magic spells and enhance any items and consumables power with magic stones and elemental crystals.


    Thest subss of the Merchant is the Refiner, they are those that remove the impurities of items and discover the secrets hidden in any weapons and consumables.


    An example of the Merchants would be the organization Genesis, one of the Ten World Leaders.


    Andstly, the Nobility. Just like what its name suggests, they are Heroes that became part of the ruling sses inside the ''Tower''. They are granted the rights to own property,nd, or any form of territory inside the ''Tower'' and manage them to whatever they deemed fit.


    Unlike the Adventurers and Merchants, the moment a Hero picks the main ss Nobility, they aren''t given the authority to pick whatever they want. Just like every fresh nobleman, they will start with the Baron rank and slowly make their way to the top.


    Aside from the main sses and subsses, there also exist the Arcane sses. These are the unique sses of each of the main sses and subsses that only one Hero can possess.


    "Is that rted to what you intend to do with these items?" Kayn wonders how being an Adventurer is in any sort of way rted to their matter right now.


    "Yeah, it is, because if you aren''t a cksmith or a Forger, or in general a Merchant, you won''t understand what I am doing right now,"


    "Is this rted to their special ability?"


    "It''s not really a special ability because even you can perform it,"


    "Don''t tell me¡­"


    "Item Fusion,"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kayn has heard of that term before. Item Fusion refers to the fusing of two items of a simr type. For example, fusing a fire sword with an earth sword together. By doing so, it will create an item that possesses the ability of the two items that were fused. It was said though that there''s a big chance that it will remove a passive skill or active skill of one of the two items, while there''s only a small percentage to create a powerful item.


    "Wasn''t that just a myth?"


    "Of course, not!"


    "Are you sure you aren''t talking about the term Reforging?"


    There was also a simr process to the myth of Item Fusion called Reforging. It is the special ability that is possessed by all the craftsmen subsses that allows them to use a piece of existing equipment or consumables and turn them into a better version of what it originally was by adding new materials to them. Albeit, it doesn''t have the ability tobine two or more items together in order to create another item just like the Item Fusion.


    "The reason why it''s not widely known is that to perform the Item Fusion, a very strict requirement has to be met,"


    "And that is?"


    "The items should be a drop from a dual-element being,"


    "The Molten Ice Dread Queen and the Undead Soldiers she had summoned!"


    "Exactly!"


    He might have faced the Ice Dread Queen today, but to tell the truth, it''s actually very rare to face a being that has dual elements. Not to mention, multi elements.


    Even if there exist a considerable number of items that are dropped under those circumstances as long as one tries to look hard in the market, no one would think that they can use them to perform an Item Fusion.


    No wonder the Item Fusion is treated as a myth.


    "This is something that we can''t just perform in my room!" Kayn felt the need for them to look for a secretive ce where they won''t risk the chance of getting discovered.


    If this was the previous Kayn, he''d no doubt spread the requirements needed in order to perform the Item Fusion. By doing so, he''d perform a heroic act that can benefit the entirety of the Human race. But with the current him, he''d just be adding more trouble to himself once such a method is revealed to the entire world. After all, it would definitely reach the ears of those people he swore to take revenge. In that case, the difficulty to defeat them would increase.


    Despite how hard Kayn thinks, no ce that he knows fits such a requirement.


    "Actually, there''s one," Natas interrupted Kayn from his thoughts.


    "Where?" Kayn felt intrigued. As far as he could remember, Natas has only been to a few ces ever since the day he reincarnated in the past. So, every ce he had visited should be the only ce that thetter had been to as well.


    "Mayor Sebastian''s Mansion. Don''t you consider him as a potential ally?"


    "Just potential," Potential ally, and ally represent two different meanings. Thetter means he trusts them to his heart, whereas thetter means he is considering trusting them.


    "Then let''s use this opportunity to make him your official ally,"


    Kayn was instantly taken aback after hearing Natas'' proposal. But if he thinks things through, that''s actually quite an excellent idea.


    If he reveals to Mayor Sebastian the secret of Item Fusion and thetter decided to keep it a secret, then he obviously would earn his trust. On the contrary, if he does the opposite, then he could easily confirm whether it''s worth making Mayor Sebastian one of his allies or not.


    Although by doing this he''d risk the chance of revealing the secret of the Item Fusion to the entire world, it''s actually not that big of a matter if everyone learns the method of Item Fusion. After all, even though that will help his enemies improve, it will simrly help his allies improve as well.


    The only reason why he didn''t like that idea just a short while ago was that he wanted to avoid that kind of event from happening if possible.


    However, if he can get something that will benefit his own personal interest in exchange for doing that, then he won''t mind doing so.


    "I''ll try to contact him now," He always has Mayor Sebastian''s number on his phone. This was given to him in the past after he officially became Selina''s boyfriend.


    ording to Mayor Sebastian, he can contact him through his number whenever he needs help in dealing with Selina''s tantrums. One could say that it''s like a code between men ¡ª a bro code, or in their case, a father-inw and son-inw code, to be exact.

 Chapter 73 Item Fusion Part 1

    ?Chapter 73: Item Fusion part 1


    "I never thought that my first time calling this number would be for this kind of thing and not about my rtionship with Selina," Kayn muttered as he looked for Mayor Sebastian''s number in his phone.


    It wasn''t that hard to find the number even though he has forgotten almost every small detail that happened during this time. That''s simply because he had named Mayor Sebastian''s number ''Father-inw''.


    "I didn''t expect you had such a side in you," Natas can''t help chuckling at the sight.


    "I had my days," Kayn felt ashamed of the way the previous him used to act. He can''t deny that he was indeed very childish back then.


    What else could Natas expect from someone innocent?


    If it was anyone else in his position right now, they would have long taken advantage of their rtionship with Mayor Sebastian and his ssmates. But the previous him has never thought of doing so. In fact, it was the other way around ¡ª it was Mayor Sebastian and his ssmates that kept on insisting to help him.


    Regardless, the current him would definitely take advantage of that position. It''s too wasteful if he doesn''t.


    "Kayn?" A doubtful voice spoke from the phone.


    "Hello father-inw! How are you?" Kayn greeted Mayor Sebastian.


    "So, did Selina cause you any trouble?"


    "Actually, that''s not the reason why I called,"


    "You can speak upfront with me,"


    "I want to ask for a favor,"


    "How surprising! Tell me, what do you need?"


    "Can I use your ce to," Kayn turns to look at Natas, evidently asking thetter if he can reveal the term Item Fusion to Mayor Sebastian or does he have to use another term for the meantime.


    Natas nodded his head, expressing that he doesn''t see any problem with that.


    "¡ª perform a method called Item Fusion,"


    After Kayn said that, he didn''t receive any reply on the other line for quite some time.


    "Can you say that again?"


    "I want to use your ce to perform a Item Fusion,"


    "Item Fusion¡­?"


    "Yes,"


    "Let me ask you first. Are you aware of what the term Item Fusion signifies?"


    "Rest assured, I am fully aware of what I am saying,"


    "Where are you right now?"


    Kayn looked around at his surroundings first to find andmark before replying, "I am near the Moon Core Mall. You know the south exit part,"


    "I have some men stationed nearby the Moon Core Mall. They''ll take you here to my mansion,"


    "Thank you, father-inw,"


    "Hahaha, I thought you no longer like calling me that,"


    Kayn could only let out an awkward chuckle in response.


    "Anyways, whatever happens, keep your mouth shut about the Item Fusion. Even to my men. Only reveal such information to me and me alone. Don''t go around telling anyone about it. Otherwise, even I won''t be able to protect you, understood?" Mayor Sebastian warned solemnly.


    "I understand!" Kayn naturally knows the danger of knowing about the Item Fusion could bring to him. But to tell the truth, he has changed his mind and now he prefers letting everyone know about it. Although that would make him the target of people that hold ill will, it could also bring about people with good intentions. Moreover, in that way, he''ll be able to easily separate his enemies and friends.


    "Just wait for a few minutes,"


    "Okay,"


    "I''ll wait for you in my mansion. I want to see the so-called Item Fusion for myself,"


    After saying that, Mayor Sebastian ended the call.


    "He said that his men will fetch us soon,"


    "That''s great,"


    Just like what Mayor Sebastian said, a ck BMW stopped in front of Kayn.


    The driver side window lowered down to half and a familiar man on the other side muttered, "Young Master Kayn,"


    It was the same driver that drove Kayn to his home back then.


    "Hop in,"


    The door of the passenger seat opened automatically.


    "Excuse me," Kayn stepped inside the car with Natas following behind.


    The door automatically closed and the car started driving to the direction of the Mayor''s Mansion.


    ¡­..


    As soon as Kayn stepped out of the car, Mayor Sebastian immediately greeted him outside the door of his mansion.


    "Are you sure of what you are trying to achieve?" Mayor Sebastian is still feeling doubtful of Kayn''s im.


    "I just learned of it today. So, I am also not sure," Kayn scratched his head.


    "Where?"


    "From a dungeon raid I participated. I found some items that exhibit strange behavior,"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Let''s continue talking inside," Mayor Sebastian suggested.


    With that said, Kayn and Mayor Sebastian walked inside the mansion.


    "Let''s go to the basement,"


    Kayn nodded his head.


    They walked through the long hallway before arriving in an elevator leading to the basement.


    "What do you mean by exhibiting strange behavior?"


    "The items were trying to merge with each other. After I saw it, it made me recall the myth about Item Fusion. ording to the book I read, it states that one of the behaviors during an Item Fusion is that two items will try tobine with one another even without anyone''s intervention to form a single item,"


    "Are you sure you weren''t mistaken?"


    "That''s the reason why I will try to attempt to fuse those two items to confirm whether I was mistaken or not,"


    "Hopefully you aren''t,"


    "We are here,"


    As soon as the elevator door opened, Kayn saw a huge open space furnished to look like a huge training area rather than a basement.


    The floors of the basement were covered in thick tiles, the walls weren''t mere cement but tough materials from the ''Tower'', while the ceiling was embedded with virtual screens that showed a video of a moving sky with a bullet proof ss protecting it.


    At the side, training apparatus could be seen arranged neatly on different racks while beingbeled with their name and functions.


    There were also different weapons from each of the different adventurer subsses hanging on one certain part of the wall.


    "Is this where you train?" Kayn can''t help but ask.


    "If I have the time, yeah," Mayor Sebastian nodded.


    No wonder he never sees Mayor Sebastian train despite how many times he has visited his mansion. It''s actually because he trains in a secluded ce like this.


    "Can you show me the items?" Mayor Sebastian wanted to see the so-called strange behavior of the items. He has seen countless items in the past, but he can never imagine what exactly Kayn meant with his words.


    With a wave of his hand, piles of Molten Swords, Ice Swords, Ice Bearing Daggers, and Molten Bearing Daggers started dropping on the floor.


    "That many?!" Mayor Sebastian was rendered shocked at the sight. There are fifteen Molten Swords and Ice Swords while there are ten Ice Bearing Daggers and Molten Bearing Daggers. "Did the Yin Yang Dynasty really gave you all of this?"


    It seems like Mayor Sebastian was informed of what he was doing today.


    "I have my ways," Kayn could only say that as he doesn''t want Mayor Sebastian to know his shameless action.


    "Don''t tell me you used my name?"


    "Of course, not!" Even if he was given the courage of a lion, he would still not dare use Mayor Sebastian''s name in such a small matter. If ever he uses Mayor Sebastian''s name in the future, he''d make sure that it would be worth the consequences.


    "Thought so," Mayor Sebastian was just making sure. He seriously doesn''t like people who uses his name to get benefits for themselves. Even though there are times when that''s unavoidable, especially in the case of Kayn as he is his son-inw, he is fine as long as thetter did not use it directly.


    "Anyways, I don''t see any of what you''ve described," Until now the items are just simply staying still.


    "I guess the effect has faded away. But I know how to make it happen again, that is if the book I read before is really true," Kayn approaches the piles of weapons.


    "Now what?" Kayn glimpsed at Natas. The person who told him about the part concerning exhibiting strange behavior was thetter.


    "Follow what I am going to tell you. First, gather mana into your hand,"


    Kayn unhesitatinglyplied. Superhumans are already capable of gathering mana in their hands, so that didn''t pose any difficulty to him.


    "Next, direct your mana to the Ice Sword,"


    Controlling the mana he has gathered, Kayn directed them toward the Ice Sword.


    "Cover the entire Ice Sword with your mana,"


    Kayn slowly covered the entire Ice Sword with his mana.


    "Then infused them into the Ice Sword,"


    Whoosh!


    Infusing mana into a weapon is just like pushing something into a container.


    With the Ice Sword as the container, Kayn pushes the mana that covered the weapon into the container.


    "Repeat the same step to the Molten Sword,"


    Kayn easily repeated the method that he performed from the Ice Sword to the Molten Sword.


    "You can now cut off the mana in your hand,"


    Instantly, Kayn stopped gathering mana. Despite that, the Ice Sword and Molten Sword still contain the mana he infused into them.


    "This is thest step in performing the Item Fusion. So, make sure to listen closely,"


    Even if Natas didn''t tell him about that, he would still listen to everything thetter has to say. After all, even he wants to know how to perform Item Fusion.


    At this moment, he''s like a kid being taught by a veteran yer how to y a new game.


    "Connect the mana you have infused into the Ice Sword and the Molten Sword together,"


    "That''s¡­"


    "I know doing that is difficult at your current level. But it has never been easy to perform the Item Fusion,"


    It''s exactly as Natas has said. Although it sounded simple, controlling the mana from two different sources is actually not easy. Well, at least in his current state. When he was still the number one Hero on Earth, he could do that even in his sleep.


    "I''ll try my best," He can''t guarantee that he could perform it sessfully right now as he had never truly tried doing it in his current state. On second thought, he''d lose nothing if he tries.

 Chapter 74 Item Fusion Part 2

    ?Chapter 74: Item Fusion part 2


    Just like what Kayn had done when he directed the mana from his hand to the Ice Sword, this time he directed the mana from the Ice Sword to the Molten Sword.


    However, unlike before, he also has to simultaneously direct the mana of the Molten Sword to the Ice Sword as he has to connect the two mana in the center. Otherwise, he won''t be able to achieve what Natas wanted him to perform.


    In just a short moment, Kayn starts sweating on his forehead as he experiences trouble with directing the mana of the Molten Sword.


    Controlling mana is honestly not something that a Superhuman is proficient at doing. They can indeed control mana, but because of the fact that they aren''t Heroes yet and haven''t chosen what main ss they want to pursue, thus their level of control is subpar because their mana capacity can''t handle the requirements to perform the task.


    Kayn isn''t excepted to such a rule despite the fact that he is one of the brightest stars of the Starlight Hero Academy.


    "Even though my mana capacity is considerably highpared to my peers, its level is barely enough topletely connect the Ice Sword with the Molten Sword," Kayn said to himself.


    "I can help you with that," Mayor Sebastian muttered behind Kayn as he heard thetter whispering something. He put his hands on Kayn''s back and started supporting him.


    In the next moment, Kayn''s control of the mana from the Molten Sword suddenly improved and became better. The more time passed, the easier it became for him to direct the flow of mana to the mana of the Ice Sword.


    "Here it goes!"


    Bang!


    Bang!


    The moment the mana of both the Ice Sword and the Molten Sword connected together, the two weapons started banging on the ground without anyone touching them or controlling them to do so.


    "Don''t let go of your control," Natas quickly informed Kayn.


    "What is happening?" Mayor Sebastian felt shocked at the scene.


    "Whatever you do, don''t stop what you are doing right now," Kayn bit his lips while hoping for them to seed in Item Fusion.


    The banging continued a few more times before the two swords started flying up in the air. After reaching five meters high, they suddenly started circling around. Every time they finished one cycle, their distance would get close to each other.


    Boom!


    A loud explosion echoed throughout the entire basement as the Ice Sword and Molten Sword smashed into each other at the center.


    Whoosh!


    Whoosh!


    Whoosh!


    Strong gushes of wind started shing left and right, hitting the wall and causing a muffled noise.


    Looking at the two swords, they noticed that they are still circling around. And by observing closely, they could immediately see that they are trying to fuse with each other.


    "Is that what they call Item Fusion?" Mayor Sebastian said his thoughts out loud.


    "I think so¡­" Kayn still couldn''t believe that he is performing Item Fusion. Just a while ago, he still thinks that the Item Fusion is nothing more than a myth. But after seeing this, he finally understood that it is true.


    "Don''t get distracted!" Natas snapped Kayn out of being surprised.


    Every time Kayn loses focus, the fusion of the Ice Sword and Molten Sword would slow down. That mustn''t happen because the speed of the spinning is what''s fusing the two items together. If it slows down, there''s a high chance that the fusion would fail.


    In that case, they would instantly lose both the Ice Sword and Molten Sword, and in exchange, they would get an item that represents the failed attempt of Item Fusion.


    After being pulled by Natas out of his thoughts, Kayn no longer allowed himself to get distracted by anything. He decided that he would just express his thoughtster on once they seeded in the Item Fusion.


    Hopefully, that''s going to be the case¡­


    Although Mayor Sebastian is also feeling shocked at the scene of the Item Fusion, he made sure that he won''t get sidetracked from the important thing.


    Time continues to pass, and after ten minutes or so, the spinning of the item that''s floating in mid-air finally stopped.


    A bright white light covered the item for a few seconds before it eventually faded away.


    What is revealed soon afterward is an item that looks simr to the Ice Dread Queen after she uses her Gift ¡ª an Ice Sword with numerous seemingly small cracks that looks likeva flowing around its body.


    "Is that the result of the Item Fusion?" Kayn muttered to himself as he caught the sword that slowly hovers in his hands.<novelnext></novelnext>


    [


    <<Molten Ice Sword>>


    Rank: Elite


    Level: 30 - 40


    Durability: 100%


    Passive Skills:


    (1) Enhances fire element attacks.


    (2) Enhances ice element attacks.


    Active Skills:


    (1) Molten Ice sh: Releases a searing and freezing crescent sword wave. There''s a 25% chance to burn the target or a 25% to cause frostbite. Cooldown: 120 seconds.


    (2) Sword Dance: Increases the strength of the next attack by 150%. Cooldown: 180 seconds.


    (3) Hot and Cold: Surrounds the user with a hot and cold barrier that resist 50% ice element attacks and 50% fire element attacks. Cooldown: 240 seconds.


    (4) Temperature Reset: Resets all cooldowns of the Active Skills to zero. Cooldown: 300 seconds.


    Description: A sword that is created from a sessful Fusion of an Ice Sword and a Molten Sword. If it undergoes another Item Fusion, there''s a 50% chance the item would break apart and a 50% guarantee that it would create a piece of rare-rank equipment.


    ]


    "This¡­" Kayn is in disbelief. The item created from the Item Fusion is even better than the Molten Ice Gloves that Frank tried to steal from the ck Panda team.  Not to mention, it''s also something that he can use for his next expedition.


    It wasn''t only Kayn that can''t believe what appeared in front of him. Mayor Sebastian is also in a simr state, albeit a little less in disbelief since he is only surprised at the Item Fusion and not the item that was created from it.


    That''s naturally to be expected from Mayor Sebastian as he is someone that possesses a wide variety of rare rank and epic rank pieces of equipment for himself because of his status as the Mayor of the Moon Dragon City and his achievements inside the ''Tower''. Kayn even suspects that Mayor Sebastian actually has a legendary rank item hidden somewhere at this present time as he had seen thetter using a legendary rank sword back in the future.


    "Good for you," Mayor Sebastian patted Kayn''s shoulder as thetter now possesses a piece of good equipment for himself.


    "I¡­" Kayn felt trouble. He wanted to keep the Molten Ice Sword for himself since it is the best he could ever find in his current state. At least that is what he believes. But at the same time, he felt the need to give Mayor Sebastian something in return for his help as he wouldn''t have been able to achieve this without thetter''s assistance.


    "There are still a lot more pieces of equipment left for you to perform the Item Fusion," Natas expresses that there''s still a chance for Kayn to repay Mayor Sebastian.


    "Don''t worry, you can keep that sword," Mayor Sebastian simrly understood Kayn''s thoughts. But he also added, "But I do want to get something in return. Or to be more exact, I want to learn something,"


    It was just like what Kayn has expected.


    "Is it about how to perform the Item Fusion?" Kayn could already guess that this is what Mayor Sebastian wanted to know.


    Mayor Sebastian nodded his head.


    Kayn and Natas already discussed along their way here what they should do if Mayor Sebastian asks for the method to perform the Item Fusion. Their conclusion was¡­


    "Sure, why not?"


    They will teach Mayor Sebastian everything he has to know about the Item Fusion. And after that, they''ll watch what he would do with it.


    If Mayor Sebastian simply uses his knowledge about Item Fusion to expand the growth of his force, then that means he is someone that deserves to be one of their allies. In the case of the contrary, it would turn out exactly like what they said before.


    With that being said, Kayn started telling Mayor Sebastian about how to perform the Item Fusion exactly as how Natas told him before.


    "There are still a lot more items remaining. Do you perhaps n to continue doing Item Fusion on all of them?" Mayor Sebastian can''t help but ask.


    "I was intending to, but I don''t mind postponing it for ater date if you have something else to do right now," Kayn is feeling embarrassed about asking Mayor Sebastian to keep assisting him on the remaining Item Fusion. After all, thetter is a Mayor and he doesn''t have all day to stay with him and help him with the Item Fusion.


    Mayor Sebastian chuckled before saying, "I already moved all of my schedules to the next day," He started removing the suit he is wearing while continuing to speak, "But of course, I don''t have all day to do this with you. So, what are we waiting for?"


    "Okay!"


    Without wasting any more time, Kayn and Mayor Sebastian quickly continued doing Item Fusion on the remaining pieces of equipment piled up together at the side.

 Chapter 75 Making Preparation For Departure

    ?Chapter 75: Making preparation for departure


    Obviously, Kayn can''t expect to get an immediate result after telling Mayor Sebastian about the Item Fusion. It would take some time before thetter starts showing what he is going to do with that information.


    So, after he finished fusing the remaining items, which gave him fifteen Molten Ice Swords, each with different numbers of simr passive and active skills to the first one with five being the highest number and three being the lowest, and ten pieces of daggers called Melting Icicle Dagger, a ridiculous name, he immediately bid farewell to Mayor Sebastian and returned to his home.


    The same driver, who Kayn finally got to know as Ivan, dropped him off in front of his house.


    After Ivan leaves, Kayn can''t help shaking his head in dismay.


    As expected, Mayor Sebastian didn''t ask for even a single piece of equipment from him. It wasn''t strange, really. But it did put him in an awkward position where he has to return something to Mayor Sebastian someday. Mayor Sebastian also seems to like it that way, making him feel slightly annoyed by it. But what can he do? He was the one who needed his help in the first ce.


    "I guess it can''t be helped," Kayn muttered to himself as he opened the door of his apartment.


    At the moment, he is no longer living in a small and packed room. He has rented a spacious apartment for himself the other day and after signing all paperwork he immediately relocated.


    The apartment is one hundred square meters in size, it has two rooms, one for him and the other for Natas, each having its own bathroom, albeit Natas obviously won''t be using his, thus saving him some credit for their water bill. There''s a kitchen, a cooking area, a living room, and a supposed storage room which he made into a small gym so that he won''t have to go somewhere else to train his body.


    It cost him exactly the 50,000 credits that Mayor Sebastian gave to him back then to rent this apartment for two months.


    Needless to say, he isn''t worried about earning money in the meantime, especially with all the equipment he has inside his Storage Ring right now. His rough calction is he could earn close to a million credits if he sells all of them. That''s only if he sells them in direct channels. If he goes to an auction house, it would be apletely different story.


    Kayn put the Storage Ring in front of the TV so that he won''t forget it. Beside it is the remote of the TV and the remote of the AC. If he still forgets it, then there''s definitely something wrong with his brain.


    "So, are you going to add what happened today to your list?" Natas asked.


    "There''s no need," Kayn shook his head. The ''List'' that Natas mentioned is his list of all the important future events he could remember in his mind at the present moment.


    Honestly, the list isn''t really that long. In fact, there are only less than twenty future contents he had written so far. That''s because two days ago when he tried to recollect his memories so he could make a list of all events that happened in the future and not forget about them, he started experiencing painful headaches in his head. Because of that, he has no other choice but to write only those he can remember and just slowly recollect the otherster on.


    The reason why he doesn''t want to write what might possiblye in the future after they told Mayor Sebastian about the Item Fusion is that regardless of it being good or bad, it won''t affect him directly as long as Mayor Sebastian doesn''t reveal that he got the information from him.


    What''s written on his list are only the events that could directly or indirectly affect his future growth, his revenge, and his goal of reaching the 1,000th floor of the ''Tower''. In the case of the Item Fusion, it won''t affect him that much, because just like what Natas said before, even if the worldes to know the method of Item Fusion, monsters or any inhabitants of the ''Tower'' with a dual element or multi-element are hard toe by, so there''s rarely any chance to perform the Item Fusion.


    "By the way, we are going to enter ''The Bridge'' tomorrow. Are you ready?"


    Hearing Natas'' reminder, Kayn can''t help looking at the Entry Crystal ced in front of the TV. "I can''t say for certain. But the preparation I''ve made should be more than enough for me to survive,"


    ''The Bridge''. It is one of the few remaining ces that he has never personally entered inside the ''Tower''. So, he doesn''t know what exactly to expect and what challenges mighte his way. But to tell the truth, that''s actually what will make this adventurer perfect for him.


    Experiencing the unknown is one of the best feelings that the ''Tower'' could offer to those people to whom it had granted entry to enter its floors, especially people like him who have more or less experienced countless things already.


    "I have also tried to recollect as much information I can remember about those that gotten out alive from ''The Bridge''. And all I can say is, If I can''t be the one to clear it, then I''ll simply help whoever can so that I won''t be stuck in that ce for a long time,"


    Just like what he said before, anyone that enters ''The Bridge'' won''t be able to get out unless someone clears it.


    A lot of individuals from different ces on Earth have already entered ''The Bridge'' from the moment the ''Tower'' has first granted ess to enter its floors. And until now, not one of them has ever returned. And it''s not even clear whether they are dead or still alive. He doesn''t want to be one of those people. So, he''ll make sure to do whatever it takes to get out in less than a month. Otherwise, he''d be missing something really important. And if it takes even longer than that, then he''d miss even more events that could help him tremendously.


    "That''s good! So, what are we going to do today?"


    "Make preparations for my departure,"


    He isn''t the type of person to leave without informing the people that he knows would feel worried about him that he is going somewhere. However, he isn''t just going to write any letter whatsoever, at least not to all of them.


    "First and foremost, let''s handle the matter with Rowan Starlight," Kayn dialed Rowan''s phone number in his phone.


    In the past two days, he had been exchanging some friendly greetings and gotten to know Rowan even more. More or less, they can consider each other as friends.


    The phone started ringing, and not long after, Rowan answered his call.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "What''s up, Kayn!"


    "Remember what I told you before about leaving the Starlight Family as soon as possible. Have you made up your mind yet?"


    "I ept your condition. But are you really sure that the Kraken Republic is the best ce for me to go after leaving my family? You should be more than aware of the rtionship between our nation and their nation right? Not to mention, I came from a very influential family in the Dragon Beast Republic, so there are bound to be some issues¡­ Not to mention, a lot of disadvantages for me. Why don''t I just go to the Mercenary Nation?"


    "It''s exactly because of that that it''s best for you to go to the Kraken Republic. What do you think is the first thought that woulde into the minds of your family once you leave? Obviously, they would assume you went to the Mercenary Nation. By then, it wouldn''t take long for them to find you. And besides, you''d be using an alias. Do you seriously n on making a name in the Kraken Republic using your real name? If that''s what you are nning on doing, I''d rather have you remain in your family. At least by doing so, there''s a high chance that you can stay alive,"


    "Okay, okay, chill dude!" Rowan chuckled. "By the way, I''ll be leaving tomorrow,"


    Kayn can''t help breathing a sigh of relief after hearing that. He was afraid that because of what he did before, Rowan won''t leave the Dragon Beast Republic anymore. So, to make sure that it would still happen, he kept on proposing and persuading thetter to go to the Kraken Republic. Fortunately, Rowan finally agreed.


    "I''ll also be going somewhere tomorrow. That''s why I called right now,"


    "Where are you going?"


    "I''ll be entering ''The Bridge'',"


    "WHAT?!" A sound of a te breaking could be heard from the other line. "Why?"


    "To get something important that will help us,"


    "Do you really have to enter that freaking forbidden ce?"


    "I don''t have a choice. ''That Person'' told me to get inside," Kayn is referring to Natas as ''That Person'' since he obviously can''t say that he was the one that thought about all the ideas and ns that they''d be doing in the future, right? By using Natas, he won''t have to exin all the time as he could just say "It was that person''s n,".


    "Do you truly trust that person?"


    "It was him that told me to save you,"


    "I know. But isn''t that suspicious? The only people that knows about what will happen to me at that time were only the members of the Starlight Family, yet that person was about to get that information,"


    "I''ve told you before, he is someone from the ''Tower'',"


    "That doesn''t mean we can trust him. And besides, all people that get inside the ''Tower'' shouldn''t be trusted by newbies like us,"


    "He is not a Hero,"


    "Then who exactly is he? One of the inhabitants of the ''Tower?''"


    "I''ll tell you about it once I get out of ''The Bridge'',"


    "Okay, I understand! I hope you will let me meet that person soon,"


    "When that timees, you''d be thanking him on your knees," Kayn chuckled. "Anyways, I''ll be calling some other people to bid farewell,"


    "I can already guess that it''s your girlfriend based on the sudden change of your tone,"


    "Well, I have to, right?"


    "Goodbye!"


    Toot!


    The call instantly ended, making Kayn smile at Rowan''s childish act.


    Just like what Rowan predicted, after ending the call with him, Kayn immediately called Selina and started telling her about his departure.

 Chapter 76 Entering The Bridge Part 1

    ?Chapter 76: Entering ''The Bridge'' part 1


    The next day, Kayn arrived at his favorite park really early in the morning.


    There are still no people around him at this time of the day. As a matter of fact, he is the first person that arrived other than the single caretaker who opened the gate for him.


    At the moment, he is standing in front of the fountain located right in the center of the park.


    A military bag could be seen by his side, which contains some survival tools as his Storage Ring is already full of all the food he stored inside plus all the equipment that he had fused yesterday.


    "Are you ready?" Natas asked.


    Waving his hand, Kayn quickly took out the Entry Crystal from his Storage Ring. He then responded, "Do I have the choice to back out?"


    "From the moment you reincarnate back to the past, there''s bound to be a lot of uncertainty in the future waiting for us because of the ''Tower'' from the second life. If we follow the same path you''ve taken, I guarantee you that you will fail in achieving your goal,"


    "So, I suggest you don''t back out,"


    "I know,"


    Natas is right. Even though the path he took in the second life allowed him to defeat all the Gods and reached the 1,000th floor, that was only because the Gods allowed it to happen.


    However, this time, even if the Gods allow it to happen again because of Natas, the ''Tower'' would certainly do something to prevent him from doing so. And it is exactly that uncertainty that they have to make preparations for.


    "Anyways, are you sure that you would really be able toe along with me?" This was the question that Kayn is very doubtful about. It''s because the Entry Crystal only allows ess to one individual.


    "I''ve already tested it before. If I try to go anywhere within ten kilometers away from you, I will get teleported back to where you are. So, I believe that the moment you enter ''The Bridge'', I would also be teleported to your location,"


    "If you say so," He already witnessed it before. And just like what Natas mentioned, thetter cannot go far away from him as they are connected by some kind of mysterious power together. They tried to understand what it was, but they just don''t have enough time to continue with the experiment. And there''s also no good ce to conduct it further.


    "Here I go,"


    Since he already decided to do it, he no longer showed any slight hesitation when he started infusing mana into the Entry Crystal.


    As more and more mana was infused into the Entry Crystal, its body shone brighter and brighter in blue-colored light.


    In the next moment, the bright blue light suddenly swallowed Kayn whole inside.


    As soon as Kayn disappeared, the confidently standing Natas also disappeared along with him.


    ¡­..


    The next moment Kayn opened his eyes, he found himself in a ce that he was very familiar with. That''s because this is the ce where he first arrived when he was granted entry to enter the ''Tower''.


    There are three small temple-like structures with respectively thebel ''Adventurer'', ''Merchant'', and ''Nobility'' written above them to show what they are.


    These structures are where one would pick which main ss and subsses they wanted to be.


    However, this time, instead of a mirror-like dimension where his feet would show a reflection of what''s above, the entire surrounding is instead reced by greeneries.


    "Wee to ''The Bridge''," A familiar voice muttered behind Kayn.


    "I guessed your theory was correct," Kayn smiled as he faced Natas.


    "You should start trusting me more,"


    "Don''t worry, I will from now on," With that urate judgment despite the fact that there was only a little information they have gathered in their experiment, he''d definitely be trusting Natas a lot more than he did before.


    "Anyways, what''s up with the ss Selection Temples? Wasn''t this ce supposed to be in the mirror dimension?"


    "To tell you the truth, there are actually two locations where you can pick your main ss and subsses,"


    "The main location is the mirror dimension, which is the ce where all rookie Heroes are taken to in their first entry to the ''Tower'',"


    "While the second location could be found in this shabby-looking environment in ''The Bridge'',"


    "This information didn''t spread because everyone who became a Hero here is bound to strict confidentiality by the ''Tower'',"


    "Why?"


    "I''ll be ruining the surprise if I tell you about it now. Don''t worry, you''ll understand why when you get out of ''The Bridge''. Trust me, it will be something beneficial for you and this is also one of the reasons why I want you to enter ''The Bridge'',"


    "So, you''re telling me that the moment you enter ''The Bridge'', you are given the ess to officially be a Hero?"


    "That''s right! Everyone in ''The Bridge'' are Heroes. This is so that everyone will have equal opportunity to fight for all resources in this ce. Not to mention, survive the dangers,"


    "If one is just an ordinary person or a mere Superhuman, surviving for fate knows how long in ''The Bridge'' is going to be impossible. That is why the ''Tower'' specifically gave everyone the power of a Hero,"


    "Why do you think even ordinary people are tempted to get inside ''The Bridge'' despite the risks? It''s because someone leaked such information,"


    "No wonder," Kayn mutters as he walks toward the ss Selection Temples.


    "Are you still going to choose to be an Adventurer this time as well?" Natas isn''t feeling confident with that choice.


    "Is there a problem with that?" Kayn notices the underlying meaning behind Natas'' words.


    "I suggest that you choose Nobility this time,"


    Kayn raises his eyebrow, wondering why Nobility is better than Adventurer for him.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Because of loyalty,"


    "Loyalty¡­" Why didn''t he think of that? That''s right, he would no doubt feel suspicious of everyone other than Natas in the future. In that case, it would be no different for him to just work alone all the time.


    By choosing Nobility, he would be able to see whether a person is loyal to him or not.


    "However, I won''t have the advantages that Adventures possess,"


    Knights would have a bonus when ites to strength.


    Mages in their Mana Capacity.


    Marksmen with their uracy.


    Guardians will have an increase in Endurance.


    Assassins have their Agility.


    Priests naturally possess stronger Vitality.


    Although Nobility could still choose to be whatever the subsses of the Adventurers are, they won''t have those bonuses and advantages that they have. Unless they find an Arcane ss that provides such a benefit.


    Sadly, they cannot get the benefit of the Merchant ss ¡ª the permission to bring items from the ''Tower'' back on Earth.


    On the contrary, they are the only main ss that can buy territories inside the ''Tower''. So, it isn''t entirely bad at all.


    "With your knowledge about the future, is that even a problem for you?"


    "Did I say that it was a problem for me?" Kayn smiles as he unhesitatingly puts his hand on a stone tablet at the center of the Nobility temple.


    [Are you sure you want to choose Nobility?]


    "Yes!"


    *Whoosh!


    A strong gust of wind flowed through Kayn''s hand and he felt a warm light overflowing his body.


    [Congrattions Kayn on bing a Nobility!]


    [You received the title ''Baron''!]


    [You can now buy territories inside the ''Tower'' using the Land Ownership Skill. The size of the territory though will entirely depend on your Noble Rank!]


    [Warning! The Land Ownership Skill is currently locked because you are in ''The Bridge'' right now. You can''t pick any territories to im for your own yet! Only when you officially enter the ''Tower'' would you be able to ess the skill again!]


    [Topensate for that, you will be able to temporarily choose one of the subsses of the Adventurer ss!]


    "What?!" Kayn felt surprised. He turns his head to look at Natas meaningfully, "You knew about this beforehand didn''t you?"


    "I don''t want to ruin the surprise," Natas smirks.


    [Knight]


    [Guardian]


    [Marksman]


    [Mage]


    [Assassin]


    [Priest]


    Without any hesitation, Kayn picked the ''Knight'' subss.


    In the second life, he actually chose the ''Assassin'' subss. It was onlyter on when he got a Subss Transfer Card, an item that allows the user to pick his subss again, that he became a swordsman by picking the ''Knight'' ss.


    [Congrattions! You are now a temporary ''Knight''. Until you are able to leave ''The Bridge'', you will continue to enjoy the benefit of the ''Knight'' subss!]


    [


    <<Knight>>


    Passive Ability: Every time you level up, you will get a +2 increase in Strength and a +1 increase in Endurance above the 2 Stats Points (SP).


    Active Skills:


    Sword sh: Sends a crescent wave to the targeted area.


    (Other Skills are still locked because of your current level. Level up more in order to unlock more Active Sills)


    Description: A brave and courageous soldier that charges at anyone that dares block their way forward. They are unwavering and relentless individuals that hardly consent to anything.


    ]


    "This changes a lot of things," Kayn smiles satisfyingly.

 Chapter 77 Entering ‘The Bridge’ Part 2

    ?Chapter 77: Entering ''The Bridge'' part 2


    Kayn genuinely never expected that by choosing the Nobility ss, he would be given a chance to pick one of the subsses of the Adventurer ss.


    "I wonder what my Status Window would look like after this?" Kayn waves his hand and a translucent window with all of his information written appeared in front of him.


    Just like what its name suggests, a Status Bar is where all of an individual''s current status would be disyed. Ites in a form of a translucent scroll.


    No one would be able to see one''s Status Window unless the user grants permission for another party to see them.


    [


    <<Kayn>>


    Race: Human


    Noble Rank: Baron


    Level: 1


    Main ss: Nobility


    Temporary Subss: Knight


    Currency: 0


    Fame: 0


    Avable SP: 0


    Stats -


    Strength: 15


    Endurance: 12


    uracy: 13


    Agility: 15


    Vitality: 12


    Mana Capacity: 10


    Power Score: 77


    Passive Skills: None


    Active Skills: None


    ]


    His Status Window turns out exactly as he expected.


    "Not bad for a rookie Hero. You could probably overwhelm the majority of your peers already with your Power Score of 77," Natas muttered.


    A Power Score is the total of all stats added together. It''s technically the bases of an individual''s status as a Hero. If one has a low Power Score, then it would be very difficult for them to live inside the ''Tower''. On the contrary, by having a high Power Score, they would be receiving a lot of privileges and advantages far beyond what one could get from Earth.


    "How on Earth can you see my Status Window already?" Kayn felt surprised. He hasn''t given Natas ess to view his Status Window yet.


    "My guess is because I am someone outside of the rules set by the ''Tower''," After all, he is neither a living being nor a non-living being. He doesn''t even know what exactly he is right now. All he knows is, he''s alive in a form of a spirit. "At least to a certain degree only,"


    If he was truly outside the rule of the ''Tower'', then he''d be able to do whatever he wants. Unfortunately, that doesn''t seem to be the case for him.


    "Actually, it is still far off from when I first looked at my Status Window," Back then, his Power Score was nearly two hundred.


    "Of course, it would be since it took you a very long period of time before you were finally granted ess to enter the ''Tower''," Obviously, Kayn''s stats kept on improving as he continues to wait for the time he could enter the ''Tower'' toe. In such a long wait, he''d certainly clear countless dungeons, probably clearing a dungeon that a Superhuman is expected not to be able to clear. That is why his Power Score was close to two hundred.


    Regardless, that doesn''t mean that Kayn could just automatically jump levels and defeat veteran Heroes immediately. The likes of World President Nichs, Admiral Robert, Mercenary King Grey, and Mayor Sebastian would have a Power Score reaching close to a million by now. On the other hand, Captain Victor, Echo, Alex, Alice, Diana, Joshua, and James would have more or less tens of thousands of Power Score.


    Honestly, it isn''t that hard to raise one''s Power Score. All one has to do is continue leveling up, getting better equipment, blessing one''s self with buffs, bonus effects, Passive Skills, and others, andst but certainly not least, defeat monsters and the inhabitants of the ''Tower''.


    Just like in many games, all one has to do is go on a grind. At least that is what the majority of Heroes would do.


    However, in order to be better than them and be one of the few powerful and renowned minorities, the best way is to uncover treasures, and if one is lucky enough, stumble upon a fortuitous encounter.


    "Enough about that," Kayn changed the topic. "So, do you have any idea what I have to do now?"


    He isn''t familiar with the environment in ''The Bridge'', so he wants Natas to show him the rope first.


    "If I remember correctly, there should be a small vige nearby this ce we are at right now. I think it was to the north," Natas turned in their north direction.


    "Let''s go!"


    ¡­..<novelnext></novelnext>


    Just like what Natas had mentioned, they soon found a prospering vige after walking a few tens of meters to the north.


    As soon as Kayn walked close to the entrance of the vige, a man that seems to be a soldier blocked his path.


    "Are you perhaps someone that just entered ''The Bridge''?"


    "Do I look that obvious?" Kayn pretended to act innocent. He doesn''t know much about the rules,ws, and how the people stuck in this ce go on with their daily lives, so he obviously has to act like he means no harm.


    "Not really," The man calmly shook his head. "It''s just, this is my first time seeing your face, that''s why,"


    "Anyways, since you''re new to ''The Bridge'', I rmend that you go to the Town Hall first to register your name and all. Otherwise, you will have difficulty trying to live in the Green Horn Vige,"


    "Why is that?"


    "Because the Chief of the Vige doesn''t wee and won''t ept anyone who has an unknown identity as he is afraid of the uncertainty and variables you will be bringing into his territory,"


    "I understand," Kayn nodded his head. "So, where''s the Town Hall?"


    "Over there,"


    The soldier pointed towards the two-story house located right at the center of the vige.


    "Thank you,"


    "No problem!"


    After bidding farewell to the soldier, Kayn walks straight in the direction of the Town Hall. The reason though wasn''t because of the reminder that the soldier informed him about, but because Natas'' told him that it is a must in ''The Bridge'' if one wants to stay in Viges and Towns.


    Apparently, there are no Cities to be found in ''The Bridge'' because no one is worthy enough to be a Mayor. Moreover, people here don''t really like to be bound by anything if there''s no profit or benefit to be gained. This means, it would require a lot of budgets to establish a City, which no one could afford.


    "Don''t worry, you can use whatever alias you want because there''s no way someone could recognize you here. And even if there is someone, using an alias is not illegal," Natas assured Kayn.


    "Do I seriously have to do this in all the Viges and Towns?"


    "I am afraid to say, but yes, because their respective Chiefs don''t necessarily have a good impression of each other. Most of the time, they are even in conflict with each other,"


    "What happens if my name is registered to a Vige whose Chief is in conflict with this Vige?"


    "You''ll die, of course,"


    "That serious?!" Kayn was shocked.


    "As if that''s your first time hearing something like that," Such behavior is actually not rare inside the ''Tower''. It''s somon that it almost happens all the time. "But don''t worry, the Chief of this Vige is someone that barely has any enemies. You should be able to understand why from the name of the Vige,"


    "Green Horn Vige¡­ Beginners Vige,"


    "That''s right! Practically everyone who first entered ''The Bridge'' woulde to this Vige, including the Chiefs of the other Viges and Towns,"


    From that alone, Kayn could already surmise that the Chief of the Green Horn Vige is one of the first pioneers who entered ''The Bridge'' in the early years of its discovery.


    Since the Vige isn''t that big, it didn''t take Kayn and Natas that long to arrive in front of the Town Hall.


    Along the way, most of the houses they passed by were made out of wood and carved stones. And almost all of them have a stall outside that sells a variety of equipment, consumables, and materials, evidently showing that one of the main purposes of Viges and Towns like the Green Horn Vige is to trade with other Heroes.


    He didn''t spot a single food stall or a restaurant though, making him wonder inwardly why that is the case.


    Above all else, there are no infrastructures like a Tavern or a Gambling House. There weren''t even any dark alleys.


    Looking above the Town Hall, Kayn could see an old man looking in his direction from a window.


    "Is that the Vige Chief?"


    "Yeah, his name is George, but everyone prefers to call him Old Chief George, because of how long he has been in ''The Bridge'',"


    "That name sounds familiar,"


    "He is that Hero with the nickname Old Guard George,"


    "That''s him?!"


    Old Guard George. He is one of the most renowned Heroes of the future as he founded the Old Guard Guild based on the Mercenary Nation.


    The name Old Guard doesn''t actually mean that they are made up of a bunch of old and elderly Heroes. Behind its name is actually a story about a group of veteran Heroes that choose to make the Mercenary Nation their home because no other nation around the globe epts them for they stand at the boundary between Heroes and Viins. In other words, Vigntes. Aside from that, they are one of the most loyal forces of Mercenary King Grey and were recognized as one of his guards.


    As for Old Guard George, he is one of the five individuals on Earth that Mercenary King Grey trust the most. This trust waster proven when Old Guard George sacrificed himself in order to save Mercenary King Grey from a powerful monster that invaded the Mercenary Nation.


    "I didn''t expect that I would be meeting such an upright individual in ''The Bridge''," Kayn can''t help feeling delighted about his encounter.


    From the moment he first entered ''The Bridge'', he has been experiencing one unexpected thing after another. And all of them turned out to be beneficial for him.


    Because of that, he can''t help bing excited about the things that he would be encountering in the time he stays in this ce.


    Regardless of whether they are good or bad though, he can''t wait to experience them soon.

 Chapter 78 The Ways Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 1

    ?Chapter 78: The ways of ''The Bridge'' part 1


    As soon as Kayn entered the Town Hall, he was immediately greeted by a long line of people sitting on the chairs beside a room that has the que of Old Chief George. The line made multiple zigzags until it arrived near the entrance which is where he is standing right now.


    "I guess he is not meeting with people today?" Kayn muttered as he tried to turn around to leave the ce.


    "Lucky for you, you don''t have to line up along with them," Natas pulled Kayn back. "You line up over there,"


    Looking in the direction where Natas is pointing, he notices a small window where a man could be seen yawning on his chair.


    "Were you expecting that a lot of people are entering ''The Bridge'' every day?"


    "Not really," But he didn''t expect that it would only be him today. If he remembers correctly, entering ''The Bridge'' is still an ongoing trend until now. So, he expected to see probably more or less dozen people enter at the same time as him. But on second thought¡­ "That''s probably the reason why I didn''t see anyone else along the way,"


    "I forgot to tell you this, but people from the outside normally enter ''The Bridge'' twice a month only, and today just so happens to be not one of those days,"


    "Why?"


    "It''s because every twice a week an event would take ce in ''The Bridge''. Not an event hosted by the ''Tower'', of course. But an event hosted by all Chiefs of the Viges and Towns across ''The Bridge'',"


    "A huge influx of people would enter ''The Bridge'' by then because that event involves giving the beginners a lot of benefits that can help them start up with their lives in ''The Bridge'',"


    "Was that the reason why Old Chief George was looking at me just now?"


    "Most likely. Since there''s no one who prefers to enter ''The Bridge'' in the very first week after an event has just ended. He probably felt strange,"


    "Anyways, go on, register your name so we can get out of here and start adapting to the ways of ''The Bridge'',"


    Hearing that, Kayn walks toward the window where he is supposed to be registering his name and all to the Green Horn Vige in order to get an identity here and thus be able to avail their services and other necessary stuff that they offer.


    "Excuse me,"


    "Ah!" The man instantly fell from his seat.


    "Are you alright?"


    "Yeah, I am. Sorry about that,"


    The man quickly fixed himself and the chair before sitting back on it to face Kayn. This time, his face no longer looked bored but professional.


    "How may I help you?"


    "I am here to register an identity in the Green Horn Vige. I heard from one of the soldiers at the gate of the Vige that this is where I am supposed to go,"


    "Are you perhaps new in ''The Bridge''?"


    "Just how can you guess that?"


    "You look young,"


    "Is there a problem with being young?"


    "No one in ''The Bridge'' is young. Not to mention, as young as you. You''re probably eighteen to twenty years old. Just what is someone as young as you doing in this dangerous ce?"


    "Fair enough," Kayn finally understood why the soldier was easily able to guess that he is now in ''The Bridge''. It wasn''t because thetter hasn''t seen him in the Green Horn Vige before. Instead, it''s because he looks young. "Well, I found an Entry Crystal while I was hiking a mountain, then because of my ignorance, I infused mana into it, and as you can guess, here I am,"


    This was the story that Natas and he has agreed upon together.


    He finally understands now why Natas insisted on going with this story.


    "You are very lucky that you found yourself in the Green Horn Vige,"


    "Are there any other Viges nearby?"


    "Yes, the Tenderfoot Vige,"


    "I see," Tenderfoot, which also means beginners'' Vige.


    "However, contrary to its name, the Tenderfoot Vige isn''t actually friendly with newbies. As a matter of fact, they discriminate against Heroes that just entered ''The Bridge'',"


    "They did say that after every unfortunate event is a fortunate encounter,"


    "That aside," The man handed a form to Kayn, "You can fill all of this and give it to me once you are done, and afterward you''ll have to wait until your identity card is finished,"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "How long would that take?"


    "It depends. If you are really who you im you are, then it will take less than half an hour. But if you are affiliated with other Viges and Towns, we will have to contact them in order to receive yourplete information. In that case, it would take more than a week,"


    "Thank you, here''s the paper," Kayn returned the paper.


    "Done already?"


    "There wasn''t that much to fill up,"


    "I agree. Sometimes I wonder if we have to add even more things here. What do you think?"


    "I think I''ll wait over there until you finish,"


    "Alright!"


    Kayn no longer waste any time and quickly left the receptionist as he doesn''t want to prolong his stay in this ce since there is nothing much to do here.


    "I am curious, why won''t Old Chief George see these people?" From the moment he stepped inside the Town Hall and saw this long line of people, he can''t help wanting to know why the man in question who he just saw was actually inside the Town Hall right now is ignoring them.


    That aside, he also wants to know and get some clues ahead of time as he had chosen Nobility as his main ss. The moment he enters the ''Tower'', he''d be doing something even worse than the responsibility of a mere Chief.


    Natas quickly understood Kayn''s intention. So, he chuckled before responding, "It''s not actually only Old Chief George that does this. Practically all Chiefs of Viges and Towns all around ''The Bridge'' ignore the majority of their vigers and townspeople,"


    "Of course, they aren''t trying to run away from their responsibility as the Vige or Town Chief. Instead, it''s because these people here only came to bother with useless and small matters,"


    "In the future, once you start acting like a Baron, you''ll understand that there are things that you must and mustn''t ignore. In a lot of cases I''ve observed over the millennia, you''ll be handed with a lot of the former and lesser than you expect for thetter, that''s the reason for this scene"


    "Rest assured though, why do you have me for, right?"


    Kayn turned to look at Natas in surprise. "Was that your n all along?"


    "You do your own thing, and I do mine. After all, we are both in this together,"


    "d to know," He only chooses the Nobility ss so that he''ll be able to see whether a person is loyal to him or is a traitor. Perhaps owning a territory would also be helpful for him in a long run. But all in all, he will still pursue his previous path of bing a swordsman.


    Knowing that Natas is going to assist him in ying Noble, he can already imagine that he won''t have to worry about that matter anymore.


    Kayn was pulled from his thoughts when the receptionist arrived in front of him.


    "Excuse me,"


    "Is it done?"


    "Since there was no one other than you that''s registering their identity today and because the information you''ve filled up is all true, thus the time it took to finish the process is short,"


    "You don''t have to exin all of that to me next time, okay? By the way, thank you,"  Kayn quickly took the Identification Card that the receptionist was handing to him and immediately made his way outside.


    However, before Kayn could leave, the receptionist suddenly informs him.


    "I almost forgot, Mister Kayn, Old Chief George wanted to see you in his office,"


    Instantly, everyone around them turned their attention to Kayn.


    "Why?" Kayn looks around his surrounding cautiously.


    "Remember what you said," The receptionist muttered as he made his way back to his post.


    "It seems like the receptionist is trying to get back at you for your rudeness," Natas felt likeughing at Kayn.


    "I''ll keep that in mind next time," Kayn reminded himself not to do that to a receptionist anymore. He just wanted to get out of this ce as soon as possible so that he can begin exploring ''The Bridge''. In the end, he identally offended someone.


    "Is it that way?" Kayn eximed to the receptionist as he pointed toward the door where all the people are lining up.


    "Just go straight and don''t mind the others,"


    "You said it," Kayn gulped down a mouthful of saliva before walking toward the door. Deep inside, he felt nervous. Not at the people around him since he hasn''t personally done anything wrong that would cause him to offend any of them, they are simply curious about who he is. Rather, it is the reason why Old Chief George wanted to meet him. As far as he knows, he hasn''t met or had any interactions with thetter in this life.


    "It shouldn''t be that bad," Natasforted Kayn.


    "I sure do hope so,"

 Chapter 79 The Ways Of The Bridge Part 2

    ?Chapter 79: The ways of ''The Bridge'' part 2


    Kayn didn''t mind the people who were lining up at the side of the door as they continued to observe him open the door and walk inside the room.


    Upon closing the door, he found the room in front of him empty. There were piles and piles of documents stacked on top of each other on the table. But there was nobody around to take care of them.


    He was expecting such a sight though as he saw the man who is supposed to be responsible for all of this staying somewhere else.


    Observing around the room, he soon saw a flight of stairs leading to the second floor of the Town Hall just a few meters to his right.


    "I guess he didn''t leave his spot before," Kayn mutters while walking on the stairs. Since Old Chief George is not on the first floor, he could only assume that he is still on the second floor.


    Just as he expected, the moment he arrives on the second floor, he immediately spots Old Chief George still looking out the window in front of the Town Hall.


    "Excuse me," Kayn made his presence known.


    "Mayor Sebastian already informed me a few days ago about your arrival in ''The Bridge''," Old Chief George said as he turns around to face Kayn.


    Kayn was instantly rendered shocked after hearing the name of Mayor Sebastian. But he didn''t allow it to show on his face and he continued to listen to Old Chief George.


    "At first, I didn''t believe him because why would the son-inw of the Mayor of Moon Dragon City, the Capital City of Dragon Beast Republic,e to such a dangerous ce, right?"


    "However, as soon as you walked into my Vige, I realized that he wasn''t telling a lie. A person who could have chosen to live a prestigious and easygoing life is actually risking his life to enter ''The Bridge'',"


    Old Chief George pulled his chair behind the table in front of him and sat on it as he stares solemnly at Kayn, "He told me that if ever you find yourself in my Green Horn Vige I have to make sure that you are well provided and nothing dangerous will ever befall you. In other words, he wants you to stay in my Vige and only do small tasks. But I wonder if that''s also what you want, seeing how eager you were just now from leaving the Town Hall?"


    "It''s exactly as what you''ve said," He obviously won''t want to just do small tasks while staying in ''The Bridge''. By doing so, it would be no different than just wasting his time. He obviously didn''t enter this ce just to waste his time.


    "To tell you honestly, Sebastian expected your reaction. So, he made a preparation for it," Old Chief George motions his hand for Kayn to sit on the empty chair in front of him.


    Kayn went to sit on the chair.


    Old Chief George took some pieces of paper from his drawer and starts reading its content, ", , , , ," He went to the  next page, "I want, , , , , ," To the next page, "So that, , , , , ," And finally to thest page, "To achieve, , , , , ,"


    "Despite the tens of years I''ve not seen Sebastian, he seriously still never changes with how long he handles all the matters," Old Chief put the document on the table before looking at Kayn, "To save both of us time, Sebastian wants you toplete a series of tasks first, ranging from easy to hard, before you are permitted to freely explore ''The Bridge'',"


    "He calls it, The Ways of ''The Bridge''. And in my opinion, following this would bring you more benefit and no harm. Albeit I''ll be changing some of the conditions listed here based on my personal experiences so that you''ll get the most out of it,"


    Kayn was dumbfounded after hearing that. He can''t believe Mayor Sebastian has simrly made preparations just like him on his living conditions in ''The Bridge''. If only he knew about this a long time ago, he might have reconsidered making his own preparation. Needless to say, it doesn''t mean he agrees with Mayor Sebastian''s The Ways of ''The Bridge''.


    "As much as I want to be with you in this one, I honestly agree with Mayor Sebastian''s so-called The Way of ''The Bridge''," Natas expresses his opinion. "I know we made preparations beforehand on how we can slowly adapt on ''The Bridge''. Regretfully, all of those ideas were based on nothing more than our mere spections after using the information we have brainstormed together from the experiences we could remember of other people as references,"


    "On the contrary, Mayor Sebastian''s n is going to be backed by Old Chief George''s real-life experiences. That''s going to be a lot more helpfulpared to our mere ideas,"


    Kayn still felt doubtful. So, he asked, "Can I see the list of tasks?"


    "I am afraid, but no," Old Chief George shook his head without any hesitation. "If I let you see it, chances are you are going to skip the easy tasks and go to the next level immediately. Once you are done with them, only then will you go back to the easy tasks. By doing so, they will lose their purpose,"


    "Don''t worry, I''ll be giving you one day''s worth of time to consider or possibly try to escape from my Vige and go to the neighboring territory, Tenderfoot Vige. If you do, I''ll take it that you decline and thus I would no longer pursue this matter any further,"


    "Your life, your rules," Old Chief George smiles reassuringly as if to express to Kayn that he can do whatever he wants as he doesn''t care about his own life.


    "While I make some adjustments to Sebastian''s The Ways of ''The Bridge. In the meantime, I''ll be assigning Gilbert," Old Chief George ps his hand and the receptionist from before immediately walks inside. "To take care of you,"


    "I see that we have met again," Gilbert teases.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Is this your own way of getting back at me?" Kayn wonders.


    "Perhaps it is, and perhaps it is not,"


    "It seems like the both of you are already on friendly terms with each other,"


    "Yes, friends¡­" Kayn sarcastically utters.


    "I never expected that you''ll be meeting your match here," Natas shortly chuckles.


    "Anyways, here," Old Chief George throws a pouch full of coins to Kayn.


    Kayn quickly caught the pouch before asking, "So, I am already getting an allowance?"


    "That''s not your allowance. You were supposed to get that after you''ve finished registering your identity in my Vige," Old Chief George exins as he looked at Gilbert meaningfully.


    "How dare you¡­" Kayn pointed his finger at Gilbert in disbelief. Thetter actually hid such an important matter from him.


    "Next time, don''t cut me when I am talking, lest you want something like that to happen again to you," Gilbert smiles.


    "I''ll make sure to take note of that," Kayn clicks his tongue in annoyance.


    "Let''s meet again here tomorrow, same time, as I will be handling your first task by then," Old Chief George dismisses Kayn and Gilbert.


    Without wasting any time, Kayn followed Gilbert to leave the room.


    At the moment, the two walked on another stairway to go down to the first floor.


    "This is the Staff''s Exit. We are using this so that you won''t have to worry about those vigers waiting outside the door. And also, so that they will continue to assume you''re inside and thus realize that the matter Old Chief George is currently taking care of is very important, hence prompting them to leave eventually and go back tomorrow,"


    "What a well-thought n,"


    "That''s the reason why Old Chief George assigned me to be your guide,"


    "I''m sorry, I am currently poor so I don''t have anything to offer to you," Kayn sarcastically muttered.


    "Don''t worry, I am getting paid enough to do something as minuscule as this,"


    Kayn made sure to look at Gilbert from his toe to his head before saying, "You don''t seem like you are,"


    "Anyways, we don''t have all day to keep on bantering with each other. So, where do you n to take me next?" Kayn immediately cut off any possible response from Gilbert.


    This time, it is Gilbert that clicked his tongue in annoyance. He responded, "We will be going to the Green Horn Inn first to settle your room. They tend to get full once dusk hits, so it''s rmended to book before then,"


    "It''s still early," He entered ''The Bridge'' really early in the morning. And throughout his journey from where he spawned to the present moment, it only took him more or less an hour or two.


    "Early morning on Earth is equal to early noon in ''The Bridge''. The time between the two ces doesn''t corrte with each other," Gilbert shook his head. "Sadly, we don''t have a clock or a way to urately tell the time in ''The Bridge''. But if my guess is correct, it''s probably three in the afternoon right now. So, we only have two hours or so before dusk,"


    "We better hurry then,"


    "That''s the main reason why we are going to the Green Horn Inn first before I start touring you around the Green Horn Vige,"


    Gilbert opened the door at the end of the stairs and Kayn and he left the Town Hall through the back.

 Chapter 80 Green Horn Village

    ?Chapter 80: Green Horn Vige


    After checking into the Green Horn Inn, Gilbert took Kayn to tour around the territory of the Green Horn Vige.


    While walking to their next destination, Kayn asks, "So, tell me about the Green Horn Vige?"


    Gilbert cough before exining, "The Green Horn Vige is the first ever Vige to be constructed in ''The Bridge'',"


    "Almost every Hero that entered ''The Bridge'' started from this Vige. And every tale and story they carve for themselves have this Vige as the starting line, and sometimes even the end. Hence, the reason why it is named Green Horn Vige,"


    "All these years, as more and more Heroes entered ''The Bridge'', the Green Horn Vige can no longer umte all of them. Because of that, other Heroes took upon the responsibility to make other Viges. Over time, more and more Viges were constructed, and eventually, some of them became Towns. Regardless though, they still could never remove themselves from the influence and connection with the Green Horn Vige,"


    "Has it never crossed Old Chief George''s mind to make his Vige the only territory in ''The Bridge''?" Kayn can''t help asking.


    "Honestly, Old Chief George could have prevented other Heroes from constructing more Viges by choosing to expand his territory. But he decided not to as he doesn''t want the Heroes to be stuck in his Vige. He exined that if the people treat his Vige as their home, it wouldn''t be long before they''d eventually start treating ''The Bridge'' as their home as well,"


    "When that timees, there will never be any hope for them to able to escape from ''The Bridge'' anymore and that means they''d be forever stuck in this ce,"


    "Although it doesn''t seem like it, everyone in ''The Bridge'' actually wants to leave this ce as soon as possible. It''s just, they don''t know how,"


    "Why?"


    "Because although you can see the door of the ''Tower'' from anywhere in ''The Bridge'' as long as you look to the north, there''s actually no real path to reach that location. What''s waiting for us is nothing but a long empty void blocking our way to reach the door of the ''Tower'',"


    "We''ve tried to look for any method to cross it, but everything was proven futile in the end,"


    Kayn finally understood why it took the people stuck in ''The Bridge'' many years in order to escape.


    "That aside, the Green Horn Vige is actually built in a very strategic location. It is located on one of the only two entry points for one to explore ''The Bridge'', the other being the Tenderfoot Vige,"


    "The ss Selection Temples is to our south. It is located right at the very center of the Split Mountain," Gilbert pause as he pointed towards the mountain that split together with them being the center. "If you had continued farther south, probably hundreds of meters from here, you''d stumble upon the Tenderfoot Vige,"


    "If you had gone to either east or west from the ss Selection Temples, you''d be forced to stop because of the wall of the Split Mountain. Hence, you''d still bepelled to pick either going north or south,"


    "Going back to the Green Horn Vige. This Vige isn''t honestly that big, but at the very least, it contains all the necessary infrastructure that a rookie Hero requires before he can start any of his expeditions in ''The Bridge'',"


    "Speaking about that," Gilbert paused as they arrived in the center of a busy street, "Thend around the Green Horn Vige is separated into three different streets. Of course, there are other streets connected to them. But these three act as the main streets,"


    "The first street is the Business Street. It is where all infrastructures that sell any equipment, consumables, materials, and other services like the Green Horn Inn are located," Gilbert pointed to the south.


    "The second street is the Residential Street. You have probably noticed along the way to the Town Hall that there were no residential houses around you. That''s because they are over there," Gilbert pointed east.


    "Lastly, the third street is called the Capital Street. It is where the Town Hall, Library, Barracks, Training Grounds, and other infrastructures rted to the management and maintenance of the Green Horn Vige are located," Gilbert pointed north, where the Town Hall is standing tall.


    "Old Chief George made sure to arrange it this way so that any people that visit the Green Horn Vige would be able to easily find their way,"


    "And right at where we are standing right now is the Market,"


    "Market?" Kayn felt doubtful. Looking around their surroundings, there''s practically nothing to be seen around them right now. Also, shouldn''t the Market be on the Business Street? After all, that''s the perfect ce to build it.


    "You''ll only be able to see it twice a month,"


    Kayn instantly understood what Gilbert meant ¡ª The event that takes ce in ''The Bridge'' twice a month.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "How about we go over there first and talk more about the Green Horn Vige? I assume that you still want to know more about it," Gilbert pointed towards a small coffee shop. "Back when I was still on Earth, the best ce to talk about important matters are always the coffee shop,"


    "Let''s go!" Kayn nodded his head.


    With that being said, Kayn and Gilbert went to the coffee shop to continue with their talk about the Green Horn Vige. Of course, the topic of ''The Bridge'' is also going to be something that they''ll be talking about.


    Meanwhile, Natas remained silent as he followed behind Kayn and Gilbert. Though, inside his mind right now, he is taking note of all important matters about the Green Horn Vige.


    ¡­.


    When dusk came, Gilbert took Kayn back to the Green Horn Inn.


    "I''ll return at dawn tomorrow to pick you up and take you to the Town Hall," Gilbert reminded Kayn.


    "I thought that I''ll be meeting Old Chief George early noon tomorrow?" Kayn felt slightly confused.


    "That''s just to give you more time to consider some stuff and for you to try and escape the Green Horn Vige. If you have made your decision already at dawn, you don''t have to wait to receive the first task from him,"


    Kayn nodded his head in understanding.


    "Since we''re done with practically everything here, I''ll be leaving you now. I wish you''ll enjoy your rest at the Green Horn Inn," Gilbert said his farewell before making his way to the Residential Street.


    "It seems like Gilbert is a permanent resident of the Green Horn Vige," Kayn muttered silently. ording to Gilbert when they were talking at the coffee shop back then, only the permanent residents of the Green Horn Vige could buy or rent a house on the Residential Street. Otherwise, one can only stay in the Inn around the Business Street. Worst, if all inns are fully upied, then one would have no other choice but to stay outside the Green Horn Vige since sleeping on the street of the Green Horn Vige is strictly not allowed.


    "If I remember correctly, in order to be a permanent resident, one has to reach a certain amount of contribution to the Green Horn Vige. I guess our tour guide wasn''t as simple as how he seems on the surface," Natas expressed.


    "You actually didn''t notice?"


    "Notice what?"


    "His main ss is Adventurer and his subss is most likely Assassin," As an assassin in the second life, he can easily recognize if someone is an assassin or not. Based on his observation of the way Gilbert moves, he can easily perceive that thetter is an assassin.


    "Oh, I didn''t notice that," It''s probably because he was preupied with observing the Green Horn Vige. As a matter of fact, while Kayn and Gilbert were having a conversation in the coffee shop a while ago, he actually went to the roof to look around the ce and see the Vige with his own eyes.


    "Let''s get inside," Kayn walks inside the Green Horn Inn.


    Just like what Gilbert had told them before, the first floor of the Green Horn Inn is now crowded with dozens of Heroes that clearly just arrived from their expedition.


    Looking around, he could see some Heroes currently enjoying the fruit of theirbor, others treating their wounds, while a few are trying their best to get a room despite the fact that the inn is already full.


    "I suggest that you go to your room now," Natas said as he notices the desperation in the eyes of the people that wanted to book a room.


    Kayn quickly understood what Natas meant after briefly looking around, so he didn''t waste any time as he quietly made his way to the stairs leading to the rooms, fearing that someone might suddenly approach him to ask if they could share a room with him.


    Fortunately, no one was able to notice him as he climb up the stairs, making him breathe a sigh of relief.


    Nevertheless, he still made sure to get to his room as fast as possible. Only if he gets inside his room would he be sure that no one would bother him.


    Luckily enough for him, he got inside his room safe and sound.


    After finishing all his routines, he finally went to sleep to prepare for tomorrow.

 Chapter 81 Gathering Materials In The Split Mountain Part 1

    ?Chapter 81: Gathering materials in the Split Mountain part 1


    The next day, Gilbert escorted Kayn early in the morning back to the Town Hall while Natas followed closely behind the two.


    Just like what Gilbert had mentioned yesterday, Old Chief George had long already finished his revision to The Ways of ''The Bridge'' a few minutester after they left the Town Hall. The rest of the time he gave them was indeed just for Kayn to use to consider the matter.


    "I have brought Kayn, Old Chief," Gilbert reported their arrival.


    "You''re earlier than I expected," Old Chief George felt slightly disappointed as he looked at Kayn. "I was assuming that you''de herete, like a day or twote,"


    "I imagine that you will escape my Vige in the evening then once you reach the Tenderfoot Vige you will realize the mistake you''vemitted after you find out the hard way just how worst and bad the living condition of that ce is,"


    "I was expecting that because of that reason, you will crawl your way right back in front of me and beg me to have mercy and help you. To make sure that I truly agree, you''ll use my rtionship with Sebastian as your leverage. But what you don''t know is, I would actually just pretend to change my mind and ept you back. Albeit, I would still honor my promise to Sebastian, except I will no longer view you favorably,"


    "You''re underestimating me," Kayn shook his head.


    "This is something I always do to someone with the kind of background like yours ¡ª an orphan who luckily became the son-inw of the Mayor of one of the greatest cities on Earth. I know you''ve lived a fair share of struggle and hardship, that is why now that you''re standing in your position right now, you''ll think of enjoying the fruits of yourbor,"


    "Do you always think of people that way?"


    "Yes, and that''s the exact reason why I survive until now despite being an orphan like you, and on top of that, being an old man," Old Chief George took a piece of paper and slid it in front of Kayn. "Until you prove yourself, my opinion about you will stay as it is. Don''t even try to persuade me with mere words, because trust me, a lot of people tried, but all of them failed,"


    Kayn understood and took the piece of paper. But before he can begin scanning the content, Old Chief George interrupted him once again.


    "I have listed a considerable number of different materials that you can only find in the Split Moutain and nowhere else, and the quantity that I need you to bring to me. Collect all of them and transport them to me in three days. Otherwise, you will continue to repeat this task over and over again until you finallyplete it before the deadline,"


    "And just to remind you, the more you repeat this task, the fewer materials you can find in Split Mountain. Moreover, there are other people who collect these materials to make a living and I won''t be helping you to stop them from doing anything to you. So, good luck, and may the Gods be in your favor," Old Chief George said in hisst piece.


    "Will Gilbert still being with me?" Kayn turns to look at Gilbert.


    "I''m afraid not,"


    "Even if I want to, I can''t. As you know already, I have a job in the Town Hall, which is more important than babysitting you," Gilbert said jokingly. His rtionship with Kayn has already reached the point where they can joke like this with each other after they talked at the coffee shop yesterday.


    "So, you would choose to do your boring job rather than go adventuring with me?"


    "You do your own thing, while I do mine," Gilbert left it at that as he can''t reveal anything more to Kayn.


    Unbeknownst to Gilbert, his response is actually more than enough for Kayn to understand that he would most likely be following him in secret while he scavenges for the materials on the list.


    Kayn is already aware that Gilbert is not just any ordinary receptionist, especially after knowing that he works directly under Old Chief George and the fact that his chosen subss is Assassin. It''s probably because there''s not much to do during this time of the month that''s why he was temporarily assigned as a receptionist. But now that there is, he would most definitely be leaving that boring job soon and be assigned to a new and important one.


    Looking at the list, Kayn notices thirty materials that he needed to collect. It wasn''t a lot, but it''s definitely not a few as well.


    "I guess I have to start looking for them now, lest I failed the task," Kayn said before making his way to the Staff''s exit as he doesn''t want to be seen leaving the office of Old Chief George. He can already see dozens of people out the window walking inside the Town Hall right now. And he is certain that they will line up in the Chief''s office again. There''s no telling what their reaction would be after seeing him again receiving what they would most likely assume as special treatment.


    As soon as Kayn left the Town Hall, he didn''t immediately leave the Green Horn Vige to start looking for the materials in the list.


    What Old Chief George had given him was only a list of all the names of the materials. He had read some of them along the way, but he can only recognize a good half of them. That''s why he has to find another way to be able to identify them. Luckily for him, he knows where exactly to get that information.


    Kayn made his way to the Alchemist Shop that Gilbert had pointed to him before.


    Arriving at the Alchemist Shop, Kayn quickly bought a book that contains aption of all the materials that can be found in Split Mountain. He also bought aption of all the materials that can be found in ''The Bridge'', obviously intending to study themter on in case one of the future tasks would be to look for one of them.


    Once he was done with that, he made his way back to the Green Horn Inn to get some things that he''ll be using in his search.


    "Is Gilbert following us?" Kayn asks as he pretended to read the book he had just bought.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "He is," Natas confirmed.


    "Where is he hiding right now?"


    "On the roof of the building to your six o''clock,"


    "What do you n on doing?"


    "Inform him that I know where he is at," Kayn suddenly turns around and waves his hand in the direction of Gilbert. "After all, we can use every manpower avable to us to help us with all the tasks,"


    Not long after, Gilbert revealed himself. He jumps down and quickly approaches Kayn, "How''d you know?"


    "As I said before, you guys are underestimating me,"


    "Did you know I was following you all this time?"


    "From the moment I left the Town Hall,"


    "This is bad. I will be punished by Old Chief George once I report this to him," Gilbert felt stressed.


    "Why would you do that? You can just pretend that I didn''t discover you, right?"


    "You¡­" Gilbert instantly realized what Kayn is nning on doing. This guy wants him to help with his task. "I can''t do that,"


    "Why?"


    "If I help you, The Ways of ''The Bridge'' would lose its purpose,"


    "I don''t mean that you help me directly. You can just help me indirectly. Using this first task as a reference, you can point out the exact location of all of these materials in Split Mountain then you can leave it to me to collect all of them,"


    Hearing that, Gilbert turned silent as he starts to consider Kayn''s proposal.


    "I''ll be going back to the Green Horn Inn to grab some stuff. Once I return, I expect to hear your response," Kayn left to give Gilbert some time to think about his proposal.


    "Shouldn''t you be persuading him relentlessly until he finally agrees?" Natas wonders.


    "That would cause me harm rather than good," He can see that Gilbert is loyal to Old Chief George. In that case, if Gilbert misunderstood that he is trying to abolish what Old Chief George is trying to achieve with The Ways of ''The Bridge'', which he isn''t as he is trying to use it to adapt to this ce, then he would no doubt report that he has found him by some means that only he knows. By then, someone else would be tasked to follow him secretly. That would be disadvantageous for him as he won''t be familiar with the next person in charge and there''s no telling whether that person would truly help him or not if he faces danger.


    "I guess you''re right," Natas immediately understood the reason why. To simply put, if ever Gilbert felt that Kayn is harming his Master''s interest, he would in turn cause harm to Kayn''s interest instead.


    It didn''t take long for Kayn to meet up with Gilbert again. He had already unpacked all of his stuffst night. So, he simply has to store some of the necessary items he things he needs for this task in his Storage Ring, and then he is done.


    "Have you made up your mind?" Kayn asked one more time.


    "Are you sure that I really won''t be directly helping you?" Gilbert still wanted to confirm something.


    "All you have to do is provide me with the necessary information I need and I''ll be the one to take action toplete them," Kayn assures.


    "Okay, I agree," Gilbert put his hand forward.


    "d that we made an agreement," Kayn shook Gilbert''s hand.


    With that being said, Kayn and Gilbert departed from Green Horn Vige.


    Kayn and Natas walked openly, whereas Gilbert continue to hide while at the same time following them pretending as if they don''t know where he is.

 Chapter 82 Gathering Materials In The Split Mountain Part 2

    ?Chapter 82: Gathering materials in the Split Mountain part 2


    "What a smart move you did there, Kayn," Natas can''t helpplimenting Kayn''s strategy. With Gilbert helping them, their job would no doubt be simpler.


    "That was child''s y," Kayn nonchntly responded. What he did before was nothing special. He simply made a deal with Gilbert that allows the two of them to benefit while also making sure that Old Chief George''s interest won''t get hurt.


    Kayn wipes the sweat on his forehead before going back to his task.


    Currently, they are at the location of the first material written in the list ¡ª one of the ravines in the Split Mountain.


    The first material they have to gather is called Mountain Side Root. Just like what its name implies, it is a root of a nt that broke to the side of a cliff or ravine. The reason why a Mountain Side Root is considered a material is that the soil found in such ces is actually very strong due to them receiving mana just like the soil on the surface. So, for a mere root to destroy them, it could only be under the condition that they contain mana as well.


    "I didn''t know that Mountain Side Root is a material used to brew Minute Endurance Potion," Kayn said while using a dagger to cut the root. In the past, he used such roots to climb a mountain. Never did he expect that it would be a material used for brewing a potion.


    "It''s not the root that Alchemist uses to brew Minute Endurance Potion, it''s actually their sap as it contains minerals that enhance endurance," Natas exins.


    "Who are you talking to young man?"


    "I was only talking to myself, Mister," Kayn gestures his hand to a man who is also collecting Mountain Side Roots with him.


    Just like what Old Chief George said before, there are indeed other people who collect the materials he had listed. And it''s not just a few as he had observed a considerable number of them over the distance, hanging on the ravine just like him while collecting the Mountain Side Root they have found.


    Thinking about it, just the first material alone already has these many people trying to collect them, let alone the others. And there''s twenty-nine more to go.


    He can already imagine just how difficult it would be for him if he fails to deliver all materials within three days and has to repeat the same task once again.


    "Make sure to be careful down there. The lower you are, the more dangerous it is. And also, it would be harder for you to breathe,"


    "Understood," Kayn nodded his head before going back to cutting the Mountain Side Root.


    Fortunately, the people who gather these materials for a living aren''t as bad as Old Chief George described them to be. It''s probably because of thetter''s first impression of everyone that clouded his judgment.


    He had made conversation with the Mister just now, and thetter said that whoever finds any materials in the Split Mountain first gets to keep it for themselves. That''s always the rule in the Split Mountain.


    Albeit, the Mister also warned him to be careful of the people from the Tenderfoot Vige, as they tend to get overly aggressive if ever the quality of the material found by someone is to their liking.


    Regardless, as long as it isn''t he could just go and gather them as he likes.


    With onest swing of Kayn''s dagger, the Mountain Side Root dropped onto the basket he is carrying on his waist.


    "Finally," Kayn exhaled in relief. At longst, he has finished gathering all Mountain Side Root that he needed ¡ª exactly 10 pieces as each piece weighs one kilogram.


    "I''ll be going first," Kayn bid farewell to the Mister nearby him.


    "Take care," The Mister waved his hand.


    Quickly, Kayn climbed upward while using the rope that is attached to his waist to support him and the basket he is carrying.


    At the top, Gilbert is pulling the rope to hasten Kayn''s climb. No one is currently on top, so it is okay for him to help thetter.


    "Good job down there," Gilbert throws a wet cloth to Kayn.


    Kayn easily caught the cloth and began wiping the sweat on his forehead, "It wasn''t that hard," Looking to his side, he saw Natas casually flying back up, and soon hended beside him.


    "Where''s the next one?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "It''s not far, just a few tens of meters to our front,"


    "Let''s go!"


    Just like that, with Kayn gathering the materials and Gilbert pointing in the direction of their location, the duo was able toplete one material after another on the list while at the same time not encountering any sort of trouble.


    They met a lot of generous and kind people who were also gathering just like them, made some short conversations to gather more information about the Split Mountain and expand their knowledge of the materials they are gathering, and made some promises to meet again to get to know more of each other.


    However, that is about to change soon¡­


    "Be careful, those people are from the Tenderfoot Vige," Gilbert immediately warned Kayn as he saw a group approaching the location of the material they are about to gather.


    Looking in front, Kayn immediately notices a group of five men wearing clothes that are not meant for gathering but instead for fighting. One of them is wearing heavy armor, two are wearing light armor, and the other two are wearing robes, respectively for a Mage and a Priest.


    "Are they here to gather materials or to hunt monsters?" Kayn can''t help but wonder.


    "They are notorious for stealing materials in the Split Mountain. That is why they don''t wear ordinary equipment in fear of the people from the Green Horn Vige suddenly retaliating against them. The good thing is, they only target the materials and not the people that are gathering them. There were only a minority of cases where someone died after fighting with them. The majority of the time, the victims would simply get injured,"


    Kayn already knew about that. So, he didn''t pay any more attention to the group from the Tenderfoot Vige after briefly observing them as he proceeded to start collecting the materials on the ground.


    The next material on the list is called Twin Mushrooms. This is a type of mushroom that grows in pairs and once eaten it will boost one''s vitality to a small degree for a few seconds. If one eats multiple Twin Mushrooms at the same time though, it would instead give an opposite effect, which is lowering one''s vitality.


    Fortunately, the Alchemists were able to discover a way to make one digest multiple Twin Mushrooms without experiencing a drop of vitality, and that is by extracting its essence andbining them together through alchemy. From then on, Minute Regeneration Potion was created.


    "Just make sure to gather the ordinary Twin Mushrooms so that they won''t bother you," Gilbert kindly reminded Kayn before walking away from him and jumping on top of one of the trees to rest.


    Kayn nodded his head before proceeding to start gathering ten kilograms of Twin Mushrooms.


    Although he isn''t the type of guy that tends to distance himself from trouble. But because he has something more important to deal with right now, he won''t try to mess around and stuff. As long as the group from the Tenderfoot Vige doesn''t bother him, he also won''t bother them as well.


    Kayn peacefully gathered the Twin Mushrooms he spotted on the ground.


    asionally, he would make some short conversation with the other people around him just like he did before. This time though, he is doing so not only to know more about the Twin Mushrooms and the Split Mountain but also so that he would not be an easy target.


    He remembered quite clearly Gilbert telling him that it is easy to identify people who are new in ''The Bridge'' because of their age. Since he is young, the group from the Tenderfoot Vige might think of him as an easy target. To avoid that, he thought of pretending like he is familiar with the people around him.


    "They are gone," Natas informs Kayn.


    Hearing that, Kayn can''t help breathing a sigh of relief.


    It wasn''t only him that did so. The others around him simrly breathed in relief as well.


    Finally, he can gather without worrying about the group from the Tenderfoot Vige. If they had lingered any longer, there''s no doubt that he would be dyed to the next location.


    "Wait¡­"


    Suddenly, Natas'' tone of voice changed, "It seems like they only pretended to leave,"


    Looking at his peripheral vision, he notices Gilbert being on high alert while on top of the tree. He was no longer resting but has switched to the signature battle position of the assassin subss. With both his knees bent, one foot forward and the other backward, his arms on the hilt of his daggers, and his body leaning closer to the tree.


    As if he noticed Kayn looking at him, Gilbert muttered using his mouth, "Run away¡­"


    After saying that, Gilbert immediately distances himself from his initial position.

 Chapter 83 Gathering Materials In The Split Mountain Part 3

    ?Chapter 83: Gathering materials in the Split Mountain part 3


    As soon as Gilbert left his position, the trunk he was standing on a second ago was soon cut in a half. Afterward, a fireball chases after him while he was trying to flee.


    "Fuck!"


    Kayn could hear Gilbert cursing out loud as he jumped from one tree to another.


    Bang!


    Gilbert nimbly avoided the fireball, which causes it to hit on a truck of a tree.


    "Are you nning on helping him?" Natas can''t help asking Kayn.


    "Let''s observe first," He doesn''t know exactly the reason why the group from the Tenderfoot Vige suddenly decided to attack Gilbert. So, until he knows the reason why, he won''t get himself involved yet. Moreover, he can''t obviously just casually reveal his rtionship with Gilbert yet as that would immediately eliminate the opportunity for him tounch a surprise attack.


    With that in mind, Kayn crouches down to the ground to try and hide. Slowly, he made his way to a nearby tree. Upon arriving, he quickly uses the tree as a cover while observing the situation with Gilbert.


    The moment Gilbert avoided the fireball andnded on the trunk of another tree, two men from the Tenderfoot Vige revealed themselves from the bush as they chases after Gilbert. One of them is carrying a sword while the other is carrying two short axes.


    As sudden as their arrival, so was their halt in their approach.


    Whoosh!


    Whoosh!


    Two daggers quicklynded on the ground in front of the two meleebatants. If they had continued with their chase, there''s no doubt those two daggers would hit the top of their heads, instantly killing them.


    "He is good," Natas apuded at Gilbert''s counterattack.


    Gilbert executed his attack just now in one quick motion before returning back to escaping. He didn''t even bother checking whether he hadnded his daggers or not. Not that he was being confident, he already expects that it won''tnd on his target.


    "I didn''t expect that I would be seeing you here Gilbert," The man who was wearing heavy armor walks out from behind a tree.


    "Do I know you?" Gilbert felt confused as he can''t recognize the man.


    "Not really,"


    "Then why are you doing this?"


    "Gilbert, one of the three master assassins under themand of Old Chief George. Everyone in the Tenderfoot Vige knows about you,"


    "Are you trying to say that I am wanted in your Vige?"


    "More or less,"


    "How much is the reward?"


    "10,000 coins,"


    "I am feeling overwhelmed,"


    "Enjoy that, for now. But once I bring your head to my Vige, I''ll be the one to¡­"


    Whoosh!


    Before the man in heavy armor could finish his line, the meleebatant who was using a sword suddenly dropped down to the ground. Observing closely, one could see that a dagger had stabbed deeply straight into his eyes.


    Evidently, Gilbert was using his conversation with the man in heavy armor as a way to distract the two meleebatants.


    "I guess you don''t understand clearly what a master assassin really implies,"


    Whoosh!


    In the next moment, Gilbert disappeared.


    "For me to be a master assassin, I have to reach level 49,"


    "Of course, we aren''t recognized as one by the ''Tower'' yet as only when you finally reached level 50 would you truly be one,"


    "And unfortunately, being in ''The Bridge'' restricts us from reaching that level,"


    "But, our skills have already reached that level. Do you know what that means?"


    Although Gilbert has disappeared, his voice implies that he is nearby. It''s just hard to identify exactly where he is as his voice would instantly switch from left to right, up on the trees then below on the ground.


    "Do you know what your mistake is?"


    "That is you left your Mage and Priest unguarded against a master assassin,"


    "Do you know just how stupid of a decision that is?"


    The man wearing heavy armor immediately turned to look behind him as he heard Gilbert''s voice. To his horror, he saw Gilbert has already killed the Mage in his party while the Priest has a dagger on his neck, ready to slice at him at any given moment.


    "You pay the price for your ignorance,"


    Whoosh!


    With one quick swipe, the neck of the Priest was slit cleanly. Blood instantly oozes out from it as he kneeled on the ground and tried his best to cover the wound with his hand. Albeit it was proven futile in the end as his body turned weak and heid down on the ground.


    The Priest could only watch as Gilbert walks passed him.


    "me your leader for his recklessness,"


    That was thest line the Priest heard before he took hisst breath.


    "You¡­" The man in heavy armor started retreating while pointing his sword at Gilbert. Right now, fear haspletely overtaken his entire mind and body, making him lose the courage to fight back. Looking at his back, he can no longer see hisrade. He instantly understood that thetter had long already run away.


    Contrary to his thoughts though, he unexpectedly heard the voice of hisrade.


    "Over there! Quickly! We need to help Scar before Gilbert takes his life away!"


    "It seems like I was feeling afraid for nothing," The man in heavy armor whose name is Scar felt motivated once again after hearing hisrade''s voice and multiple stepsing in his direction.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Do you think I''ll be scared now just because of that?" Gilbert smirks at Scar.


    "You¡­ stop¡­ don''t get any closer¡­"


    Tung!


    Scar fell with his butt first on the ground.


    Unexpectedly, a yellow substance started flowing out from the lower waist of Scar''s leggings.


    "Did you¡­" Gilbert paused in his steps and startedughing.


    On the other side, Kayn doesn''t know whether tough or feel disappointed. He wanted tough because Scar pissed himself, but he also can''t help feeling disappointed as he was expecting a lot from these people.


    Imagine, they walked into this ce so bold, strong, and fearless, and had even initiated an ambush against Gilbert. But in the end, Gilbert was able to eliminate all of them quickly and has even caused one to get scared to the point he pissed his pants.


    "I''ll spare you this time for making meugh," Gilbert began picking up his dagger. After doing so, he turns around to look at everyone and said, "I suggest that all of you call it a day now,"


    "Thank you for worrying, but it''s okay,"


    "Yeah, this fight only involves you,"


    "If we run just like what you said, they would misunderstand that we are one of yourrades,"


    "Suit yourself," Gilbert immediately decided to give up persuading them. He was only reminding them out of kindness.


    Gilbert''s suggestion wasn''t all for naught though as some gatherers decided to stand up and go to his side. Of course, that includes Kayn as well as he uses this opportunity to continue hiding his rtionship with Gilbert.


    "We will be taking our leave now. I hope you''ll have a bountiful harvest,"


    After saying that, Gilbert started to lead Kayn and the group of gatherers that decided to follow him down the hill to the direction of the Green Horn Vige.


    Since there is no need for him to continue hiding his identity, Kayn approached Gilbert and started a conversation.


    "I didn''t expect that you are such a high-ranking individual in the Green Horn Vige," Kayn expresses his thoughts.


    "That doesn''t mean a thing, honestly," Gilbert didn''t feel like his position is of any importance.


    "Why?"


    "Even if I am one of the few master assassins in ''The Bridge'', I am still helpless to do anything to reach the door of the ''Tower'',"


    "I understand," If one has that much power in their possession and still they can''t do anything to change their current situation, it is only natural that they would feel like it means nothing.


    Boom!


    Bang!


    Boom!


    All of a sudden, Kayn, Natas, Gilbert and everyone with them immediately turned their heads to look behind as they heard a series of explosions a few tens of meters before them.


    "What''s happening?"


    "It seems like a fight is happening over there right now,"


    "I believe those explosions came from the gathering spot of the Twin Mushrooms,"


    Hearing that, Kayn and Gilbert instantly understood what is going on.


    "Start moving!"


    Without any hesitation, everyone runs down.


    "What are you doing?! Quickly go with them! I''ll stay and buy all of you some time to escape,"


    "No, you will leave with me,"


    "Why would I do that? This wouldn''t have happened if I simply run away and didn''t kill a few of them,"


    "This is clearly not just an act of killing people because of what you did. This is a deration of war!"


    "What?!" Gilbert felt shocked.


    "If you don''t believe me, let''s wait here and see for yourself,"


    "But you''ll get yourself in danger,"


    "I already told you. Do not underestimate me," Kayn showed Gilbert a dagger that he had just stolen without thetter realizing.


    "How?" Gilbert was amazed as got his dagger back from Kayn. No one could easily still an item, especially a dagger, from a master assassin without getting noticed. Yet, Kayn was able to achieve that very easily. "It seems like there''s more to you than meets the eye,"


    "Let''s go over there so that we will still be able to easily escape from here as soon as we confirm the exact situation," Kayn pointed over the dense cover of greeneries to their right.


    Looking briefly, Gilbert nodded his head.


    Meanwhile, Natas has already left to go and scout the situation in front.


    Not long after they hid, they started seeing a few of those gatherers that choose to continue gathering uphill fleeing for their lives.


    In the next moment, they started seeing an unexpected number of men that are equipped with armor for battle marching their way in order as they followed the running gatherers.


    "There''s a group of one hundred peopleing in our direction! Quickly, run!" Natas hastily informs Kayn the moment he got back.


    "Let''s go!" Kayn softly pushes Gilbert.


    Since they''ve already confirmed the situation, Kayn and Gilbert no longer bothered to continue staying in the Split Mountain.


    "We have to report this to Old Chief Gilbert as soon as possible,"


    War is obviously imminent between the Green Horn Vige and the Tenderfoot Vige.

 Chapter 84 Imminent War

    ?Chapter 84: Imminent War


    It didn''t take long for Kayn and Gilbert to reach the Green Horn Vige.


    "Immediately close the gate and call more soldiers to this location right now!"


    The Captain of the south gate approaches Gilbert and asked, "What''s happening, sir Gilbert?"


    "Hundreds of people from the Tenderfoot Vige are approaching our Vige as we speak. They have already killed some gatherers from our Vige. So believe me, they are certainly not just passing by our Vige or are here to talk peacefully," Gilbert responded solemnly.


    "Understood!" The Captain of the south gate saluted before quickly leaving to organize his men.


    After making sure that the south gate is closed and reinforcement ising soon, Kayn and Gilbert immediately run to the Town Hall to report to Old Chief George.


    ¡­..


    "So, what you are both telling me right now is that more than a hundred people from the Tenderfoot Vige are approaching our Vige right now from the direction of the Split Mountain?" Old Chief George wanted to confirm what he had just heard from Kayn and Gilbert.


    Kayn and Gilbert nodded their heads at the same time.


    "I have long already expected that a war between our two Viges would eventuallye in the future. But I didn''t expect that it would be this soon,"


    The rtionship between the Green Horn Vige and the Tenderfoot Vige has always been bad from the moment thetter was founded.


    "Can I ask something?" Kayn raised his hand.


    "What is it?"


    "Why is the Tenderfoot Vige waging war against your Vige?"


    "Does all war need a reason?" Gilbert interrupted.


    "Do you seriously think people would just wake up one day and say, ''Hey! How about we start a war against the Green Horn Vige?''," Kayn looked at Gilbert weirdly.


    "Everything is possible," If this was in the past, Gilbert wouldn''t think that such a thought process is possible. But ever since the ''Tower'' came to Earth, all that humankind thought to be impossible has be possible.


    "No," Old Chief George shook his head. "There''s indeed a reason why the Tenderfoot Vige is waging war right now,"


    Hearing that, Kayn perked his ears to listen as Old Chief George started telling a story.


    Although Gilbert is one of the loyal subordinates of Old Chief Geroge, unfortunately, he doesn''t know the exact reason why. So, he listened closely as well.


    Old Chief George has tried to establish peace with the Tenderfoot Vige so that they can live in harmony with one of their neighboring Viges. But he has been rejected multiple times by them. There was even a time when he was taken hostage by some of their elders. Luckily, his men were able to rescue him before something bad happens to him.


    It''s not that there is any sort of bad blood going on between both the Chiefs that''s why Old Chief Gilbert couldn''t establish peace with them. The reason is simply that they have different ideologies about living in ''The Bridge''.


    The Green Horn Vige believes that they should find a way to cross to the door of the ''Tower'' to get out of ''The Bridge'' as this isn''t their home and will never be their home.


    On the contrary, the Tenderfoot Vige wanted people to give up leaving ''The Bridge'' as they can''t see any hope of that happening.


    Needless to say, the Tenderfoot Vige has a good enough reason for why they believe their ideology is the correct one.


    The majority of the people in ''The Bridge'' follow the ideology of Old Chief George ¡ª leave ''The Bridge'' and never think of this ce as their home. And because of that, everyone continues to search for a way to cross the void to reach the door of the ''Tower''.


    Unfortunately, as a result of that ideology, with each passing day many lives are lost in the pursuit of finding a bridge or any sort of solution to cross the void.


    Seeing such a tragic event happening almost every single day, the Tenderfoot Vige wants to prevent it from continuing and put an end to it.


    The Tenderfoot Vige tried the peaceful approach with their ideology numerous times. But they were rejected by almost every single Chief.


    The reason?


    It''s because of their trust and belief in Old Chief George.


    That''s naturally to be expected considering that Old Chief George helped almost everyone in ''The Bridge'', including the Chief of the Tenderfoot Vige as well.


    However, the Chief of the Tenderfoot Vige just can''t stand to witness a lot of people dying for nothing.


    "Their deaths aren''t really for nothing. Because all failed attempts allowed us to know more. He is simply against the fact that the path to escape ''The Bridge'' is going to be paved with their sacrifices,"


    "How strange,"


    "Why?" Old Chief George turned to look at Kayn, and so was Gilbert.


    "The Chief of the Tenderfoot Vige is against paving the path with sacrifices, but he is waging war?"


    "That was the previous Chief. The current Chief, albeit has the same ideology as his predecessor about not leaving ''The Bridge'', his method of achieving it is by establishing a dictatorship,"


    "You can''t me him though, since his predecessor met with an untimely death during one of the gatherings he attended,"


    "It''s not like it was one of you that killed his predecessor, right?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Of course, not!"


    "There''s actually another infamous group in ''The Bridge'' aside from those that belong in the Viges and Towns. These people wreak havoc wherever they go as they believe in what they so-called freedom," Gilbert exined.


    "All that they are doing is nothing more but anarchy,"


    "So, it was those people that had killed his predecessor? Then shouldn''t he be waging war on them and not on your Vige?" Kayn felt confused.


    "Because only by uniting everyone would we be able to fight against those people? Believe me, they are insanely strong. Not to mention, they would use whatever means possible to achieve victory," Gilbert responded.


    "I don''t see any unity with waging war,"


    "Unity is the result of war. As much as I hate to admit it, you can never achieve peace without war," Old Chief George cut off Kayn and Gilbert''s bantering.


    "Let''s not waste any more time," Old Chief George looked at Gilbert, "Gilbert, make sure that Kayn is safe and away from harm. Do whatever measures you have to keep him away from danger,"


    "Yes, Old Chief George,"


    "Now, leave! I''ll have to make preparations to greet our uninvited guest,"


    With that being said, Kayn and Gilbert left the Town Hall.


    "You''re curious about something, aren''t you?" Gilbert could already guess based on Kayn''s look that he is thinking about something.


    "I just don''t understand why would a person who has an ideology to stop having meaningless sacrifices start a war," Kayn still isn''t satisfied with the information he got from Old Chief George.


    "Unless the new Chief of the Tenderfoot Vige is a member of that Anarchy group you are talking about,"


    While saying that, Kayn glimpses at Natas, waiting for thetter to tell him any information about the anarchy group in ''The Bridge''.


    "I barely pay attention to anything outside the ''Tower'', and that includes ''The Bridge''," Natas shook his head to express that he is also clueless about what''s exactly happening right now.


    "They are called the Assembly of Freedom," Gilbert almost forgot to tell Kayn. "And I can''t help but agree with your assumption,"


    "Are you thinking what I am thinking?" Since Natas is useless right now, Kayn has no choice but to do something himself.


    "Do you n on finding out the truth?" Gilbert expressed his thoughts.


    "Are you in?"


    "You bet I am in!" Gilbert felt ecstatic. Although Old Chief George has ordered him to keep Kayn away from danger, that obviously isn''t going to work with thetter. If he forces Kayn to stay in the Green Horn Inn to keep him safe, he''d probably escape without him noticing. So, rather than facing that situation, he''d juste wherever Kayn wants to go.


    Instead of going to the Green Horn Inn, Gilbert lead Kayn to the direction of the west gate.


    However, before they can reach the west gate, Gilbert suddenly pulled Kayn to enter a store right beside them.


    "What are we doing here?" Kayn became curious.


    "Just wait here," Gilbert instructed Kayn before approaching the counter.


    Gilbert talked to the man at the counter for a few minutes before he returned to Kayn.


    "Follow me,"


    The man at the counter started leading the way to the back of his shop.


    After a few minutes of walking, the man opened a door that was disguised as a wall.


    "You know what to do,"


    "Thank you. And here," Gilbert tosses a coin to the man.


    The man quickly caught the coin before closing the door.


    Once that was done, Gilbert proceeded to lead Kayn in a specific direction.


    Kayn could already guess where they are going, "I didn''t expect that there''s a secret path to enter and exit the Green Horn Vige,"


    "It''s not really a path,"


    "What is it then?"


    "A sewer," Gilbert muttered as he opened a metal lid leading to the sewer.


    "Why didn''t I think of that?" Kayn hit his face with the palm of his hand. Sewers are always the best path to take when one wants to get in and out of a city without anyone noticing. That''s because they always lead to an exit.


    "Get in,"


    "Okay¡­" Kayn could only helplesslyply since they don''t have any other choice but to use the sewer to leave the Green Horn Vige.

 Chapter 85 Stumbling Upon A Secret

    ?Chapter 85: Stumbling Upon A Secret


    Kayn and Gilbert eventually reached the end of the sewer after tens of minutes of walking in a foul-smelling and dark path.


    In front of them, a sewer gate that prevents huge objects that can cause a clog in the sewer system from entering the sewer blocks their path.


    Gilbert didn''t mind it though as he approaches the sewer gate and casually pulls one of its iron bars.


    The iron bar easily got pulled out, and Gilbert walked through the hole.


    "Quicklye here before the soldiers patrolling this area sees us," Gilbert gestures his hand at Kayn.


    Kayn didn''t waste any time as he quickly followed after Gilbert.


    As soon as Kayn and Gilbert were out of the sewer, thetter immediately installed the iron back to its original position and the duo sneakily went to the forest a few meters away in front of them to use its dense greeneries as a cover as they make their way back to the Split Mountain.


    "Are you really certain that we''ll be able to find Chief Kylo at the Split Mountain?" Gilbert felt doubtful at Kayn''s im. Thetter said that Chief Kylo, the Chief of the Tenderfoot Vige, would certainly be at the back line of his army. And if his guess is correct, some members of the Assembly of Freedom would most likely be there as well with Chief Kylo.


    "The Chief of a Vige would always be present during a war. So, I am certain he came along with his army. If he isn''t in the back line, then he''ll definitely be somewhere else nearby,"


    "Once we find him, what do we do next?"


    "Get in their army,"


    "You want me to do that? I am basically wanted in their Vige. So, everyone would be able to recognize me,"


    "That''s why a helmet exists,"


    "Say we were able to sneak our way into their army by disguising ourselves as one of them, what do you n to do afterward?"


    "Confirm our assumption, since that''s our main goal,"


    "Then what?"


    "Report to Old Chief George, then let him do what he intends to do with that information,"


    "Good to know that you are well prepared and know exactly what to do," Gilbert smiled at Kayn. He was simply testing thetter''s level of preparedness.


    If Kayn isn''t prepared for the n that he wanted to execute, then he will prevent him from executing it until he thinks of a better n.


    He can''t stop Kayn from doing whatever he wants, but he will make him reconsider his n so that he would not get himself into a dangerous situation that he can''t help.


    "Come on, I know just the path for us to reach the back line of their army without anyone noticing our presence," Gilbert leads Kayn to another secret path that only a few people know about.


    ¡­..


    It took several hours for Kayn and Gilbert to reach the back line of the army of the Tenderfoot Vige.


    "That was seriously so far!" Kayn can''t help eximing.


    "I didn''t say it was a shortcut," Gilbert muttered.


    After taking a few breathers, Kayn looked at the army in front of them.


    That''s right, they are literally at the back of the back line right now. No one would be able to notice they are here, nor would they get spotted as this is the path that the army had taken to get to their location right now. So, they will never assume that a scout is hiding behind them.


    Simply put, they are in a very safe ce.


    Kayn finally understood that even though Gilbert has consented to him to do what he ns on doing, that''s only under the condition that he is safe.


    "Let''s find a target,"


    Although this ce is considered safe, clearly there are still some people sent to guard this ce.


    "Over there," Kayn pointed to a man walking not so far away from them.


    "We need to find another one," Gilbert suggested.


    "Once you disguise yourself, you can easily pick off another target, right?"


    "Fair enough,"


    With that being said, Kayn and Gilbert quickly eliminated their target.


    Against a master assassin and someone who was once an assassin, the unfortunate man didn''t stand even the slightest chance of survival.


    Gilbert quickly took the clothes of the man and switched his. After they were done with that, Kayn helped him hide the body under the dense cover of greeneries nearby.


    Afterward, Gilbert immediately bolted out from there to look for another target.


    Meanwhile, Kayn started observing the camp not far away from him.<novelnext></novelnext>


    It was just like what he expected. The Chief and anyone else that has the capability to win the war hase along with the army from the Tenderfoot Vige.


    Looking closely, he soon spotted someone who he can easily guess is Chief Kylo.


    Following behind Chief Kylo is a group of people that don''t seem to belong to the Tenderfoot Vige. As to how he can guess that, it''s because they don''t show the slightest respect to someone who is supposed to be the Chief of the Vige.


    "I was right," Kayn muttered.


    "Since you''ve basically confirmed already what you came here for, do you n to leave now?" Natas can''t help but ask.


    "That wasn''t the only reason I came here," Kayn shook his head. "I came here to find out if these group who calls themselves the Assembly of Freedom aren''t rted to Circus,"


    "Circus?" Natas felt slightly surprised.


    The Circus. It is the name of the most infamous organization on both the Earth and inside the ''Tower'' that''s under the leadership of the number one Viin and numerous other Viins at the top of the ranking. Not only in the future, but also at the present time.


    They are not part of the ten World Leaders because of the fact that their main goal doesn''t coincide with any of the parties, including those that really care about saving Earth from the ''Tower'' and those that secretly work for the ''Tower'', and they only have major influence inside the ''Tower''.


    Unlike the Fake Heroes, greedy Guilds, and Viins that he hadmunicated with in the second life. This organization only believes in one thing ¡ª to be the ruler of Earth and the ''Tower''.


    It was exactly because of that reason that the Gods weren''t able to persuade any of their members to help take down Kayn since their condition for cooperating was for the Gods to be their ves.


    From that alone, one could already guess just how much he also hates that organization.


    "I wonder why are you assuming that they are part of that organization?"


    "I don''t know how to exin it. But all I can say is, I feel like they are rted,"


    "It''s probably because you''ve been fighting with them from the moment you officially became a Hero," Such a feeling is the same as how a person would be able to tell if something or someone is going to bring harm to them as they''ve been into numerous dangerous and life-threatening situations in the past.


    "Let''s say that you find out that the Assembly of Freedom is rted to Circus. What are you going to do next?"


    "I am going to end this war myself using all means necessary, whether they are within the norm or out of the line,"


    "Are you insane?! You know that you can''t handle them, right?"


    "Who says that I''ll be the one to personally eliminate them," Kayn suddenly turns to look at the approaching Gilbert. He had felt thetter''s arrival because of his superior senses.


    Gilbert has returned with a set of armor.


    "Here,"


    "That was a lot quicker than I expected,"


    "I am a master assassin,"


    "In ''The Bridge''. Always remember that,"


    "What do you mean?"


    "Let''s go!"


    Kayn finished equipping the armor.


    Since they are already done disguising themselves, Kayn and Gilbert no longer hesitated to approach the camp.


    "Let''s split to find Chief Kylo," Kayn suggested, albeit he already knew where to find him.


    "Understood,"


    "I''ll go to the west, while you go east. Let''s meet up north," Kayn ripped a red cloth and tied it to his shoulder while making sure that Gilbert would be able to easily notice it, "So that you''ll be able to find me quickly,"


    "Good idea," Gilbert also did the same as Kayn.


    After both finished marking themselves so that they''ll be able to quickly identify one another, they immediately separated ways.


    Contrary to Gilbert though who would have to search everywhere to search for Chief Kylo, Kayn simply went straight to the tent where he spotted Chief Kylo entering.


    As soon as Kayn arrived near that tent, he looked for a good ce to stand by.


    "I''ll wait here," Kayn informs Natas.


    "Okay," Natas went inside the tent, evidently nning to listen to the conversation between Chief Kylo and the other people inside.


    Just right after passing through the cloth of the tent, Natas was perfectly on time to hear the people inside confirming what organization they exactly belong to.


    "For the Circus!"

 Chapter 86 Let Another Repetition Of The Second Life Play Out Exactly In The Third Life

    ?Chapter 86: Let another repetition of the second life y out exactly in the third life


    "For the Circus!"


    That is the standard greeting exchange between members of Circus when meeting with fellow members.


    "Everyone, take a seat," Chief Kylo gestured his hand. "How have you all been?"


    "Just massacred dozens of people beforeing here,"


    "I went to that gathering spot where they said there are normally hundreds of people that gather materials. What a scam! There weren''t even more than ten people at that ce,"


    "What a dumbass! There''s no gathering spot where there are hundreds of people gathering materials,"


    "Exactly!"


    "How would I even know that?!"


    "By using your brain, idiot!"


    "Does any of us even have one?"


    "Well¡­"


    "Jokes aside. Are the ns set in motion?" Chief Kylo interrupted.


    "Yes!"


    "A total of twelve Viges. All loyal to Old Chief George, including the Green Horn Vige, will certainly disappear today!"


    "How certain?"


    "Fifty,"


    "Is there any problem?"


    "Old Chief George was more prepared than we expected,"


    "What do you mean?"


    "Our scouts have found out that Old Chief George''s twenty Green Horn Knights, or at least seventeen of them, are present in those eleven Viges,"


    "You can never really underestimate what that old man can do," Chief Kylo smirks. "Considering that there are only seventeen of them, I am assuming that some of them only have one of the Green Horn Knights while the others have two, am I correct?"


    "Yes, but¡­"


    "But?"


    "Those Viges that only have one Green Horn Knights don''t actually need one in the first ce,"


    "Yeah, those Green Horn Knights could have just gone to protect Old Chief George. Or perhaps as we speak, they are already making their way back to the Green Horn Vige,"


    "That''s the exact reason why we have to attack the Green Horn Vige immediately. The moment the Green Horn Vige is destroyed, the unity built in ''The Bridge'' by Old Chief George would instantly crumble once the other Viges and Towns heard the news,"


    "It''s not that simple," Chief Kylo didn''t hesitate to shake his head. "We cannot simply go and attack the Green Horn Vige. That''s not what we originally came here for. We came here to kill Old Chief George himself. If you are thinking that once the Green Horn Vige is destroyed there won''t be any unity anymore, then you''re guess is wrong,"


    "Old Chief George is the reason for the unity, not the Green Horn Vige. Do you seriously think that the Chiefs of the other Viges and Towns won''t volunteer to offer their seat to him if we destroy the Green Horn Vige?"


    "It would be fine if he only epts bing a Chief of a Vige. But it will be apletely different story for us if he bes a Chief of a Town. And considering that we easily destroyed a Vige, he would most likely choose thetter. By then, the unity that we wanted to break might just be even stronger than what it is now,"


    "Where would he even get such an influence if he doesn''t have anyone to support him?"


    "That''s right! Once the Green Horn Vige is destroyed, Old Chief George is nothing!"


    "With no power, there''s no need for other Chiefs to fear him, let alone give him what he wants,"


    Chief Kylo chuckled for a few seconds before responding, "You see, my father, the previous head of the Assembly of Freedom, used to always tell me that the only reason why there isn''t a City in ''The Bridge'' yet is because the only person who can establish one choose to not do it. I think everyone knows who exactly that person is,"


    Even without needing to mention the name, everyone inside the tent could easily guess that Chief Kylo is speaking about Old Chief George.


    "The reason why Old Chief George never bothered to promote his Vige into a Town is that he is very much aware of the fact that the moment he does, the other Towns and nearby Viges will volunteer to make his territory their capital. And by then, the first ever City in ''The Bridge'' is going to be created,"


    "So now, do you understand why we have to make sure not only to destroy the Green Horn Vige but to also make sure that we kill Old Chief George?"


    "Yes,"


    "We understand,"


    "We''ll follow whatever ourmander says,"


    Seeing the other members of the Assembly of Freedom agreeing with Chief Kylo, the others who were feeling disappointed at him taking so long to attack the Green Horn Vige finally relented.


    "Now, let''s begin the meeting,"


    ¡­..


    As soon as the meeting inside the tent ended, Natas immediately returned back to meet up with Kayn.


    Kayn was still waiting at the same spot, so he easily spotted him.


    "So, how was it?" Kayn asked Natas.


    "You were right. They are indeed members of Circus,"


    "I knew it. This changes everything! Let''s quickly meet up with Gilbert so we can deal with them before it''s toote,"


    "Wait!"


    "What?"


    "I think we shouldn''t intervene,"


    "Why?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "In the second life, Old Chief George was able to get out of ''The Bridge'' alive. I might not have seen what exactly happened in this ce, but I am certain that Old Chief George being alive means he won this war,"


    "But it''s not for certain whether he had really killed the members of Circus,"


    "I am not telling you that you shouldn''t kill them. All that I am saying is, we shouldn''t intervene in the war that''s happening right now. Let it flow ording to the second life. If we find members of Circus alive, then that''s when we intervene to kill them,"


    "That¡­"


    "


    "Intervening in the natural order of time wouldn''t necessarily always bring us benefit. Sometimes, we also have to see another repetition of the second life y out exactly in the third life,"


    "I understand,"


    "I am d to hear that,"


    "Since we are not doing that. What do you suggest that we should do,"


    "You will meet up with Gilbert, and inform him of everything that you found out here, except the part rted to Circus. Return to the Green Horn Vige to report to Old Chief George and let him do exactly whatever he wants to do,"


    "Okay,"


    With that being said, Kayn went north to find and meet up with Gilbert again.


    As soon as Kayn arrived north, it was Gilbert that went to find him instead.


    "What took you so long?"


    "Chief Kylo was at my side. I was listening in their meeting,"


    "Fair enough. So, what did you learn?"


    "I was right,"


    "Are you serious?" Gilbert felt disbelief. "I can''t believe that the person the previous Chief of the Tenderfoot Vige has chosen is actually a member of the Assembly of Freedom,"


    "You''re wrong for believing that. The previous Chief was also a member of the Assembly of Freedom,"


    "Are you telling me that the previous Chief of the Tenderfoot Vige was killed by his own people?"


    "What do you expect from an organization made up of anarchists?"


    "Well, if you put it that way, that indeed sound reasonable,"


    Anarchist is people who don''t want anyone telling them what to do and not to do. They are basically the type of people who does whatever they want to do.


    Their organization might have a leader to lead them, but because of their nature, their members would naturally also have a say in the decision-making for their organization.


    Perhaps the previous Chief of Tenderfoot Vige cross a line, and that''s why he was killed by people he treated asrades. Or maybe it was something else¡­ Only members of the Assembly of Freedom can answer that.


    "Let''s quickly return to the Green Horn Vige and report to Old Chief George what we found here,"


    "Not so fast,"


    "Why?"


    "We haven''t even seen the structure of their army yet. Are you seriously telling me that we will return with only this information in our hands? Since we are already here, let''s also scout how many soldiers they have in their army, their soldier''s subsses, and their battle formation as well,"


    "Please promise me that once we are done with that we will immediately leave,"


    "I promise,"


    "Alright,"


    With no other choice, Gilbert could only give consent to Kayn''s n. It wasn''t really dangerous, but staying here any longer would definitely pose possible dangers to them. After all, it''s not impossible for someone else to discover that there are dead soldiers buried under the cover of the greeneries at their rear.


    Standing on top of a tree hidden under the veil of the night, Kayn and Gilbert could overlook the entire army not so far from their location.


    "I am guessing that there are a total of two hundred fifty soldiers in this army. Twenty-five are healers, fifty are mages, another fifty are marksmen, twenty-five are guardians, and the rest are knights,"


    "It''s impossible that there are no Assassins,"


    "They are probably hiding somewhere¡­" Gilbert suddenly realized something. "We need to get out of here, quick!"


    "Why?" Kayn was confused.


    "If there are no assassins here, then they should be in the forest around us,"


    "That¡­" Kayn quickly understood.


    "We are lucky that they still haven''t discovered us, or maybe they have already but they''ve just mistaken us as one of theirrades,"


    "You''re right," Kayn seriously forgot about this. He might have encountered and experienced countless wars in his life during his second life. But most of the time he would do things on his own as he is powerful enough to the point that he doesn''t have to use any strategies nor the help of the other members of his guild to face the army of his enemies.


    Speaking about the devil.


    Before Kayn and Gilbert could make a run for it, five assassins suddenly arrived in front of them.


    One assassinnded right in front of them, while the other four assassins are standing on the branches of the trees not so far away from them.


    "Where are you two going?"


    Gilbert immediately looked at Kayn, ready to carry thetter to run away from this ce once things turn sour for them.


    Contrary to Gilbert though, Kayn just calmly responded, "We are about to move,"


    "Why?"


    "Well, look," Kayn pointed at the army that has now started moving. They''re very fortunate that they were found out by these assassins when the army was about to start the invasion in the Green Horn Vige.

 Chapter 87 The Fate Of Selfishness

    ?Chapter 87: The Fate of Selfishness


    Just when Kayn thought that it was okay now, the face of the man turned serious.


    "Our leader said no team will move from their spot unless being told so,"


    While still wearing a calm look on his face, Kayn responded, "We were just trying to get a better view of the Green Horn Vige. You see, our team''s location doesn''t allow us to have that. So, they ordered the two of us to scout out what is happening,"


    "Take me to your team,"


    "Okay, follow me,"


    Kayn started leading the man and his team to a supposed location of his team.


    "This ain''t going to work," Gilbert whispered to Kayn.


    "That''s why you have to start doing something. You are an assassin, try to work something out,"


    "Are you sure that it won''t ruin your n?"


    "I don''t have a n right now, so be my guess,"


    "Alright,"


    All of a sudden, Gilbert disappeared from the group.


    The man quickly noticed Gilbert''s sudden disappearance. "Weapons up!"


    "Who are you?"


    "Me?" Kayn pointed at himself.


    Whoosh! Whoosh!


    In the next moment, Kayn threw two daggers out from his cor.


    ng! ng!


    The man quickly parried the two daggers. He was already expecting Kayn is an enemy, so he prepared himself for any possible attack.


    However, to the man''s surprise, his dagger is now covered in ice.


    "What is this?!" The man panicked.


    "It''s called Freezing Point. An Active Skill of those two daggers which allows me to freeze the weapon of my enemy for a considerable duration of time and prevent them from using it," Kayn kindly exined.


    "Clever. But I have more daggers," The man pulled two daggers from his waist.


    "And I also have more," Kayn pulled out two more daggers from his Storage Ring. There weren''t any daggers hidden in his cor. His action before was a simple discreet motion of getting items out of his Storage Ring. Simply put, he disguised the motion of waving his arm by pointing to himself.


    As an assassin, the man was naturally able to see through Kayn''s previous actions. Thus, he quickly warned, "Be careful, he is an assassin just like us,"


    "Understood!"


    "Roger!"


    "I think you''re mistaken," Kayn shook his head before waving his arm. The Molten Ice Sword appeared on his hand. "I am a Knight,"


    Whoosh!


    Kayn sent a Molten Ice sh toward the man.


    Seeing the attack, the man quickly used the trunk of a tree as his cover.


    Boom!


    The trunk of the tree was easily cut in a half.


    But the man was no longer there.


    Whoosh! Whoosh!


    Two daggers flew in the direction of Kayn from the east.


    Noticing the daggers, Kayn brandished his sword to block the two daggers.


    ng! ng!


    Quickly following that, he activated Sword Dance to increase the strength of his next attack.


    "That is Sword Dance, be careful!" The man quickly warned his teammates. He might be battling Kayn right now, but there''s no telling for certain if thetter won''t attack the others.


    Hearing their leader''s warning, everyone created some distance from Kayn.


    Unbeknownst to the man, that was exactly what Kayn intended to achieve.


    Just now, Kayn had noticed that the four assassins has positioned themselves in locations that allows them to deliver a critical attack on him. In order to prevent that, he has to force them to change their locations.


    "That was stupid," Kayn muttered to the man.


    Aside from preventing them from attacking him, he made them change location so that Gilbert would be able tounch an attack.


    "Argh!"


    One of the four assassins dropped from the tree, lifeless.


    Speaking about the devil.


    "Watch out for hispanion," The man instantly remembered Gilbert.


    "You better out yourself too," Kayn brandished his sword toward the man.


    ng!


    Boom!


    The man was sent flying.


    While in mid-air, the man remembered that Kayn had just applied Dragon Dance on himself. Meaning, his next attack would deal one hundred fifty percent damage.


    It was already toote when the man remembered that as he already smashed into a tree.


    Bang!


    "How unlucky¡­" The man muttered as he watches two daggers flying to his head.


    St! St!


    Without wasting any time, Kayn turns his attention to the remaining three assassins. He absolutely can''t let anyone escape from here as that might risk them getting found out.


    "What''s your n?" Gilbert arrived beside Kayn.


    "They have distanced themselves quite far from each other. Even if we split up, one of them is still bound to escape," Kayn muttered while picking up the two daggers he had thrown earlier.


    "How about I handle two of them while you handle one?"


    "Can you do it?"


    "Are you underestimating me?"


    "Of course not!"


    "Just because you have killed their leader, you instantly think of yourself highly?" Gilbert coldly harrumphs before leaving.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "What a hypocrite," If he didn''t say that line himself, it would be Gilbert instead who will use it against him. "I guess this means whoever has more skill can kill the third assassin,"


    In the ''Tower'', an individual''s level doesn''t always mean that they are powerful. It is always their skill inbat that matters in the end. So, even though Gilbert is level forty-nine, that doesn''t mean he can instantly overpower everyone whose level is lower than his.


    Kayn is backed by his experience andbat capability from the second life. Even though the current state of his body can''t handle that level yet, that is still not a hindrance for him to being highly proficient in battle. So, although he is still at level one, he can stillpete with Gilbert to a considerable degree.


    Regardless, it would still be impossible for him to defeat Gilbert in a one versus one fight as thetter clearly has a lot of Passive Skills and Active Skills in his arsenal.


    Kayn quickly followed after Gilbert.


    In the next moment, Kayn and Gilbert split up.


    Kayn went to the assassin at the far right, while Gilbert went to the assassin at the far left, thus leaving the third assassin in the middle.


    The only way to easily go back to where they came from is to either go right or left. But with Kayn and Gilbert blocking that path, the third assassin felt confused.


    "Quicklye to me so that we can help each other block them, and so that you can escape and report the situation here,"


    "No,e here!"


    What''s even worse is, he is more than aware of the fact that the people threatening his life aren''t only Kayn and Gilbert, but his two remainingrades as well. This is one of the disadvantages of joining the Tenderfoot Vige, everyone only cares about themselves.


    With no other choice, the third assassin could only turn back and go in a straight line while hoping deep inside of him that there would be a chance for him to save himself.


    Just like what the third assassin had expected, Kayn, Gilbert, and his tworades went to chase after him.


    "What are you two doing?! You should be distracting them so that I can escape!"


    "I also want to report it. So, why don''t you distract this man yourself?!"


    "I thought that we wererades?!"


    "We are! That''s why you have to sacrifice yourself!"


    "Damn it!"


    Kayn and Gilbert could only stare at each other, slightly surprised at the scene happening between the three assassins. Nevertheless, they were happy.


    They both know that even if they don''t do anything, it would be these three assassins themselves that would deliver their heads to them.


    "This is what happens when you adhered to the ideology of the Tenderfoot Vige," Gilbert expressed his thoughts.


    "The fate of selfishness," Kayn shook his head in pity.


    With that in mind, Kayn and Gilbert inserted even more pressure on the two assassins that they are each chasing so that they would simrly do the same to the third assassin.


    As time continues to pass, the closer the two parties got to the third assassin. The man could only feel helpless and desperate deep inside to escape from death.


    "Damn you two!"


    Being driven to the end and left with no other choice, the third assassin can no longer hold back from attacking hisrades.


    Whoosh!


    Whoosh!


    The third assassin threw out two daggers to his left and right, hoping that they would hit his tworades¡­


    No, scratch that!


    The two traitors!


    ng!


    ng!


    "What are you doing?!"


    "We arerades!"


    "I don''t see it that way anymore. So, please just die for me to live!"


    Whoosh!


    Whoosh!


    The third assassin no longer bothered to keep count of his daggers as he keeps on throwing one dagger after another.


    Since the third assassin is now attacking them, the two other assassins also decided tounch a counterattack.


    Whoosh!


    Whoosh!


    Unfortunately for the two assassins, because Kayn and Gilbert are currently chasing after them, they couldn''t focus solely on counterattacking.


    Seeing this, Kayn and Gilbert looked at each other and quickly came into a tacit understanding.


    Taking out two daggers from his Storage Ring, Kayn turns his focus to the third assassin. Because it''s currently two against the third assassin, they nned on making it four against one.


    Whoosh!


    Whoosh!


    On the other side, Gilbert also threw two daggers.


    Whoosh!


    Whoosh!


    They made sure to only throw their daggers when the two assassins threw theirs so that they can use their daggers as a distraction to keep the third assassin preupied. By doing so, there would be a high chance for their daggers tond on their target.


    ng!


    ng!


    "What the!"


    As expected, the third assassin was unable to defend Kayn and Gilbert''s daggers.


    The third assassin could only watch helplessly as the four daggers prated his body one after another.


    In the next moment, the third assassin fell to his death.


    Seeing the death of their previousrade, the two assassin''s faces turned dark. They can already imagine the scene of them dying next.


    "Your death won''t be in vain,"


    "We promise to make these traitorous bastards pay for their sins,"


    It was Kayn and Gilbert instead that swore to take revenge for the third assassin, evidently insulting the duo for causing theirrade''s death.


    "AHHH!"


    The two assassins could only scream loudly in hopes of calling the other assassins. This is theirst-ditch effort to see hope.


    Unbeknownst to them, Gilbert has already cast a skill on himself a long time ago that prevents any sound nearby him from escaping their surroundings.


    Not long after the death of the third assassin, the two assassins also fell to their deaths soon after. Thest thought in their minds was that their allies has choose to abandon them as they didn''t appear no matter how loud they cry for help.

 Chapter 88 Becoming Part Of The First Squad

    ?Chapter 88: Bing part of the first squad


    "Howe no one came?" Kayn asked while picking up the daggers he had thrown at the three assassins.


    "I used a skill to prevent any sound from escaping around me," Gilbert responded while also picking up his daggers. "I can''t help but noticed that your daggers seem to be a dual element,"


    "They are,"


    "It sure is nice to be the son-inw of Mayor Sebastian," Gilbert felt slightly jealous.


    "Don''t be mistaken. I got this for myself,"


    "Ehhh¡­ Are you already doing dungeon raids?"


    "Something like that,"


    "It seems like Mayor Sebastian choose you for your capability,"


    "You''re mistaken again. It wasn''t Mayor Sebastian that choose me, it was her daughter,"


    "Surely you can''t expect to believe that, right?"


    "Think whatever you want,"


    "Kidding aside. Let''s return!"


    Kayn nodded his head.


    Even though they''ve cleaned up the mess quite perfectly, that still doesn''t guarantee that their enemies won''t find out what happened here. There is a variety of ways to investigate a ce, so it would only be a matter of time before they realize that something is wrong here.


    Regardless, as long as they are long gone, it wouldn''t matter that much.


    The two quickly made their way back to the Green Horn Vige to report their findings to Old Chief George.


    ¡­..


    Kayn and Gilbert followed the same path they took when they left the Green Horn Vige, so when they get inside they weren''t that far away from the Town Hall.


    "Let''s hope that Old Chief George is still in the Town Hall right now," Gilbert silently prayed.


    As soon as Kayn and Gilbert arrived at the Town Hall, the ce was now fortified to look more like a barracks.


    There were dozens of earth walls erected using magic spells. They weren''t considered a strong defense, but they are good enough to give some protection and block the enemy''s vision.


    Dozens of Mages and Knights were spread over a hundred-meter perimeter around the Town Hall.


    The Knights are guarding the locations where their enemies would most likely enter, whereas the Mages are guarding the airspace, evidently to prevent their enemy from trying to fire magic spells at their location.


    Along the way, they have also spotted dozens of assassins on the roofs of the buildings. Clearly, they are the scouts who would send early warnings to the people assigned in the Town Hall.


    "Kayn, Gilbert!" Old Chief George called out from the window of the Town Hall.


    "Over there!" Gilbert pointed out. "Let''s go!"


    Kayn and Gilbert quickly arrived on the second floor of the Town Hall. No soldier bothered to stop them after spotting Gilbert.


    "Where have you two been?" Old Chief Gilbert asked with a solemn look on his face. He had sent some men earlier ago to get Kayn and Gilbert here, but no one was able to find them.


    "We went to scout the army of the Tenderfoot Vige," Gilbert didn''t n to hide what they did anymore since the information they have is very crucial in this war.


    "I''ll skip the part where I have to tell you how angry and disappointed I am because that will waste a lot of time. So, what did you find out?"


    "The Tenderfoot Vige is part of the Assembly of Freedom,"


    "Are you sure?" Old Chief George didn''t immediately buy their im.


    "Let me exin," Kayn interrupted. Gilbert has clearly misinterpreted things. "The previous Chief and the current Chief of the Tenderfoot Vige are members of the Assembly of Freedom. We aren''t certain yet whether the entire poption of the Tenderfoot Vige is really part of that anarchy group, but I do believe some of them are being tricked,"


    "There are currently less than three hundred soldiers in their army ¡ª twenty-five healers, fifty mages, another fifty marksmen, twenty-five guardians, one hundred are knights, and the rest should be assassins. And they are currently marching to our door as we speak.


    "If I am correct and that some of them are indeed being tricked by Chief Kylo, then we can enlighten them of the truth and by doing we might be able to reduce their manpower,"


    "Moreover, there are eleven more other territories that would be attacked. I don''t know which Viges, or possibly Towns they are, the only clue I received is that you have supposedly assigned seventeen Green Horn Knights to those territories,"


    "d to finally hear some good news," Old Chief George felt slightly relieved. "Good work on your scouting. It seems it was unnecessary for me to get mad in the first ce,"


    "Gilbert, go meet up with the others," Old Chief George turns to look at Kayn. "While you stay by my side. This time, don''t think of doing anything else,"


    "That would be such a waste, Old Chief," Gilbert can''t help butment.


    "Are you going against my order now, Gilbert?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Not to offend you, Old Chief, but Kayn''s capability is something that you shouldn''t underestimate. I saw him kill two assassins with my own eyes, including the leader, and he even assisted me in killing another one. It was also him who gathered almost all of that information, and I was unfortunately not able to help him that much,"


    "What do you suggest?"


    "I suggest that you allow him to follow me. In that way, he can help me, and at the same time I''ll be able to protect him,"


    "Absolutely no! The nature of your operations has always been dangerous. I can''t possibly allow Kayn to follow you,"


    "I am not saying that he would participate in our operations. I only said that he will follow me,"


    "If you put it that way, then I guess it''s okay. But are you certain you can keep Kayn away from danger during your operations?"


    "I was even able to keep him safe while we were inside the enemy camp, so yes, I can guarantee his safety," Gilbert assured.


    "Let''s hear Kayn''s thoughts first," Old Chief Gilbert looks at Kayn.


    "No offense, I''ll surely get bored if I stay with you. And don''t worry Old Chief George, I always prioritize my safety above all else," Kayn smiled.


    "In that case, you can follow Gilbert,"


    Old Chief George finally gave consent.


    Hearing this, Kayn and Gilbert quickly left the room, afraid that Old Chief George would take back his words if they stay any second longer.


    "Young people these days always want to seek adventure and danger. It makes me remember my younger days," Old Chief George heaves a heavy sigh while watching Kayn and Gilbert quickly leave the room.


    While walking, Kayn can''t help but ask, "What does Old Chief George mean when he said to go and meet up with the others? Are we perhaps meeting with the other two Green Horn Knights currently in Green Horn Vige?"


    "Something like that,"


    "And when he said that the nature of your operations is dangerous, how dangerous exactly? Does it involve sneaking into their camp again? Assassinating key individuals during the war? Or are we just going to set up some traps?"


    "A little bit of the third, while more of the first and second,"


    "That''s good! I can''t wait!" Kayn instantly felt excited about what they are going to do.


    "I might have suggested for you toe with us, but I also assured Old Chief George that I will keep you safe while you are with me. So, your participation would depend on what level of danger the task post to us,"


    "Don''t worry, I understand," That is also his intention.


    After walking down the end of the hallway, Kayn arrived at a door that leads to a cramp-up space on a supposedly third floor of the Town Hall.


    "I didn''t expect that there''s a third floor,"


    "It was only because it''s necessary,"


    Upon walking inside, Kayn spotted four other people, each releasing a fierce and dangerous aura around them.


    "Who''s this?" A man, who seems to be the leader of the group, stood up and approach Gilbert while looking at the direction of Kayn.


    "He is Kayn. Old Chief George told me to let him follow with me,"


    "I didn''t expect that babysitting would be part of your job, Gilbert," A flirtatious-looking woman said jokingly.


    "If only you were assigned as the receptionist when Kayn came, you''d be the one in my ce," Gilbert retorted.


    "I''ve never been good with children, so thanks for saving me from trouble,"


    "You''re my senior, so it''s only natural for the junior to take care of such a small matter,"


    "Is that your own way of telling me that I am old?!"


    "Think however you want,"


    "Enough!" The leader interrupted. "I see that you still have a sharp tongue. And seeing that the old man had no problem letting him follow you, makes me believe that he is simr to you. If it''s okay to ask, what is your name?"


    "You can call me Kayn,"


    "Nice to meet you Kayn, I am Friedrich, the leader of the first squad," The man put his hand forward, intending to shake hands with Kayn.


    Kayn gratefully grabbed the hand and shook the hands of Friedrich.


    After shaking Kayn''s hand, Friedrich looked at everyone and said, "Since everyone is now here, let''s begin with our meeting. You two can seat on anywhere you want as long as they are vacant,"


    "Thank you," Kayn nodded his head.


    "Yes, sir!" Gilbert respectfully responded.

 Chapter 89 The Economy And War In ‘The Bridge’

    ?Chapter 89: The economy and war in ''The Bridge''


    Everyone quickly took a seat somewhere they deemedfortable. Sadly, there wasn''t enough seat in the room, there was only two, to be exact, which Friedrich used and another guy that has a muscr body with a shield to the side, clearly a Guardian.


    "Just because I weed you quite nicely, doesn''t mean that I don''t see any problem with you being with us," Friedrich looked at Kayn. "If you try to cause us any trouble or hinder our operation, we will leave you and Gilbert behind, do you understand that?"


    Kayn simply nodded his head in response.


    "Anyways, let''s start the meeting," Friedrich put five images on the table in front. "I don''t know any information about their army, that includes theirposition and formation, nor do I care about that information. But what I do know about is who their leaders are,"


    "ording to my sources in the Tenderfoot Vige, there are five leaders in this army and they each respectively lead different units,"


    "One is a knight, partnered with another leader who is a guardian. The other two are priest and mage, and thest one is an assassin,"


    "If you ask me, the most dangerous of them all is the knight and the assassin. These two are quite well-known in ''The Bridge'', Diaz and Lotte. Diaz ims himself to be a me Knight, while Lotte specializes in skills rted to shadows,"


    "The guardian is also quite formidable. His name is Adolfo," Friedrich looked at the man sitting beside him and said, "I think he knows him quite well,"


    "He is so-so. I can handle him,"


    "Is what he said. That''s why I am not worried about Adolfo,"


    "The Mage and the Priest are one of those people that ranks the lowest in the leaders of the Tenderfoot Vige. The Priest is named Margie, a very beautiful name, but she''ll sadly be dying today. And the Mage''s name is Rose, she looks,"


    "Ordinary," The flirtatious woman interrupted while staring daggers at Friedrich.


    It''s quite obvious that Rose is very beautiful.


    "Rest assured, none of us will hesitate to kill any of them even if they are beautiful. The only thing we consider here is either they are enemies or allies. If they are the former, then they will have to die,"


    "These five people are our target. The others, they don''t matter,"


    "I''ve seen those five," Natas whispered to Kayn. "They were there during the meeting in the tent along with Chief Kylo,"


    "They are members of Assembly of Freedom," Kayn didn''t hesitate to reveal.


    Friedrich and the others instantly turned to look at Kayn.


    "Is he speaking nonsense?" Friedrich looks at Gilbert.


    "No, sir!" Gilbert shook his head. "We secretly infiltrated the army camp of our enemy not so long ago. I sadly didn''t get much information, but Kayn here heard a lot of things,"


    "What is there n?" This time, Friedrich looks at Kayn as he now deemed thetter worth his attention.


    "To bring anarchy in ''The Bridge'', what else?" If it was anyone else, he wouldn''t reveal such crucial information casually. But if it is the twenty Green Horn Knights, he can trust them. They mighte off fierce and dangerous, but that''s actually only because they are strong. When ites to their principles and what they believe, they are quite honorable. Moreover, if one thinks about how Old Chief George always view everyone negatively, it''s honestly a huge feat for these people to get his recognition.


    "Has the old man heard of this already?"


    "We reported to him first before informing you,"


    "That''s good," Friedrich nodded in acknowledgement. "Although such information is very crucial, we unfortunately have to wait for the old man''s call. But for now, our operation is to simply kill these five people,"


    "There''s no n yet how we''ll kill them. We will only think of that once we find them," Friedrich paused as pointed at the images, "Memorize their faces within five minutes, then after that we will begin our operation to exterminate them,"


    "Understood, sir Friedrich!"


    Friedrich immediately left everyone started memorizing the images. It''s quite evident that he went to see Old Chief George to discuss about what he heard from Kayn. Well, it is an important matter, so everyone could understand.


    The flirtatious woman looked at the image for a few seconds before suddenly approaching Kayn.


    "Your name is Kayn, right?"


    "Yes, why?" Kayn instantly became cautious, and so was Gilbert.


    "My name is Kimberly, nice to meet you," Kimberly put her hand forward, wanting to shake hands with Kayn.


    "Nice to meet you too¡­" Kayn acted like he was slightly ufortable.


    "What do you want, Kimberly?" Gilbert with a grave tone in his voice.


    "What''s your problem, Gilbert? Clearly, I just want to get to know this young man,"


    "I know you are trying to investigate him,"


    "Is there a problem with that?"


    "He is under the protection of Old Chief George,"


    Kimberly felt surprised, "So, he is that important for the old man? Tell me more,"


    "Screw off,"


    "No way, espeically now that you''ve made me more interested on him,"


    "I''ll tell Friedrich about this,"


    "Tell him what?"


    "That you tried to flirt with Kayn,"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "This ain''t flirting!"


    "It will be if I am the one who tells it,"


    "You''re very boring, you know that,"


    "I am just doing my job,"


    "Being a nanny, I supposed,"


    "At least that''s better than having her feeling not reciprocated by the man she is obsessed with,"


    "You¡­!"


    "That''s enough, Gilbert,"


    A man with a schrly vibe interrupted Gilbert and Kimberly''s argument before it escte into something physical.


    "I was just being nice,"


    "And he also warned you nicely,"


    "Che!"


    Kimberly finally started walking away.


    "Sorry for the inconvenience,"


    "Not much of an inconvenience,"


    "d to hear that. By the way, I am Cedrick, the Priest of the first squad,"


    "I believe you already know me,"


    "I do," Cedrick chuckledically. "Sorry if Friedrich didn''t bother to introduce everyone to you. That''s because we prefer to introduce ourselves personally, and not let someone else do it. I hope you understand," With the nature of their job, some of them prefers to hide their name.


    "You can know their codenames though," Cedrick looked at the only man who still hasn''t introduced himself.


    "No need," The muscr man stood up to introduce himself. "My name is Roshan,"


    "That name suits you," Kayn can''t help saying in remark.


    "I hear that all the time," Roshan smiled before taking his seat once again.


    "If it''s okay to ask, shouldn''t there be only two other members of the Green Horn Knights here in the Green Horn Vige?"


    "That is what we want other people to believe to be the case," Cedrick responded.


    "So, are you telling me that some of the eleven territories don''t have Green Horn Knights?"


    "Did you perhaps hear these from when you infiltrated the enemy''s camp?"


    "Yeah," Kayn nodded his head. "Are you perhaps those Green Horn Knights that were assigned in the territories that doesn''t need the Green Horn Knights'' protection?"


    "We are," Cedrick confirmed. "Honestly, most of the allies of the Green Horn Vige are Towns. So, only those Viges needs our protection. Those Towns has their own formidable forces that shouldn''t be reckoned with,"


    "That''s good! Since they believe there would only be three Green Horn Knights present in the Green Horn Vige. Although, they considered the possibility of some of you guys returning to this ce after hearing the news,"


    "There are indeed four other Green Horn Knights that are currently on their way here. After all, Old Chief George is more important that the territories of our allies,"


    "Wouldn''t they feel displeased about that?"


    "I am guessing that you are new in ''The Bridge'' that''s why you are still asking a lot of questions to us. Always bear this in mind, you cannot casually establish a territory in this ce without meeting the necessary requirements. And one of those requirements is to be able to defend it from the invasion of other Viges,"


    "It''s not only today that a war has took ce in ''The Bridge''. To tell you the truth, every Chief is constantly at war with one another,petiting for almost everything,"


    "That isn''t surprising though, because unlike the ''Tower'' where there seems to be a never ending supply of materials. In ''The Bridge'', there''s only a limited number of them,"


    "If one of the Viges gets a hold of the gathering spot of a certain material, that means less resources for the other Viges and Towns. And although it''s possible to trade materials with each other, it just so happens that not all materials have the same value or worth. So, if a Vige with a less valuable material wants to trade for a high-value material that another Vige possess, then it would require more of the former''s resources toplete the trade with thetter,"


    "And sometimes, the expense in starting a war is lesspared to what it would cost when doing such a trade. That is one of the reasons why a war would start,"


    "Thank you for the insight," Kayn took note of such an important information about ''The Bridge''. To simply put, in the ''Tower'', Heroes and Viins wouldpete for territories. But in ''The Bridge'', theypete for resources.


    "Anyways, have you memorize the faces of these five people already?" Cedrick kindly reminded.


    "Rest assured, I have a good memory," Kayn pointed at his head.


    "I hope you use that gift of yours wisely, unlike Gilbert here," Cedrick looked at Gilbert.


    "You do know that the word ''Gift'' is subjective, right?" Gilbert retorted.


    "Believe whatever you want," Cedrick chuckled before walking to the table so that he can start memorizing the faces of their target.


    Not long after, Friedrich finally returned. "Let''s quickly go!"

 Chapter 90 Adolfo

    ?Chapter 90: Adolfo


    Kayn and the others used the veil of the night to cover their tracks and presence as they made their way to the army of the Tenderfoot Vige.


    They were already informed of the hiding assassins in the woods around the army by Kayn and Gilbert, so they quickly eliminated any of them they met along the way.


    If Kayn and Gilbert could eliminate a team of assassins easily, not to mention with Friedrich and the other members of the first squad added to their team.


    Every assassin they killed, their bodies would instantly get stored inside a separate Storage Ring so that they won''t have to worry about hiding their bodies and cleaning up the mess. Well, with so many of them dying, it would be very easy to get found out if they simply hide all the dead bodies using the greeneries around them as a cover. Unless of course if they kill all assassins.


    However, although they''ve cleaned up most of the clues, they have still deliberately left some for the leader of the assassin unit, Lotte, to find in order for him to be able to track them down.


    Lotte isn''t really their first target. It is the leader of the guardian unit, Adolfo. But if Lottees to them first before they arrived at their initial target, then it would be very advantageous for them as they can eliminate one of the two powerful leaders of the Tenderfoot Vige army.


    The reason why their first target is Adolfo is that he still making his way to join the army. That''s the exact reason why the army of the Tenderfoot Vige still hasn''t attacked the Green Horn Vige.


    "Adolfo is an alcoholic. That is why he was able to maintain his huge and fatty body. He always arriveste because he would get himself drunk before participating in a fight," Roshan exined to everyone. "It isn''t without any reason though why he is an alcoholic,"


    Friedrich interrupted, "ording to the information we have gathered about Adolfo, his Gift is rted to consuming alcohol. The more alcohol he intakes, the higher his endurance stats be. Although it would make him drunk as a consequence. But because of he always stays in taverns and bars almost every day, his alcohol tolerance has gone way beyond the limits. Hence, why he has be the leader of the guardian unit,"


    "The reason why Ibeled him so-so is that although his endurance stats are very highpared to almost everyone in ''The Bridge'', the downside is he can''t fight very well because of feeling tipsy and sometimes drunk from alcohol,"


    "Based on our scout''s report, Adolfo is being carried inside a carriage that is making its way to this ce as fast as possible while currently being escorted by ten soldiers. They''ve probably long reached the halfway point, so we have to intercept him before he can reach their army," Friedrich ended his briefing.


    "I hope that you won''t feel scared once you finally see Adolfo," Roshan kindly warns.


    "We won''t get scared since you are very confident that you can handle him," Cedrick gave Roshan a thumbs up.


    "Don''t be mistaken. What I meant when I said I can handle him is that I can keep him preupied for you guys. As to whether we can defeat him or not, that would entirely depend on all of you," Roshan rified his previous im.


    "I think that''s our target carriage up ahead. But¡­ Why are they carrying a boulder?" Kimberly motioned her hand which halted everyone from continuing to move any farther.


    "That is Adolfo," Roshan felt distressed.


    "Are you seriously telling me that Adolfo is that huge?!" Cedrick and Kimberly felt disbelief.


    "That''s right! His sheer size alone is almost like a small hill,"


    "This can''t be real, right?"


    "If you consume alcohol for almost your entire life, eat, and sleep, focus most of your SP in improving your endurance, and do things that erge your body, achieving such a body size like Adolfo''s isn''t impossible," Kayn did the honor of enlightening everyone.


    "I am assuming that what he is doing is the same as how inhabitants of the ''Tower'' allocate their SP. For example, the Orc race prefers to put their SP into strength and endurance, and they train their bodies very seriously, that is why they are such a domineering race,"


    "Cyclop race, Ogre race, Minotaur race, Bear race, Pig race, I''m mentioning just a few, also does the same as the Orc race, that is why their bodies look almost the same,"


    "How did you know all of this?" Cedrick was amazed at Kayn''s knowledge.


    "I am still a student, at least before I entered ''The Bridge'',"


    "No wonder," Kimberly smiles charmingly at Kayn.


    "Kayn''s right," Roshan nodded his head. "Anyone can turn into anything with the help of the ''Tower'' as long as you meet certain conditions,"


    "Anyways, what do you suggest we should do to kill Adolfo?" Friedrich asked Roshan.


    "Very simple. I keep him preupied, while the rest of you will try to bleed him to death,"


    "Bleed him to death? That would cause a lot of mess in the surrounding. It would be impossible to clean up the blood he''d ooze out considering how huge his body is afterward," Cedrick expressed his concern.


    "Is there no other way?" Friedrich also agrees with Cedrick.


    "That''s the only way that we have,"


    "Can''t we just cut go for his throat, or other vital spots, to kill him?" Gilbert suggested. "He is sleeping right now. If you give me the chance, I could probably assassinate him right now,"


    "His body is almost entirely made out of fat. And unluckily for us, we don''t possess any weapons with us that would be able to cut deep enough in his vital spots to kill him," Roshan shook his head.


    "We can hit it repeatedly,"


    "He might be fat, but he clearly isn''t stupid. And if you are going to do something like that, might as well just make him bleed out to death as you would definitely have to attack another part of his body in order to distract him from protecting his vital spot,"


    "You''re right," Gilbert finally gave up the idea.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "It seems like that''s our only way now," Friedrich stepped forward to have a better look at the slowly moving carriage. "The distance from where we are at right now and their army camp is only ten kilometers more. It isn''t far away for no one to notice themotion we are going to create, but it is also not that close that they will notice it instantly,"


    "Roshan, you will be tasked with preventing Adolfo from leaving and keeping him preupied,"


    "Kimberly, cast a sound instion magic spell to prevent any noise from escaping this ce,"


    "Cedrick, support us from the rear,"


    "I and Gilbert will be responsible for making Alfonso bleed out,"


    Friedrich started giving out everyone a task to do.


    "Move out!"


    "Wait!" Kayn hastily called out to Friedrich.


    "Is there any problem?" Friedrich stares at Kayn.


    "Is there something that I can help with?"


    "You?" Friedrich paused for a moment. "Sorry for leaving you behind. I am so used to only having tomand five people, so I forgot,"


    "Gilbert!"


    "Yes, sir?"


    "Would it be alright if Kayn follows you since it is your responsibility to keep him safe,"


    "That''s even better for us, sir,"


    "I guess that means I don''t have to worry about the two of you?"


    "You can rest assured,"


    "Alright!"


    With that being said, Kayn followed behind Gilbert and Friedrich as they sneaked their way to the currently sleeping Adolfo.


    As they got close to Adolfo, they started hearing thetter snoring very loudly as if he is not about to get to war soon.


    "How carefree," Kayn can''t help but mutter in remark.


    "How should we begin?" Gilbert looks at Friedrich.


    "Let''s wait for Roshan''s go signal," Friedrich instructed.


    It didn''t take long for Roshan to reveal himself to the people in the carriage.


    The ten soldiers who were escorting Adolfo to the war instantly readied their weapons to face Roshan.


    "Be careful, hisrades should be somewhere nearby,"


    Because of the fact that Roshan is a guardian, it is very easy to assume that there are others with him hiding around.


    "One of you, try to quickly wake up Adolfo!"


    These people clearly aren''t stupid enough to let Adolfo continue sleeping while they face this ambush.


    It didn''t take a second longer for someone to volunteer to wake up Adolfo.


    However, before that soldier could even take a single step to approach Adolfo, he suddenly fell to the ground with a dagger to his head.


    "Protect the Priest and Mages!"


    Instantly, the two guardians on the escort team came in front to protect the Priest and Mages. At the same time, the knights spread out so that they won''t be taken out at the same time by the ambush.


    "Adolfo! Adolfo! Adolfo!"


    The leader of the escort team hastily shouted as loud as possible in hopes of waking up Adolfo without the need to approach thetter.

 Chapter 91 Guardian Duel

    ?Chapter 91: Guardian Duel


    Probably because of how deep in his sleep Adolfo currently is, the squad leader''s shout wasn''t able to wake the former up no matter how loud he did it.


    "This guy is seriously such a huge liability for our army. Why on Earth did Chief Kylo assign him to be a leader of the guardian unit?!" The squad leader felt displeased.


    Even though he said that he still wanted to wake Adolfo from his sleep.


    "Knights, search the ce for others! Guardians, deal with that man! Mages and Priest, support them from the rear!" The squad leader started assigning everyone a task to do.


    "Let''s see about that!" Roshan eximed before charging toward the two guardians in front of him.


    Boom!


    A loud explosion echoed as Roshan''s shield smashed onto the shield of the two guardians. His shield was one shield and a half biggerpared to theirs, so he was able to hold the two off without any problem.


    Unfortunately, he still has to worry about the two Mages on the rear and the Priest.


    Whoosh! Whoosh!


    In the next moment, two orange-colored lights covered the entire body of the two guardians.


    "It seems like you have two quite decent Mages,"


    Those two orange-colored lights were support-type magic spells. Based on the color, they enhance the receiver''s endurance.


    As soon as the orange-colored light was applied, the two guardians are now able to push Roshan.


    "That''s far enough!"


    To the two guardian''s surprise though, their push onto Roshan suddenly came to a halt. They tried to exert even more strength in their arms and legs, but it was proven futile.


    "I was only letting you push me,"


    Whoosh! Whoosh!


    Two daggers went passed the side of the two guardians, flying straight in the direction of the Mages and Priest.


    Whoosh!


    The Priest quickly conjured a mana shield to block the dagger.


    Bang! Bang!


    Seeing the dagger stopping just a few inches away from them, the two mages can''t help breathing a sigh of relief. They were preupied with casting another support magic spell on the two guardians after seeing their predicament, thus they can''t spare any focus on the iing daggers.


    Although they could have canceled their magic spells, that would be such a waste as they are nearpletion.


    They''re very lucky that their gamble paid off as the Priest was able to block it for them.


    Whoosh! Whoosh!


    Two red-colored lights covered the body of the two guardians.


    This time, it was a strength increase magic spell.


    Unlike thest time though, the two guardians didn''t push Roshan any farther than necessary. If they do so, they won''t be able to protect the Mages and Priest, which is their main responsibility.


    To keep the Mages and Priest safe, the two guardians slowly stepped back in almost perfect coordination with one another while still keeping Roshan onto them. And with the help of the increase in strength, Roshan seems to be having trouble trying to break off their synch.


    At least that is what they thought¡­


    As the two guardians get closer and closer to their Mages and Priest, all of a sudden Roshan stopped pushing them. Thetter just stood still with a wide smirk on his face.


    In the next second, Roshan turns his body around, and as if trying tounch someone above them, he sent his shield upward.


    The two guardians, two Mages, and the Priest looked up and soon saw a person flying up above them.


    "It''s the assassin!" The squad leader quickly realized the direness of their situation. Without a moment wasted, he slid in front of the Mages and Priest as he brandished his sword at the iing assassin.


    ng!


    But to the squad leader''s surprise, the sound that he was expecting between the sh of his sword and the assassin''s dagger didn''t happen. Instead, the sound came to his left and right.


    Using his peripheral vision, the squad leader saw the knight at his left with his head already decapitated and a young man that waves his dagger to get the blood off, while the other knight at his right is trying his best to hold off the enemy''s knight. But it didn''t take long for him to get defeated.


    In that quick instance, two of his died.


    Quickly, the squad leader turns his attention back to the iing assassin. But to his horror, the assassin suddenly changed direction while mid-air and is nowing for thest remaining knight.


    "Be careful!" The squad leader warned.


    Albeit it was already toote as the assassin threw three daggers in the direction of the third knight.


    The third assassin was able to block two of the daggers off course, but he was unluckily injured by the third. And quickly after that, the assassinnded in front of him, kicking his stomach.


    However, it wasn''t just any ordinary kick. Embedded in the sandal of the assassin was a retractable dagger.


    The dagger easily prated the armor of the knight. Using his body as a stepping board, the assassin made a backflip.


    Just like the first foot, the other foot also has a retractable dagger embedded in it.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Unaware of the retractable dagger before it arrived, the neck of the third knight was slit cleanly.


    Then with a sudden pull of the other foot, the third knight came thrusting forward.


    Waiting in front of where the head of the third knight wouldnd was a dagger that stood erect on the ground like a trap ready to take his life away.


    The third knight tried to evade away from it, but he can''t because his neck won''t cooperate after getting slit.


    Helplessly and full of unwillingness, the third knight had his headnding on the dagger.


    The squad leader could only watch as the three knights in his escort team died one after the other in quick session.


    As if not giving the squad leader any time to ept their deaths, the two guardians were sent tumbling to their feet by Roshan.


    "Impossible!"


    "How?!"


    The two guardians were inplete disbelief at how easy it was for Roshan to push the two of them despite receiving an endurance and strength increase support magic spell.


    "It seems like we are up against no ordinary ambush,"


    It was just a simple line, but it was more than enough to cause the squad leader and the other''s bodies to get stimted and receive a huge boost in their morale.


    "I thought I could take some rest before the war, but it seems like my fight has to begin earlier than the rest,"


    "I am d that you have woken up, sir Adolfo," The squad leader quickly greeted.


    "You''re lucky that we have an enemy to face right now. Once we are done with this, you''re going to receive a punishment for insulting your superior behind his back,"


    "Behind your back?"


    "It just so happens that when you said that I am a huge liability my back was facing you,"


    "I understand," The squad leader nodded his head in acknowledgment. No matter how unreasonable Adolfo is right now, he has no choice but to ept that if he wants to survive.


    "Now, who dares to wake me up from my deep slumber?!"


    A loud and intimidating voice echoed throughout the surrounding.


    "How noisy," Kayn said in a remark.


    "His voice perfectly suits the size of his body," Gilbert muttered while cleaning his ears.


    "I couldn''t agree more," Friedrich nodded his head.


    While speaking, Kayn, Gilbert, and Friedrich walk behind the back of Roshan, their guardian.


    "You''re that confident that your guardian can handle me?" Adolfo asked.


    "How about we test it out?" Roshan responded.


    "Is that a challenge?"


    "A Guardian Duel, to be exact!"


    Guardian Duel. It is a term used by fellow guardians when theypete against each other on who is the strongest guardian. It''s not really an official match or something that the ''Tower'' recognized. Rather, it is more like an unspoken rule that was established between all guardians.


    "Alright!"


    Boom!  Boom!


    Before the two guardians could stand up, they were smashed into meat paste by Adolfo.


    "Count this as my token of respect," Adolfo said as he picked up the shield of the two dead guardians.


    "What have you done?!" The squad leader was instantly enraged by Adolfo''s action.


    "You don''t want to get punished by me, right? Then act like you didn''t see anything. And that includes the three of you as well,"


    "Understood!"


    "No problem!"


    "Did we have any guardians?"


    The Priest and the two Mages didn''t hesitate to recognize Adolfo''s words.


    "I¡­" The squad leader could only gulp down his words with unwillingness.


    Unlike Adolfo, Roshan simply nodded at Friedrich and thetter signaled Kayn and Gilbert to not do anything against Adolfo.


    "I thought that we are going to make him bleed to death?" Gilbert asked Friedrich silently.


    "That is still our n. But we also have to wait until only Adolfo is left. As of now, let''s take care of the squad leader and the others. Until then, let''s honor the Guardian Duel between Roshan and Adolfo, and NO ONE SHALL DISTURB THEM," Friedrich purposely eximed thest part so that Adolfo can see that they respect the Guardian Duel.


    A Guardian Duel might be treated as something very sacred between guardians, but there are many instances where they break it because of different factors involved. So, it''s not widely respected by the other main sses and subsses.


    Not to mention, this is a Guardian Duel initiated in an ambush, so it''s not that surprising that Friedrich is nning on breaking it eventually.

 Chapter 92 A Double-Edged Sword

    ?Chapter 92: A Double-Edged Sword


    "However, you don''t mind us going for those people, right?" Friedrich pointed in the direction of the squad leader and the other right beside Adolfo.


    "You can do whatever you want as long as you don''t disturb my fight," Adolfo didn''t mind Friedrich''s request.


    "What?!" The squad leader felt disbelief at Adolfo.


    "I am the one you are supposed to be escorting, not the other way around. So, you go deal with them on your own," Adolfo stepped aside.


    Roshan also followed after.


    Without wasting any more time, Roshan and Adolfo immediately went for each other.


    Boom!


    A loud explosion erupted as two guardians smashes their shields against each other.


    "You''re tough!" Adolfoplimented.


    "Same as you!" Roshan kindly responded back.


    "I truly never expected that someone who isn''t as huge as me would be able to hold his ground against me,"


    "There is more to the world than what you see from where you are standing,"


    "That depends on where you''re standing,"


    "I am standing on giant''s shoulder,"


    "I am that giant!"


    "We''ll see about that," Roshan coldly scoffed.


    To Adolfo''s surprise, Roshan slowly started to push him backward.


    However, that didn''t take long as Adolfo was able to soon find his footing to hold his ground.


    Regardless though, Adolfo still found himself unable to push Roshan backward, making him feel slightly surprised.


    "It seems to me that you aren''t the giant I am standing. Perhaps, you are being stepped on by my giant instead?"


    "How arrogant!"


    "You started it first!"


    While Roshan and Adolfo werepeting against who has better endurance and strength, Kayn and the others on the other hand slowly approach the squad leader and his remaining men.


    "Stay behind my back and support me," The squad leader instructed his men.


    Instantly, orange-colored light and red-colored light covered the body of the squad leader. Since the two guardians are gone, the two mages naturally transferred their support magic spell to their squad leader.


    As soon as they were done with that, they quickly conjured an earth wall and a barrier to protect themselves and their Priest. Thetter also made an extra barrier for himself just to be extra sure.


    The squad leader can''t helpplimenting his men for being able to quickly think of a way to not make themselves a liability for him. Now that they have protected themselves while at the same time still being able to provide assistance to him, he won''t have to worry about anyone else other than himself.


    In the next moment, the squad leader lunges forward.


    Seeing the squad leader charging at them, Kayn and Gilbert quickly evaded to let Friedrich handle the former.


    "Quickly go to the Mages and Priest, I can handle him!" Friedrich eximed at Kayn and Gilbert.


    Kayn and Gilbert nodded their heads in unison before hastily moving to the mini-fortress that the Mages and Priest are currently using as a cover.


    Unfortunately, it isn''t going to be easy for them to approach the mini-fortress.


    Whoosh! Whoosh!


    Boom! Boom!


    Dozens of fireballs began raining on them.


    Shrggggh!


    Vines started appearing on the ground, which hinders their path forward and prevented them from easily avoiding the rain of fireballs.


    The vines also became the mediums for a fire to start spreading on the ground.


    Bzzz! Bzzz!


    Rays of light began shooting at their location.


    There was only a small window to avoid the rays of light, and with the rain of fireballs plus the burning of the vines on the ground, Kayn and Gilbert find themselves having a really hard time trying to approach the mini-fortress.


    "I didn''t expect that a day woulde where I can''t approach a Mage," Gilbert felt slightly stressed out.


    Mages have always been an easy target for assassins like Gilbert. But that''s only the case if they don''t get found out and were able tounch a surprise attack.<novelnext></novelnext>


    In this case, Gilbert can no longer hide from the Mages. Even if he tries to slip into the forest nearby them and use it as a cover, it would still not help that much because the Mages and Priest have made a mini-fortress to guard against such a variable.


    "It seems like they''ve made preparation for exactly a moment like this," Kayn could easily understand why the Mages and Priest could hinder their path forward.


    If it was other Mages, they would have started panicking already once they are put up against an assassin like Gilbert. The only exnation for why they aren''t is probably because they''ve done simtions for a situation like this.


    "Gilbert! We''ll have to find the weakness in their defense," Kayn informs Gilbert. Regardless of how prepared someone is, there''s always bound to be a weakness somewhere. As long as they can find that weakness, then it wouldn''t be troublesome anymore.


    "Understood!" Even as a master assassin, Gilbert couldn''t help butpliment the Mages and Priest for being able to hold him off.


    With that new goal in mind, Kayn and Gilbert no longer went up against the Mages and Priest with the intention of reaching them. This time, as they avoid their attacks, they simultaneously look for the weakness in their defense.


    "Fire¡­ Nature... Light¡­" These were the three magic spells the Mages and Priest are using to counter them.


    "They are using fireballs to distract us. The vines in the ground hinder us from approaching forward, while at the same creating a blockage as it burns when a fireballnds on them. Lastly, the ray of light prevents us from choosing any path that isn''t hindered by fireballs and vines. It is also their only way to effectively attack us," Kayn mutters.


    "The problem is not with the fireball, it is the vines that burn the ground," Gilbert pointed out. They obviously can''t step on burning ground.


    "We can''t prevent them from using the vines to their advantage,"


    "How about we direct the vines? Let''s say, I go left, and you go right,"


    "There are two Mages, plus the Priest would definitely support them. So, I don''t rmend we split up,"


    By splitting up, the two of them would no longer face three opponents, but rather two opponents each as the Priest could provide assistance to the two Mages at the same time. Simply put, it would be no different from fighting four opponents.


    In addition to that, there''s no telling for certain if Adolfo won''t back off from the Guardian Duel first once he sees a perfect opportunity tounch a surprise attack on one of them.


    "Couldn''t we just ask for help from Kimberly and Cedrick?" Kayn can''t help suggesting.


    "It''s not time yet for them to make their appearance in the fight," Gilbert shook his head. Kimberly and Cedrick are their trump cards against Adolfo.


    The main reason why Kimberly and Cedrick can''t show themselves yet is that once they do so, Adolfo would no doubt ask for the assistance of the squad leader and his remaining men. As a matter of fact, if Kimberly and Cedrick had shown up from the very start, Adolfo would have never thought of killing the two guardians. That''s because having a Mage and a Priest in the enemy team could bring a lot of variables in a fight. What the two Mages did to the two guardians before is a clear example of such a case.


    Only when the squad leader and his remaining men are dead would Kimberly and Cedrick reveal themselves. That was the n, and they will not change that just because they feel a little bit of a challenge against the two Mages and Priest.


    "Alright," Kayn could only give up. Since he can''t do that, he continued to observe and take note of possible weaknesses of their enemy''s defense.


    Time continues to pass that way.


    Whoosh!


    As Kayn got hindered by another burning vine in front of him, instead of looking for another path to approach the mini-fortress, he stayed and began observing.


    In the midst of his observation, Kayn notices the ck smoke that the burning vine is releasing into the surrounding area.


    He quickly looked up, and to his excitement, he saw the area getting slowly covered by ck smoke.


    "It seems like we don''t have to look for the weakness of their defense anymore," Kayn muttered.


    "Why?" Gilbert stopped in his tracks.


    "Look at the smoke around us, notice any difference?"


    "Was there always a dense smoke around us?"


    "No!" Kayn shook his head. "It''s the burning vines that created this dense smoke,"


    Gilbert immediately understood what Kayn is nning on doing.


    "We can use this to our advantage,"


    "Alright!"


    Kayn and Gilbert started moving.


    At this moment, rather than avoiding the ces where there are vines hindering their path forward and going for another open path, they both went to find those paths with vines.


    Every single time they find an area with vines and acted as if going over them, a fireball would soonnd on the vines, thus burning the ground in front of them and preventing them from walking on it.


    As they continued to do so, the density of the smoke became denser and denser.


    Finally, the entire surrounding of the mini-fortress became covered by ck smoke.


    "Now!"


    Whoosh! Whoosh!


    Both Kayn and Gilbert didn''t hesitate to enter the ck smoke as they use it as a cover to prevent the Mages and Priest from spotting them.


    Never did they expect that the weakness of their enemy''s defense would turn out to be their greatest strength and biggest advantage over them. In other words, the more they use their defense, the deeper they dug a hole for themselves.


    A double-edged sword, to be more exact!

 Chapter 93 The Crazy Friedrich

    ?Chapter 93: The Crazy Friedrich


    The Mages and Priest started panicking the moment they understood their predicament.


    With the dense ck smoke covering their surrounding, they have no way to find Kayn and Gilbert anymore. And with the two being assassins, it instantly made them fearful for their lives.


    The only hope they have left is the wall that protects them in the center and the barrier they have conjured behind the walls.


    While waiting for Kayn and Gilbert to reveal themselves, the Mages continued shooting light rays everywhere and hoping that it would at the very least hit one of them.


    Whoosh! Whoosh!


    ng!


    Two daggers shoot out from the gap in their wall.


    Luckily for them, they have conjured a barrier to protect them from such a surprise attack.


    However, the next moment¡­


    Boom!


    One of the daggers suddenly exploded and releases ice spikes everywhere inside their mini-fortress.


    There was no way for them to escape, so they could only rely on the barriers to shield them from the seemingly endless barrage of ice spikes.


    "What the heck!"


    "Quickly, try to conjure more barriers!"


    "Buy me some¡­ Ahhh!"


    Before the Priest could finish his line, a dagger shoot out from the gap in the wall straight toward his shoulder.


    Because the barriers were preupied with the ice spikes and had their mana slowly being drained as time continues to pass, plus the walls around them has been proven useless, the Mages and Priest no longer had any means or alternatives to protect themselves inside their mini-fortress.


    Whoosh!


    A round object was thrown inside the gap between the walls.


    "A smoke bomb!"


    "Oh no!"


    Boom!


    Using the smoke bomb as cover, Kayn and Gilbert slipped inside the walls.


    "Argh!"


    "Ahhh!"


    "Save me¡­"


    As the smoke bomb died down, the lifeless bodies of the Mages and Priest could be seen lying on the ground with Kayn and Gilbert wiping the blood off their weapons.


    "You should have told me that you carry a smoke bomb with you all this time," Kayn can''t help berating Gilbert. If they have used a smoke bomb from the start, then they wouldn''t have gone through such trouble.


    "I can''t possibly waste such precious items when there is a perfect alternative, right?" Gilbert rolled his eyes.


    "Now, let''s move out¡­"


    Before Kayn could finish his line, the wall around them suddenly got sted into pieces and above them, they saw the huge arm of Adolfo.


    "It seems like Adolfo is the first one to go back with the Guardian Duel," Kayn muttered with his body now ducking close to the ground. Fortunately for him, Natas was able to shout a timely warning. If it wasn''t for that, he would have gotten sted along with those rubbles. He had also pulled Gilbert down along with him to keep thetter safe.


    "How''d you know?" Gilbert felt surprised.


    "I have sensitive ears,"


    Gilbert nodded his head before pushing Kayn to the gap in the wall, "Let''s quickly get out before this min-fortress starts to fall down,"


    Just when Gilbert finished his line, the wall starts to fall down.


    "How''d you do that?" Kayn jokingly asked.


    "Probablymon sense,"


    Kayn and Gilbert both chuckled.


    "It seems like we are about to enter the final showdown," Kayn pointed in the direction of Friedrich and the squad leader.


    The fight between Friedrich and the squad leader is finallying to an end after thetter''s buff disappeared when the Mages died.


    "It was an honor fighting and exchanging swords with you," Friedrichplimented the squad leader.


    "I am also d that I had this kind of fight before my death," The squad leader smiled.


    "It''s really unfortunate that it''s going to end up like this,"


    "That''s the consequences of war,"


    "Rest assured, I''ll bury you along with your sword,"


    "Thank you,"


    Whoosh!


    With a swing of his sword, Friedrich took the life of the kneeling squad leader.


    "You guys done?" Friedrich waves his sword.


    "We''ve been waiting ages ago for you to end your fight," Gilbert responded.


    "I got pulled into the fight,"


    "We understand,"


    "Now," Friedrich looked at Adolfo. "It seems to me that you dishonor the Guardian Duel first,"


    "We you even nning to honor our Guardian Duel in the first ce?" Adolfo smirks.


    "I guess you''re right,"


    "It was just a matter of time for the Guardian Duel to get interrupted,"


    "How long have you been aware of that?"


    "From the start," That was the reason why he immediately smashed the mini-fortress the moment Kayn and Gilbert got inside. It was so that he could get the first strike. Unfortunately, his n failed as the two were able to duck from the range of his arms.


    "You got quite the strong arms. But I wonder why you still can''t overwhelm Roshan? Is it because he is stronger than you?"


    "He is, I can''t deny that,"


    "Well, well, well. All those arrogance from the start only to turn out like that? How disappointing. I used to hold so much belief in you," Roshan smirks.


    "At least I am fully aware of the reality of my situation, unlike you,"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Boom!


    Adolfo suddenly threw a punch at Roshan''s shield, causing thetter to stumble a few meters away.


    As soon as he got his footing, Roshan turns to look at Adolfo with some slight fear in his eyes. As someone who received the full brunt of that punch, he understood its severity more than anyone else present here.


    "I was just holding back because I don''t want them to see my true strength. Now that they are dead, let''s see whether the Green Horn Knights truly lived up to their expectations," Adolfo charges straight at Roshan.


    Roshan immediately readied his shield to block the attack.


    Boom!


    Just like thest time, he got sent stumbling tens of meters away.


    "It seems like you knew about our identity from the start," Roshan was amazed. Since Adolfo knew from the start, then why was he holding back?


    "Why wouldn''t I? You guys are very popr within our Vige, with bounties ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. Just killing one of you would be more than enough for me to live a prodigal life for a year, not to mention having four of you here. That would set me for life in ''The Bridge'', "


    "So, you want all the profit for yourself from the very start?"


    "Being strong like me warrants you such privilege, right?"


    "Fair enough,"


    Adolfo charges straight at Roshan once more.


    Boom!


    However, this time, Roshan only retreated a few meters.


    "Were you also holding back like me?"


    "All guardians do that, right?"


    "As expected from someone who can stand toe to toe against me,"


    Whoosh!


    This time, it is Roshan that sent a punch to Adolfo''s shield.


    Bang!


    "Unluckily for you, the stronger my opponent, the stronger I be," Adolfo smiles at Roshan.


    "That was just a distraction though," Roshan smirks.


    Looking to his peripheral vision, Adolfo soon saw Friedrich and Gilber charging toward him.


    Before Adolfo could do anything, he realizes that a vine has now entrapped him on his spot. In addition to that, Roshan has put his shield in front of him to prevent him from turning around.


    Whoosh! Whoosh!


    Two vines went tangling towards Adolfo''s arms to prevent him from punching Roshan.


    "There''s five of you¡­"


    "Always has been!" Friedrich brandished his sword at Adolfo.


    "It''s your mistake for thinking that we will also underestimate someone with your status," Gilbert threw two daggers at Adolfo.


    Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!


    Three wounds appeared around the arm of Adolfo.


    The cut wasn''t deep though because Adolfo has too much fat content in his body. With just a simple spasm of his arm, he could bounce the de away.


    "Surprise?" Adolfo mockingly chuckled at them.


    "I never thought that being fat has its own advantage,"


    "Being fat is life!" Adolfo proudly beat his chest, which weirdly made a drumming sound.


    "If we have met under different circumstances, we could have be friends, you know?" Friedrich chuckled while brandishing his sword at Adolfo.


    "Are you a psychopath or something?"


    "Aren''t we all?" Friedrich continued brandishing his sword at Adolfo.


    "Ahhh!"


    Finally, Adolfo started feeling pain.


    "You psycho!" Adolfo felt enraged and started crazily moving around in order to get himself out of the vines.


    Fortunately for him, after crazily moving around for some time, he was eventually able to rip the vines apart. However, Friedrich still continued shing his body from left to right, totally not minding what he is doing.


    The instant he ripped all vines apart, he immediately punched Roshan and at the same time he sent a kick to Friedrich.


    Roshan and Friedrich simultaneously raised their weapons to block the attack on Roshan.


    However, unlike Roshan who only retreated a few meters away, Friedrich, on the other hand, sted away as if he was an arrow.


    "Holy cow!" Gilbert was surprised as his eyes followed the trajectory of Friedrich.


    Kayn, who was standing a few tens of meters to the side along with Natas, evidently knowing he can''t help with anything against Adolfo, was shocked beyond belief. He can''t help tapping his back inpliment for his choice of not going over to help Gilbert and Friedrich. If he had done so, there''s no telling if he wouldn''t be the one who got sent flying away by Adolfo. By then, he''d no doubt die instantly as soon as he hit the ground or whatever is going to stand in his path.


    At the same time, he understood just how high Roshan''s endurance and strength stats were for only retreating a few meters away after receiving Adolfo''s punch.


    "This ain''t noughing matter anymore," Kayn silently muttered.


    "It always never was," Natas shook his head.


    From the start, things were always very serious. It''s just that, the squad leader and his squad weren''t a threat to Kayn due to Gilbert and Friedrich''s assistance.


    "I guess I was being overconfident just then,"


    "It''s alright. I am always here to remind you when to stop being overconfident. Back then, it wasn''t going overboard," Natas tapped Kayn''s shoulder.


    "How about now?"


    "Are you thinking of going up against Adolfo?"


    "Yeah,"


    "How about you help set the stage for the others? Just like what you did back then with the me Gori,"


    "Let''s do exactly that!"


    "Or you could just watch on the sideline," Natas chuckled.


    "I was never the type to stay away from trouble, you know that,"


    "That''s why we choose you,"

 Chapter 94 Burning In A Stake And Reinforcement

    ?Chapter 94: Burning in a stake and reinforcement


    Kayn surveys his eyes on his surrounding to see if he can use anything to cause some disadvantage to Adolfo.


    Stones.


    Vines.


    Trees¡­


    There are plenty of trees around them, but he knows for certain that Adolfo could just smash them into pieces if ever they start causing trouble for him.


    However, he quickly remembered the mini-fortress strategy of those two Mages and Priest.


    "What if I cut those trees, let Adolfo smash them into pieces, and using those broken pieces, I will then ask Kimberly to burn them for me?" Kayn turns to look at Natas.


    Natas started muttering, "By burning his skin, it would be easier to damage them. And if it''s easier to damage them, the cuts would be deep, and the deeper the cut, the more blood would ooze out of Adolfo''s body. Let''s do that!"


    Never in his life did he expect that he''d be able to find a lot of uses with trees when ites tobat. Previously, it was with the me Gori and the other monsters chasing after him. And now, it would be Adolfo.


    With this, he''d definitely be able to make a research paper about the extent of the trees'' practical uses in battle.


    Kayn secretly slips to the forest behind Adolfo.


    Along the way, he made sure to keep watch where Adolfo is going so that he can make sure to hide from his eyesight. After all, he is behind thetter, so it would be easier for him to just turn around and attack him. He might be able to run away, but there''s no telling if he''d be able to get to safety.


    Needless to say, he wasn''t nning on cutting trees from behind, he was only making his way to the other side. As for why he didn''t sneak to where Kimberly and Cedrick are hiding, that''s because it would waste a lot of time as it''s considerably far from where he''s at. In addition to that, Adolfo might get suspicious of him.


    Not long after, Kayn was finally on the other side.


    "The problem though, is how to make sure that it wouldn''t cause harm to Gilbert and the others instead?" Kayn asked Natas.


    "We could just burn itter on, right?"


    "But we''ll have to make sure that Adolfo won''t escape from the trap before we start burning it,"


    "Adolfo''s mobility is not really something you should be worried about. Even if you don''t inform Gilbert and the others, they''d still be able to get out in time, while Adolfo would have to remain in the fire for some time before being able to escape,"


    "I suggest that we make some patches from there, there, there, and other ces you deemed Adolfo would be going if we start burning one of those patches,"


    "By doing so, we can deal more damage to him much more effectively,"


    In other words, they will be increasing the range of the fire, but at the same time, not having the fire in one single area only.


    "Moreover, those empty spaces in between each of the patches could serve as buffer points for Gilbert and the others to escape and probably change direction,"


    "If we make it much smaller, wouldn''t it be more effective?"


    "Not necessarily, since Adolfo could fling the trees to the side if they are only in small quantity,"


    "Indeed," Kayn nodded his head in agreement.


    There should be a considerable number of them so that even if Adolfo tries to fling them away, it wouldn''t get the fire off of him. Instead, it would just be the fuel to light the nearby patches.


    "Let''s do it!"


    Without further ado, Kayn started chopping up trees using the Molten Ice Sword. Every time he cuts, he made sure that the trajectory when it falls would go to where Adolfo is standing so that thetter would smash the tree into pieces.


    Boom!


    Boom!


    Boom!


    "Was the other guy who disappeared a lumberjack or something?" Adolfo felt quite amused at the falling trees. "Or is this his way of distracting me? If it is, it''s slightly effective, I admit that,"


    "Any help is much appreciated," Friedrich kicked off toward Adolfo.


    ng!


    "As long as I have a shield, your sword wouldn''t work on me anymore," After receiving a series of crazy shes from Friedrich before, Adolfo made sure to use his shield properly this time around.


    "It''s a distraction for," Friedrich pointed toward the falling tree.


    Bang!


    The treended exactly on top of Adolfo''s head.


    Even though the tree isn''t as heavypared to Adolfo. But because of its speed during the freefall, it causes him to get slightly dizzy upon hitting his head.


    "Or we could do it like that too," Natas chuckled as he saw Adolfo holding his head out of dizziness.


    "That was just a lucky fall," Kayn smiled. But he quickly resumed chopping more trees.


    Learning from thest time, Adolfo made sure to smash the falling trees into pieces before they could reach him this time.


    "We could use more patches over there. And make sure not to leave that spot open," Natas started pointing at locations where there were still insufficient pieces of wood. He also pointed at the location where he noticed Adolfo stepping more than two times as he can already guess that thetter would be moving there once they start burning the pieces of wood around.


    Quite coincidentally, Kimberly is taking advantage of the cover provided by the pieces of wood to make her vines trap Adolfo.


    "These trees are slowly getting annoying," Adolfo pulled a vine out from his body. Because he wasn''t able to see iting, he was wounded several times before getting out of the trap.


    Adolfo looked at where thest tree hade from in hopes of finding Kayn. But to his disappointment, thetter seems to move like an assassin because he wasn''t able to see even a silhouette of him in one of the trees.


    He had noticed Kayn moving like an assassin before. But a dagger couldn''t possibly cut trees consequently and that easily. So, thetter should be a knight, because only a weapon like a sword or an axe could cut a tree.


    "Because of the length of a sword, it would be easier to notice it once he tries to swing it," Adolfo still hasn''t given up on finding Kayn. On his right hand, he clenched some wooden pieces to throw in Kayn''s direction once he spots him.


    Gilbert and the others understood what Adolfo intended to do after seeing thetter stop fighting against them.


    "Make sure that he doesn''t get Kayn!"


    "Focus on me, you damn fatty!"


    "Watch out, piggy!"


    Boom!


    Adolfo retreated a few meters after getting smashed with a shield by Roshan.


    Receiving a shield bash was more than enough for Adolfo to redirect his attention back to Gilbert and the others again.


    "I am getting annoyed by this!" Adolfo threw the wooden pieces in his hand toward Gilbert and Friedrich that are currently charging toward him.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Gilbert and Friedrich were instantly halted as they started defending themselves from the wooden piecesing in their direction.


    These wooden pieces would seriously not have been a problem for them if it wasn''t for the fact that the person who picked them up had such a huge hand. Because of that, the wooden pieces that are thrown at them were considerably huge in size and longer in length.


    With no other choice, Gilbert and Friedrich jumped to the side in order to hide.


    Whoosh!


    In the next moment, a light full of vitality covered Gilbert and Friedrich''s bodies, which instantly healed all their wounds.


    "You had a healer all this time?!" Adolfo was shocked. "I need to get out of here!"


    Knowing now that there is a healer with them, Adolfo doesn''t feel confident anymore in defeating Gilbert and the others. That''s because a healer could revitalize and heal their wounds at any time, thus making all of his efforts useless.


    Unfortunately for Adolfo, that isn''t going to be easy.


    Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!


    Before Adolfo could n an escape route, fireballs started raining up above his head.


    Boom!


    Boom!


    Boom!


    The fireballs instantly lit up the wooden pieces on the ground around him.


    Whoosh!


    The wooden pieces straight away began lighting up in fire one by one. Shortly after, a huge fire erupted that consumed the body of Adolfo.


    "Arghhh!"


    A loud scream of pain echoed as Adolfo''s body started burning.


    Just when Adolfo tried to escape, numerous vines started crawling all over his body and tangling him to prevent him from escaping. A huge stone alsonded on both of his feet from above, which instantly injured his body.


    If this was before, it wouldn''t have been easy to injure him. But because his feet were the first ones that got burned by the fire, thus the fat was no longer as resistant as before.


    Just like what Kayn and Natas expected, Adolfo started flinging the wooden pieces to the side in hopes of getting rid of the fire. This was clearly hisst-ditch effort to try and save himself.


    However, to Adolfo''s disappointment, those burning pieces only lit up the nearby patches of wooden pieces. As a result, it made the fire hotter and the oxygen around him started getting consumed at a much faster rate, thus making breathing very difficult.


    "Holy shit!" Gilbert was shocked beyond belief while watching Adolfo getting burned alive.


    "Let''s get out of here!" Roshan carried Friedrich who had one of his feet injured by the wooden pieces that Adolfo had thrown at them before quickly running away along with Gilbert.


    Gilbert and the others soon arrived where Kayn, Kimberly, and Cedrick are on standby.


    "Was it you who thought of this idea?" Friedrich looked at Kayn.


    "Totally him," Kimberly was the one who confirmed.


    "I simply copied their strategy,"


    "So, what is the next part of this n?" Gilbert felt excited about what they are going to do next.


    "You were supposed to finish him off, but I guess that''s no longer necessary," Kayn watches Adolfo who is now kneeling on the ground as a sign of giving up and epting his fate while slowly getting burned by the mes around him. "My n turned out better than I expected,"


    "How cruel," Roshan can''t help but mutter.


    "There''s no such thing as cruel in war. If we had done nothing, they would have done the same as what we did to the people of the Green Horn Vige,"


    "I know. But it is still not satisfying to watch someone getting burned alive,"


    "That''s the fate of people who have joined the Assembly of Freedom. Anyways, let''s go to the next target. I am guessing that he should be somewhere close right now,"


    "No need, we''ve already taken care of him,"


    All of a sudden, a voice was heard behind them.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    The head of Lotte and his headless body dropped to the ground in front of Kayn and the others as two assassins followed afterward.


    One of them was a woman, while the other was a man.


    "Natasha, Jackson, d that you two had made it in time,"


    "We came quickly after getting notified by Old Chief George," Natasha nodded her head at Friedrich in greeting.


    "How''s our little brother doing?" Jackson looked at Gilbert.


    "Already made more contributions than you twobined together," Gilbert proudly responded.


    "That''s good to hear," Natasha smiled at Gilbert as if like an older sister being pleased with what her little brother achieved.


    "Who''s the next target after Lotte and Adolfo?"


    "It depends on who''s nearby,"


    "We''ve spotted Margie and Rose along the way here,"


    "Then I guess they are our next target. Let''s quickly depart!"


    "Do we have to clean up the mess here?" Cedrick can''t help asking in concern.


    "They''ve probably noticed already because of the fire we''ve started,"


    "I guess so,"


    With that being said, Kayn and the others immediately left to go for their next target.

 Chapter 95 An Army Without Any Generals Part 1

    ?Chapter 95: An army without any generals part 1


    As they were making their way to their next target, Kayn made some low-voice conversation with Natas.


    "By the way, how did you know that Adolfo is a member of the Assembly of Freedom? He shouldn''t be in the tent like you imed, right?"


    "Well, the other four were in the tent, so it isn''t wrong to assume Adolfo to be one of them,"


    "I guess so,"


    "There were others too. So, never assume that the five people on the list are the only people we should watch out for,"


    "Make sure to tell me if they are one of them or not,"


    "Rest assured, I have memorized all of their faces,"


    "Just make sure that''s really the case," After all, it would be truly bad for him and the others if they stumble upon someone who they thought to be just a random soldier of the Tenderfoot Vige but turns out he is actually one of the members of the Assembly of Freedom.


    He had already seen multiple instances of the disadvantages of underestimating one''s enemy, and he doesn''t want to experience it himself or the others with him.


    "Tell me immediately once you see someone familiar, alright?"


    "Trust me," Natas nodded his head.


    "Let''s catch up to them," In order for the others not to hear him, he had purposely slowed down.


    "Where are the other two? I thought that they were with you?" Friedrich asked Natasha.


    "We got ambushed along the way. They stayed behind while the two of us went on ahead,"


    "They''ll catch upter," Jackson assured. The people who ambushed them only had a numerical advantage against them. There was no one prominent enough that came along with them who could pose any threat to their lives. That was the main reason why their tworades confidently choose to stay behind.


    "Contribution points," Friedrich quickly understood their reason.


    "We also made some of our own," Natasha reminded them of Lotte.


    "You don''t mind sharing this time, right?" Cedrick can''t help but ask. Fate knows how long Lotte has been following them or how long it took Natasha and Jackson to kill him considering he is one of the two dangerous people amongst the five on their list, but since there''s only two of them, they''ll be sharing the bounty on Lotte''s head between only the two of them. It''s definitely going to be a lot.


    "If we mind it, we wouldn''t havee here to find you," Natasha rolled her eyes.


    "Gilbert is with us, that can be a reason," Roshan smirks.


    "He is in good hands," Natasha glimpsed at Friedrich.


    "Fair enough,"


    "Anyways," Friedrich interrupted, "Where did you see the others?"


    They''re now close to the army camp, so he is assuming their next targets are closed by.


    "When we were passing by, they were making their way their way to their army,"


    "That''s bad," Cedrick looks at Friedrich.


    "We can''t ambush them if they are now in their army, let alone catch them in surprise,"


    "We''ll also have to deal with their soldiers as well,"


    "That''s right,"


    "So, what do we do?"


    "Let''s confirm it first beforeing up with any ns,"


    "Alright,"


    Since they''ll have to confirm the situation first, Natasha led Friedrich and the others to the unit of their remaining targets.


    "The Knights unit is at the frontline along with the Guardians unit, so it''s a bit far from where we are currently at. But the Mages unit and Priests unit are close to each other, thus we can easily spot Margie and Rose, and we are closer to them," Natasha informs them.


    "Hopefully, the two are also just sticking close to one another, because that would be perfect for us to just charge straight at them," Friedrich pleads.


    Mages and Priests aren''t really a serious problem for them.


    What happened not so long ago was clearly an exception though, as those people are obviously trained for fights like that and the situation was also ideal for them to execute their strategy.


    However, when ites to battle where there are a lot of people involved in a limited area, even if they are well prepared and has a strategy in dealing against meleebatants like them, they won''t have enough space to do anything as they are sticking closely with each other.


    "There they are," Natasha signaled everyone to hold their ground and observe the unit not far from their location. "Those are the Mages unit and Priests unit,"


    "And those two are Margie and Rose," Cedrick pointed at the two women who are identical to the image that Friedrich showed them before.


    "Two bewitching beauties," Kimberly said in a remark.


    "How shameless," Gilbert rolled his eyes at Kimberly.


    "What did I do to you this time?!" Kimberly quickly pulled Gilbert''s cor.


    Gilbert started whistling to the side.


    "I wouldn''t be surprised if these two get married and be husband and wife," Natasha can''t help smiling.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Definitely," Jackson nodded his head.


    "I agree!"


    "I second!"


    "Third!


    "..."


    "There''s absolutely no way," Gilbert and Kimberly said at the same time before staring at each other and quickly avoiding gazes.


    "Is that so?" Kayn can''t help butting in. But he quickly changed the topic, "So, what ns are we looking at here?"


    "Charge in and hope for the best, I guess. Perhaps you have something in mind? Something simr to the n you pulled with Adolfo," Friedrich looked at Kayn hopefully.


    "Who''s the new guy?" Jackson looked at Kayn from top to bottom.


    "Someone we are currently babysitting,"


    "I thought it was only me?"


    "Not anymore," After seeing Kayn''s capability, there''s no way they''d let Gilbert babysit him alone.


    "We might even believe that he is the one babysitting you instead," Cedrick put his hand on Kayn''s shoulder.


    "Kayn is the little brother of the entire first squad now," Roshan smiled.


    "You okay with this?" Gilbert looks at Kayn.


    "Why not?" Kayn smirks.


    "Traitor! I thought we had a thing!" Gilbert felt betrayed by his friend.


    "Be careful with your words. Kimberly might get jealous of Kayn,"


    "No way!" Kimberly puffed her cheeks in annoyance and crossed her arms. But a slight blush could be seen on her cheeks.


    "Jokes aside," Kayn''s voice turned solemn, "How about we throw smoke bombs everywhere and Gilbert, Natasha, and Jackson would kidnap the two and bring them somewhere quiet,"


    "Diaz would definitely react immediately if we make such a huge mess,"


    "Is there any other way aside from making a huge mess? Let him follow! Then, we''ll deal with him as we see fit, like what you both did to Lotte,"


    "I am not only talking about Diaz. I am talking about the entire army,"


    "Then let''s bring them to our Vige. Let''s see if they dare to continue following after us,"


    "You¡­" Natasha was speechless. This young man seems to be able to find every slightest hole possible to slip in with his reasons.


    "I am actually not joking. Wee from here, and we run to our opposite side. And then we make our way back to the Green Horn Vige. It isn''t that far anymore. Probably a few hundred meters of running and we''d arrive,"


    "Along the way, we can dy the army, kill some of them in the process,"


    "Or, we can reveal the fact that their leaders are members of the Assembly of Freedom," Friedrich immediately remembered his discussion with Old Chief George.


    "How do you n on doing that? Reveal yourself and announce to their entire army where you are hiding?" Gilbert felt that Friedrich''s n is ridiculous.


    "You''ll be the one doing it," Friedrich devilishly smiled at Gilbert.


    "Ehhh?" Gilbert took a step back away from Friedrich.


    "You''re overreacting," Friedrich chuckled. "You and Kayn will go back to the Green Horn Vige and inform Old Chief George of our n,"


    "Me too?" Kayn felt wronged.


    "There''s nothing more you can do here. And I can''t possibly allow you to go with us as we sneak into their army, right? Even if we are using smoke bombs as cover to hide our movement and presence, that still doesn''t guarantee that they won''t find us,"


    "I wouldn''t be worried if it''s only us. But I am not confident anymore if youe along. I hope you don''t take offense,"


    "I understand," Kayn could only nod his head in eptance. Compared to Friedrich and the others, he is still very weak. Not to mention, this is still his second day in ''The Bridge'', yet he is already getting himself tangled with something this huge ¡ª a war, to be exact.


    War wasn''t even something they have included in their list of what to expect once they are finally inside ''The Bridge''.


    What''s important is; he already did his part. It''s time for him to take a step back and leave the rest to the professionals.


    "Next time, I promise I''ll let you join us in an expedition of equal scale as this,"


    "Next time, okay?"


    "Yes, next time," Friedrich nodded his head.


    "Okay," Kayn turns to look at Gilbert, "Let''s go!"


    "Alright!"


    "Take care!" Natasha and Jackson waved their hands at Kayn and Gilbert.

 Chapter 96 An Army Without Any Generals Part 2

    ?Chapter 96: An army without any generals part 2


    Kayn left Friedrich and the others as he returned to the Green Horn Vige while being escorted by Gilbert.


    "You seriously left just like that?" Gilbert is feeling a bit regretful that they can''t participate in their abduction mission. He was already imagining how fun it would be when Kayn was still trying to describe his n to Friedrich a while ago.


    "Actually, you can participate if you want. I can go back to the Green Horn Vige myself," Kayn doesn''t see any problem with not having any escort with him.


    "You know that I can''t, right?"


    "Then that''s your problem now,"


    Gilbert coldly harrumphs.


    "Let''s just get back quickly. Maybe I will have enough time to return and catch up with them,"


    "That is if Old Chief George would even allow you,"


    "Hopefully, he wouldn''t forbid me,"


    The distance from their location to the Green Horn Vige isn''t that far. Albeit still a considerable distance away.


    After tens of minutes of running, they finally saw the wall of the Green Horn Vige.


    Outside the wall were lines of soldiers of the Green Horn Vige, prepared and ready to take on the invading forces of the Tenderfoot Vige.


    "There''s quite a lot of them," Kayn can''t help feeling slightly surprised. There weren''t this many soldiers back then when he initially entered the Green Horn Vige. He wonders, "Were they out on an expedition back then?"


    "There''s a quest board in the barracks, and most of the soldiers wouldplete some daily task whenever they aren''t assigned to do anything for the Green Horn Vige,"


    "Oh, no wonder," Kayn instantly understood.


    To exin it in another way, there would normally only be a few soldiers assigned in the Green Horn Vige. The only reason why all of them would be gathered is whenever a situation that can pose a huge threat to their Vige''s existence would take ce ¡ª for example, a war.


    "Kayn, Gilbert, over here!"


    Just like the previous time, Old Chief George immediately notices their arrival. Behind thetter were two individuals with imposing auras, probably the two other Green Horn Knights who were previously with Natasha and Jackson before.


    "Do you have eyes everywhere or something?" Kayn felt curious at how Old Chief George could always see them even before they notices him.


    "It''s my Gift,"


    "Is it something like irvoyance?"


    "It''s one of the irs I possess,"


    "Are you perhaps talking about iraudience, irvoyance, irsentience, and ircognizance?"


    "Oh, you know about the four irs?"


    "I''ve heard of it. It is said that they are the four major intuitive gifts,"


    "That''s right. I am very lucky that I possessed all four of them. Other people would usually only have one of the four major intuitive gifts,"


    "Not necessarily. I''ve heard people say that when someone possesses all of them, it would usually mean that they are a jack of all trades but a master of none,"


    "Be careful of your words, boy!" One of the Green Horn Knights quickly warned Kayn.


    "Let him be. He is someone that''s part of high social standing," Old Chief George shook his head at his guard.


    "Oh, I understand," What that usually means is they speak arrogantly because they look down on them.


    "It''s not actually like that. I just hold you in such high regard that''s why I am now speaking to you veryfortably," After learning more and more information about Old Chief George, especially those he had personally heard from Cedrick and what Natas had said Chief Kylo''s description of thetter was, he no longer prefers to act very formal and cautious when speaking to him.


    "I guess that''s your way ofplimenting someone, right?"


    "It is,"


    "Anyways, you couldn''t be any more correct with your assumption. Because I possess all four irs, all of them are imperfect. But as long as I put my SP in the right stats and train them all the time, I know for certain that they would develop into greater heights,"


    "Well said," Kayn apuded. That''s indeed the case when ites to Gifts. As long as one constantly trains it and puts their SP in the stats that are fitted with their Gift, it would be stronger. Moreover, if they equip themselves with suited equipment and receive buffs, it can also further improve their Gifts. Active Skills and Passive Skills also have a small possibility, if luck is on their side, to increase the capability of one''s Gift.


    "So, where''re the others?"


    "They''re over there," Kayn pointed at where they have left Friedrich and the others. "They made me and Gilbert return first so that I can inform you of our n,"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Tell me,"


    Hearing that, Kayn immediately started telling Old Chief George of their n.


    "Oh, wonderful! I wonder who''s the one that came up with that n?" Old Chief George turns to look at Gilbert. The only person he knows that cane up with a smart strategy like that is Friedrich, Natasha, and Cedrick. But they are not the type that wille up with such kind of strategy. Their strategies are usually quite conservative. To be exact, old school and follows a very strict format. He doesn''t see that, so he is assuming that someone else came up with it, someone young and bold.


    "It was Kayn,"


    It was exactly as he thought.


    "I must say, you have the potential to be an advisor. Are you perhaps interested in bing one? If so, I can hire you as an intern," Old Chief George''s eyes shone as he looked at Kayn. At this moment, his opinion about thetter has slightly improved.


    "Thanks for your kindness, but I have another option that I want to pursue," Kayn respectfully rejected Old Chief George''s kind offer. But deep inside of him, a new idea is born.


    Honestly, he has never tried being an advisor before or even someone who teaches other people what to do. He had tried being amander and general though. But it was mostly thanks to his advisors at that time that he was able to win countless battles.


    Needless to say, he has learned a lot from them throughout the years and has thoroughly adopted their means and strategies. In addition to that, his experience is also another factor in his capability.


    "If ever you change your mind, you can just simply approach me. The offer still stands as long as you need it," Old Chief George turns around to face the army of the Tenderfoot Vige. "Let''s begin with the n,"


    "Wee, to Green Horn Vige!"


    "You''re obviously not here to enter my Vige peacefully! So, I''ll skip the part where I am going to make some peace talks in hopes of avoiding this war,"


    "Instead, I want to tell you about something surprising that I just found out not so long ago from someone that I trust,"


    In the next moment, five huge posters with the image of the five generals stered on them were unfolded in front of everyone to see. Two of them though, Lotte and Adolfo, have been marked with an X mark, evidently implying that they are dead.


    "It''s very interesting, what I''ve found out. These five people or you all could probably recognize them as your generals, are actually members of the Assembly of Freedom,"


    "Since they are your generals and they happened to be members of the Assembly of Freedom, an infamous organization made up of anarchists, I can''t help but wonder if they aren''t perhaps sending all of you to your deaths?"


    "That''s just a thought though, so you can just choose to ignore me,"


    "Oh, by the way, just to confirm in case someone doesn''t understand the meaning of the X mark. That actually means they are dead. And yes, we''ve confirmed that they are really members of the Assembly of Freedom because they have their logo on their bodies. You know, the two-letters AF that is stacked on top of each other,"


    "That''s a lie!"


    "Yeah! He is clearly lying!"


    "I am guessing that he is just dying us so that they can buy some time for their reinforcement!"


    "We shouldn''t trust any words thate out of the mouth of Old Chief George!"


    "He is a liar!


    "A liar!"


    "A liar!


    As expected, dozens of people immediately refuted Old Chief George.


    Old Chief George already prepared a response for them, "If you don''t believe me, then feel free to ask your leaders to show their bodies in order to prove to all of us that they are really not members of the Assembly of Freedom,"


    "You think that we are idiots?"


    "We''ll die if we do that!"


    "It''s akin to a suicide,"


    With a grin on his face, Old Chief George suggested another solution, "Well, if you don''t have the courage to do it yet, then how about you try it first on those people who were talking just now?"


    "They called me a liar, then how about you prove to yourrades that you are indeed speaking the truth and that you are truly an honest person? After all, only someone like that should be trusted,"


    They instantly started murmuring with each other.


    With a proud look on his face, Old Chief George interrupted, "I probably don''t have to prove myself anymore after the long years I''ve been helping countless of you guys who entered ''The Bridge'' for the first time. If there''s anyone you can believe here, that would be me,"


    "So, if you want to prove that you are right. Then show us that you''re more trustworthy than me. That just makes more sense, right?"


    Hearing Old Chief George''s statement, the army of the Tenderfoot Vige started going into contemtion amongst each other.


    While watching this scene happening in front, Kayn immediately understands that Old Chief George is simply trying to instigate and create discord within the army of the Tenderfoot Vige. At the same time, thetter is also trying to lure the other members of the Assembly of Freedom who have secretly sneaked into the army.

 Chapter 97 An Army Without Any Generals Part 3

    ?Chapter 97: An army without any generals part 3


    The method that Old Chief George did was very simple. Even a newbie would be able to pull it off under the same circumstances as him.


    Old Chief George started by revealing his discovery about their generals and then giving them the idea that there''s a chance they are just being sent to die. By doing so, people would start suspecting it even though there''s no proof. After all, it''s their own lives that are on the line here.


    That was what they should be supposed to be expressing.


    But strangely enough, some minorities actually started denying his im immediately and even calling him a liar.


    That''s very suspicious.


    Although Old Chief George has no proof to show that Lotte and Adolfo are really members of the Assembly of Freedom because Kayn and the others simply left their bodies at the ce where they killed them. As such, he proposes the remaining generals should prove their innocence.


    It''s already very obvious that no one would be stupid enough to persuade their generals to strip and reveal their entire bodies, especially those suspicious minorities. And that is exactly the intention behind that proposition.


    Since no one would dare to bother the generals, then how about those suspicious minorities?


    Clearly, since the majority of the soldiers are on the same level as them, some people would definitely suggest doing exactly that. Of course, it''s not so that they can prove whether it''s true or not, rather it is to make a fool of Old Chief George. Because once he is proven wrong, regardless of what he sayster on, it wouldn''t be effective anymore.


    "We''ll do exactly that!"


    "That''s right!"


    A group of close buddies was the first one that volunteered.


    "Come here, show us that you aren''t a member of the Assembly of Freedom!"


    "Wait¡­ wait¡­ Can we first think about this first?"


    "What''s the matter? Are you perhaps feeling shy, or maybe you don''t want to get embarrassed?"


    "It''s not about that¡­ It''s just¡­"


    "Just ride along dude. We simply want to prove Old Chief George can also make a mistake,"


    "Don''t worry. You''ll definitely be treated as a Hero of our Tenderfoot Vige because of your sacrifice,"


    "I just¡­"


    "Look! Everyone is starting to get suspicious of each other. If we don''t prove Old Chief George is wrong as soon as possible, some people would start using force against you,"


    "Ahhh!"


    Over at another location, a group of people has forcefully stripped someone.


    It wasn''t that they felt suspicious of that person. It''s just that, they hated him very much and they simply thought of what is happening right now as an opportunity to get back at him.


    To their surprise though, they discovered the two words AF stered very boldly on his back. It was as if he is announcing to the entire world that he is a member of the Assembly of Freedom.


    "Fuck! He is indeed a member of the Assembly of Freedom!"


    "Hold him down! Quick! Before he starts killing us and causing havoc in our army!"


    Another simr situation was also happening on another corner.


    "Holy shit!"


    "I can''t believe this!"


    "Disarm him now!"


    Such a situation simply continued to snowball from one corner of the army to another.


    As more and more members of the Assembly of Freedom were being discovered, the more dreadful and afraid everyone felt. And they also start to believe Old Chief George''s assumption that they are just being sent to their deaths.


    Back to the group of friends who first volunteered.


    At this moment, they no longer treated the situation as something to joke about.


    After seeing more and more members of the Assembly of Freedom hiding amongst them or disguising themselves as one of their friends and people they dislike, they finally felt suspicious of their buddy who still doesn''t want to show his body.


    "Is that the reason why you don''t want to show your body to us?"


    "Tell us, you aren''t a member of the Assembly of Freedom, right?"


    "I am¡­"


    "Hold him down!"


    In an instant, their buddy who has been acting very suspiciously was restrained by the others nearby him. He was soon brought down to his knees with his head shoved down to the ground.


    No one felt pity for his situation nor felt that he was being treated harshly.<novelnext></novelnext>


    It''s very clear from this sight just how much people hated the Assembly of Freedom.


    Even though their action right now of starting a war isn''t honestly that far off from the actions of the members of the Assembly of Freedom, the majority of them still believe that thetter is much worse than them.


    It''s only natural though because unlike those who onlymit bad things under a special condition, like greed, envy, or jealousy, the members of the Assembly of Freedom do them because they want to see the world burn down to the ground or just because they just want to start chaos.


    As soon as the clothes were removed, they immediately saw a small tattoo of the two words AF on the man''s waist.


    One of their buddies immediately burst out in rage and punch their traitorous friend.


    "No wonder my girlfriend mysteriously went missing after I ask you a favor to take her home. I honestly thought that she left me because she was fed up with the way I act just like what you told me. But turns out you got something to do with it!"


    "I can''t believe we''ve had a snake with us all this time!"


    "Traitor!"


    In just a snap of a finger, they started beating up the man who they once treated as their buddy.


    They didn''t show any mercy whatsoever to their traitorous friend.


    Different interesting situations were happening all over the army every time a member of the Assembly of Freedom was revealed.


    It continued for tens of minutes before they started gathering all members of the Assembly of Freedom at the center.


    Once they were done with that, all of their eyes soonnded on Diaz, Margie, and Rose. Unlike before, they no longer look at them in fear, but rather in suspicion. Some people even showed clear hatred despite the fact that their involvement in the Assembly of Freedom hasn''t been proven yet.


    "That was such a wonderful move, Old Chief George," Kayn can''t help but apud the old man standing beside him while wearing a cunning look on his face.


    The target from the beginning wasn''t the generals, but rather those members of the Assembly of Freedom hidden in the army. Once Old Chief George''s assumption is proven true, everyone''s attention would no doubt immediately divert to the group that was questioned by Old Chief George from the start.


    "I reckon they''ve already expected that something like this would happen," Old Chief George was still not letting down his guard.


    "Probably the least within their expectations," If one would expect something, they would naturally not take the majority of the consideration on the worst-case scenario.


    "Always remember this; in a war, if things y out very smoothly, there''s definitely something very fishy going on somewhere,"


    "I am fully aware of that fact," Of course, he knows that. After all, he had experience dozens of situations like that in the past. "But since it isn''t confirmed yet, there''s nothing wrong with meplimenting you, right?"


    "Fair enough," Old Chief George finally realized that he could never beat Kayn when ites to reasoning. It always seems like thetter could find every small detail to defend himself.


    "Now that the majority of soldiers are feeling suspicious of their generals, it''s now time for Friedrich and the others to make a move,"


    Kayn and the others immediately turn their attention to where Friedrich and the others are currently hiding.


    As soon as they looked in that direction, they immediately saw Natasha and Jackson starting to move.


    Not that far away behind the two was Roshan leading another charge with Friedrich sticking closely behind him along with Cedrick and Kimberly.


    "Herees a surprise attack," Kayn can''t help muttering.


    Since everyone''s attention is focused on the generals. And in addition to that, Diaz, Margie, and Rose are fully preupied with protecting themselves from their men. No one was able to notice Friedrich and the others sneaking at their side.


    The moment Natasha and Jackson were able to sneak inside the crowd, numerous smoke bombs soon started exploding almost everywhere between them.


    Boom!


    Boom!


    Boom!


    The smoke swiftly spread into the surroundings and covered everyone''s eyes.


    Using the smoke as cover, Friedrich and the others sessfully sneaked inside the crowd.


    Under the guidance of Natasha and Jackson, they soon reached the location of Margie and Rose.


    "Who are you?!"


    "Wait! I know them! They are members of the Green Horn Knight!"


    "This is bad!"


    Before Margie and Rose could call for help from Diaz, Friedrich and the others immediately covered their mouths, restrain them, and right after took them away.


    Natasha and Jackson are carrying Margie with the help of Kimberly to prevent her from constantly moving. While Friedrich, Cedrick, and Roshan took care of Rose ¡ª sent her unconscious.


    Looking at the other side of the smoke, Kayn soon saw Friedrich and the others getting out. This time, they are carrying two women with them.


    Just like what was nned, after moving a considerable distance in a straight line, they eventually started moving in the direction of the Green Horn Vige.


    "First unit and Second unit, prepare to receive a special package from our beloved First Squad," Old Chief George immediately orders his men underneath the wall.

 Chapter 98 An Army Without Any Generals Part 4

    ?Chapter 98: An army without any generals part 4


    Over at the sword unit, Diaz could only stay rooted on the ground as he watches Friedrich and the others taking Margie and Rose away. He can''t do anything because the people around him are already suspicious of his real identity. If he tries to chase after them, they might mistake that he is trying to run away.


    He has to pacify the situation first. But the question is, how?


    "Where is Chief Kylo when we needed him the most?" Diaz can''t help looking behind him, hoping to see Chief Kylo. To his disappointment, he only found the other members of the Assembly of Freedom who were with him during the meeting.


    Honestly, those people aren''t part of the army of the Tenderfoot Vige. They are more like hired mercenaries by Chief Kylo. That is the reason why no one is suspecting them to be members of the Assembly of Freedom.


    Even if some people do, they won''t dare make a move as they can''t be certain yet nor do they want to offend someone who doesn''t have a permanent address. Offending someone like that would definitely spell trouble as they can go in and out of every Vige and Town in ''The Bridge'' as they want and probably has connections almost everywhere.


    Moreover, Old Chief George also didn''t point out any of them, probably not yet¡­


    "I am certain that cunning old man is thinking of using themter on," With a devilish grin on his face, Diaz added, "Since you aren''t doing something to help me, I will also just watch you suffer in the hands of the old man,"


    "General Diaz, what do we do?"


    "We can hold them off for you while you go and escape,"


    "Yes! Just return once again once you finally clear out your name,"


    Unlike the other members of the Assembly of Freedom just now, Diaz has some very loyal underlings who believed him without any doubt that he is innocent.


    That''s the privilege of bing a general. As long as one uses it well, they would be able to train and cultivate some soldiers who are willing to die for their general.


    "I can''t possibly just leave you guys behind," Despite the fact that he wanted to leave as soon as possible, he decided not to because it would make it even more difficult for him to prove his innocence in the future. What he has to do now instead is to find another way to pacify the suspicious mind of these soldiers.


    Fortunately, he isn''t someone incapable. So, it didn''t take him long to think of a way out.


    "Everyone! Are you seriously trying to believe the words of our enemy?"


    "He has already proven to us that his words are worth believing!"


    "I know, and I am also enraged at these individuals who dared to trick us! But you can''t possibly believe that I am one of them, right?"


    "Then prove it to us!"


    "I am afraid, but I can''t,"


    "See! You are acting very suspicious!"


    "Unlike those people, I am a general. If I remove all my armors and undress myself, do you seriously think that they won''t take advantage of that?!"


    "Well, they didn''t do anything when these people were doing it!"


    "What if that''s just what they want all of you to believe? Think about it, what will happen when an army has no generals?"


    "If you prove Old Chief George wrong, then we will believe you!"


    "That''s right! Just remove your clothes so we can get this over with and go on with the war!"


    "I agree!"


    "We agree!"


    The loyal subordinates of Diaz can''t help looking at each other as they found these people''s exnations very reasonable.


    They might be loyal subordinates of Diaz, but that doesn''t mean they are idiots. Albeit their belief that Diaz is innocent hasn''t shaken the least bit.


    "But what if they kill me the moment I remove all my clothes? Can any of you take up the responsibility to lead everyone?"


    "There are other generals left to lead us!"


    "Even though Lotte and Adolfo are imed to be dead by them, we still have Margie and Rose!"


    Hearing that, Diaz can''t help smiling in triumph. He can already see his n bing sessful.


    Diaz asked, "Do you? Look again,"


    Everyone quickly turned their attention to the area where dense smoke is currently covering.


    That was the ce where both the Mages unit and the Priests unit are positioned strategically.


    At first, they thought that some members of the Assembly of Freedom are trying to escape by using that smoke as cover. That is why they didn''t mind what was happening over there.<novelnext></novelnext>


    If those people escape, then they can consider themselves lucky. As for why they didn''t try to pursue them, it''s because why bother? That''s the area that the Mages unit and Priests unit are supposed to be responsible for, so they''ll have to deal with that problem on their own just like how they dealt with theirs on their side.


    However, after hearing Diaz''s statement, they immediately became concerned about what was exactly happening over there.


    As the smoke finally died down, everyone immediately found Margie and Rose missing.


    "They''ve probably escaped,"


    "Yeah,"


    "Old Chief George told us that they are members of the Assembly of Freedom. Considering that they can use magic, they were probably the ones who covered the area with smoke so that they can escape easily,"


    Diaz already expected such a response, "Over there," he pointed at Friedrich and the others who are carrying Margie and Rose.


    As everyone followed where Diaz is pointing, they soon found a group of people who are trying to make their way to the Green Horn Vige with two unconscious women on the back of two men.


    "Just to let you know, those people are actually members of the famous Green Horn Knights," Diaz exined.


    "Are you suggesting that we''ve been tricked?"


    "Not necessarily," Diaz shook his head, "At the end of the day, this is a war! Whatever could get them the win, is a strategy that they would no doubt consider using, regardless of the consequences,"


    "I won''t deny it. They have indeed shown us a great favor by revealing the members of the Assembly of Freedom hiding amongst us. But as a result of that, look at what''s happening around us. Our entire army has been turned upside down to the point that they were able to send a group of people to kidnap our generals in the middle of our army,"


    "Never forget this fact," Diaz turns his head in the direction of Green Horn Vige and stared straight at Old Chief George who is also staring at him back, "That old man over there is a very cunning fox who would do everything to keep his Vige safe,"


    "What happened just now is that what''s good for us, was even better for them,"


    "That''s the exact reason why I don''t want to remove my clothes. Because if I do so, as the only remaining general in this army, we will no doubt lose once they take me down,"


    "An army without any general is no army at all, let alone a threat,"


    "Wonderfully said!"


    A loud apuse was heard behind everyone.


    Turning around, everyone saw Chief Kylo walking towards them along with a group of mercenaries guarding him on all sides.


    "That''s right! What Old Chief George has done to us revealed some unknown variables that could have very much cost us our win in this war,"


    "Needless to say, what Diaz said is not the correct description to use," Chief Kylo shook his head. "The exact word to describe is; Old Chief George made a trade that has resulted in their side getting more advantages in this war,"


    "With them getting two of our generals plus the other two that they killed, we now only have me and Diaz to lead us in this war,"


    "One general and amander. If I was part of the Green Horn Vige right now, I would think of this war as a sure win,"


    "Aren''t I correct, Old Chief George?"


    Although Chief Kylo''s words weren''t spoken very loudly, everyone was still able to hear every single word resoundingly and clearly, including the people on the side of the Green Horn Vige.


    "Admitting that you are correct would be the same as me admitting that I tricked everyone, which I clearly didn''t do," Old Chief George heaves a heavy sigh of pity, "All I am trying to do here is to stop this meaningless war. Because at the end of the day, the people who are truly benefiting from these are the members of the Assembly of Freedom,"


    "Don''t you agree, Chief Kylo?"


    "Are you perhaps suggesting that we should just end this war?"


    "Your ideology might be to just ept ''The Bridge'' as our home. But I am fully aware that the only reason why you think so is that you don''t want to see any more meaningless deaths,"


    "But, if there''s a definite way to escape ''The Bridge'', I know that you''ll be one of the people who will step up first to express support,"


    "A war between people whose wish is to just leave this ce simply results in meaningless deaths to our people. The only people who would prefer and encourages such a thing are members of the Assembly of Freedom,"


    "So, now you''re trying to tell me that if I don''t stop this war I am no different from a member of the Assembly of Freedom? Or possibly, I am one,"


    "Isn''t it so?"


    "You''re fully aware that what you are trying to use me of can ruin your image once it is proven wrong, right?"


    "Don''t be mistaken, I am just expressing a thought in my head," Old Chief George signaled his hand to bring forth some people.


    In the next moment, a fully conscious Margie and Rose who are both tied on a chair using a very tough rope to prevent them from escaping were pushed by the side of Old Chief George by Roshan and Friedrich before the two stood behind the two chairs respectively.


    "But we can ask people to confirm whether my thoughts are true or not," Old Chief George smiled at Chief Kylo.

 Chapter 99 An Army Without Any Generals Part 5

    ?Chapter 99: An army without any generals part 5


    Chief Kylo didn''t feel nervous earlier even though he only has Diaz as his general left. That''s because there are people with the potential to be generals in the mercenaries. Even though they can''t rece the generals who had thoroughly trained with his army, they''d make do with the situation right now.


    The reason for his confidence was that he was very sure that Old Chief George would immediately kill Margie and Rose the moment they cross his Vige''s border, just like what the Green Horn Knights did with Adolfo and Lotte, probably after extracting some useful information from them.


    However, to his surprise, Old Chief George actually had another n in mind.


    "Considering that they are your generals, they probably know a lot about you, right?" Old Chief George muttered.


    "They do. But that doesn''t mean everything they say is going to be the truth," Chief Kylo tried to deny any words that would being out from Margie and Rose''s mouthster on.


    "Under which circumstances would they tell a lie, I wonder,"


    "When they are given the chance to live,"


    "Why would I do that? If I can just torture them to the point that they would beg for me to kill them,"


    "Then what makes you any different from the members of the Assembly of Freedom?"


    "The fact that although I stillmit crimes, at the very least, I don''t do it just because I want to do it or for the sake of causing havoc,"


    "Anyways, let''s begin!"


    Old Chief George turns his attention to Margie and Rose who are trying their best to escape from the rope tying them down.


    No matter how much Margie and Rose try to move their body around though, it was proven futile as the rope that''s being tied to them is being imbued with mana by Kimberly and Cedrick. Moreover, they found themselves being unable to cast any magic spells for some unknown reason.


    "What did you do to us?!" Margie stared hatefully at Old Chief George.


    "Margie, I am scared¡­" Rose cried for help.


    "Don''t worry, my darling Rose, I''ll get us out of here, I promise," Margie reassures Rose.


    "Are you sure that you can keep that promise to your dear girlfriend?" Old Chief George can''t help from interrupting.


    "I''ll do it even if it''s thest thing I have to do!"


    "Quite the strong emotions you got there. And because of that, why don''t I give you a chance to save Rose?" At first, he was thinking of torturing them in front of everyone until they eventually yield the information he wants. But seeing that there''s another perfect and less gruesome opportunity to make them reveal the truth, he immediately changed his mind.


    "If it''s about telling you any information rted to Chief Kylo, then I won''t do it! As a general, that is something that''s against my principle,"


    "Oh, that''s too bad. I guess your girlfriend here, doesn''t love you as much as she imed to have, Rose," Old Chief George looks at Rose. "I wonder. If I have proposed such a n to you, would you do it for her instead?"


    "I would¡­" Rose can''t help continuing to cry.


    "I¡­" Margie is now stuck in a huge dilemma.


    "I can''t believe you! I thought that you love me,"


    "I do! But¡­"


    "Is Chief Kylo more important to youpared to me?"


    "Would you really betray Chief Kylo for me?"


    "I would!"


    "I¡­" Margie can''t help switching her attention from Chief Kylo to Rose multiple times while contemting deeply in her mind.


    "Are you seriously taking that long just to consider who is more important in your heart?" Rose felt disappointed. She turns to Old Chief George and instantly said, "Just kill me!"


    "Why would I do that? You hold so much value for Margie to the point that she is considering betraying Chief Kylo,"


    "I''ll betray Chief Kylo instead! But promise me that you''ll let Margie go once I do it,"


    "No!" Margie eximed loudly to stop Rose.


    "You can''t stop me! I have already made up my mind!"


    "Let me do it instead!" Margie finally made up her mind after seeing Rose willingly offering her life just to save her.


    "Don''t listen to her! Let''s quicklyplete our trade!"


    Strangely enough, Margie was suddenly able to use a magic spell.


    Whoosh!


    Margie instantly used her one and only chance to possibly escape from Old Chief George onto Rose so that she would stop talking.


    "Now there''s no one to interrupt us anymore,"


    "I am guessing that you''ve already made up your mind?"


    "I do," Margie turns to look at Chief Kylo. She never truly wants to betray him, but seeing the action of the girl she loves, she has to choose Rose now instead of Chief Kylo.


    "Don''t listen to Old Chief George, Margie! He would never let Rose live!" Chief Kylo tries to change Margie''s mind.


    "I am betting on the little chances that he would honor his promise in front of all these people watching him," Margie could only hope for the best in their situation. If she doesn''t do anything, they would still die. But by doing this, at the very least, she would be able to give Rose a chance to live.


    Turning her head to face everyone, Margie cleared her throat before muttering, "Chief Kylo is one of the higher-ups of the Assembly of Freedom!"


    Margie instantly dropped a bombshell on everyone.


    On the side, Old Chief George can''t help showing a bright smile on his face. This was exactly what he wanted Margie to do. Albeit, he was feeling slightly regretful after glimpsing at Rose.


    "Luckily for me, my girlfriend is not like that," Kayn can''t help saying in a remark.


    "I''d rather have an ugly girlfriend than have a viper as a partner," Gilbert added.


    "How unfortunate for Margie," Jackson genuinely felt sad for Margie.<novelnext></novelnext>


    What Margie doesn''t know is that the moment she turns her head around, Rose''s eyes actually shifted to a shrewd look.


    It is quite evident that Rose is happy because she had sessfully fooled Margie into giving her life away for her.


    Honestly, from the moment she understood Old Chief George''s intention, she instantly thought of persuading Margie to betray Chief Kylo. All the things she had said and done before were nothing more than just an act to get Margie''s sympathy so that she''d yield to Old Chief George''s proposal.


    While all of that was happening, Margie continued to bombard everyone with bombshell after bombshell of revtion about Chief Kylo. She made sure not to keep anything hidden in hopes of giving more chances for Rose to live.


    Meanwhile, Rose''s lips hidden on the cover of vines grins wider and wider the more secrets that Margie revealed about Chief Kylo.


    As soon as Margie finished her speech, the attention of the entire army instantly shifted from Margie to Chief Kylo.


    Disbelief.


    Betrayal.


    Speechless.


    Those were just three out of the countless emotions that everyone is feeling right now.


    They simply can''t believe it¡­


    The most trusted person in their Vige.


    The Chief who has promised them a good future in ''The Bridge''.


    The person who helped them live in this god-forsaken ce.


    Unexpectedly turned out to be a member of the most infamous organization on ''The Bridge''.


    Some people can''t help thinking that perhaps all this time the only reason why Chief Kylo did all of thosepassionate deeds for them was actually just to prepare a bunch of sheep for the predestined ughtering day.


    Back on the wall, Kayn could thoroughly understand what everyone is feeling right now. This was exactly the same feeling he felt when he realized that the people he trusted the most turned out to be the people who would betray him.


    "I hope you''d honor your words," Margie whispered to Old Chief George.


    "Rest assured, I''ve never gone back from any of my promises in the past,"


    Without any hesitation, Old Chief George slit Margie''s throat.


    While blood constantly oozes out from Margie''s neck, she tried to turn her head to look at Rose by her side.


    However, to her surprise, Old Chief George stood in the way as if to prevent her from seeing Rose or perhaps something else.


    "Can I?"


    "I am afraid, but I can''t," Old Chief George shook his head. This was thest shred of mercy that he could offer to Margie.


    "Why?"


    "It''s much better for you to die believing that what you did was right,"


    "Okay¡­"


    "Although you''re a member of the Assembly of Freedom, Imend you for your strong loyalty to love," Old Chief George expresses his thoughts.


    "I am d that at the very end of my life, I received the recognition of my enemy,"


    For any Hero or Viin, receiving the recognition of their enemy is one of the greatest achievements one could ever receive in life. After all, it''s very difficult to make your enemy respect you because in almost everything you do, they would find even the smallest of reasons just to attack you and express their never-ending hatred.


    Margie finally took herst breath.


    As promised, Old Chief George immediately freed Rose from the restrain.


    Rose instantly tried to kill Old Chief George the moment she was given freedom. But because Friedrich and Roshan were just beside Old Chief George, her attack waspletely fended off.


    Despite that though, Friedrich and Roshan didn''t try to attack back. They simply stared at Rose intimidatingly while protecting Old Chief George.


    With no other choice left but to retreat, Rose immediately jumps off the wall and runs in the direction of Diaz.


    Strangely enough, no soldiers of the Green Horn Vige tried to stop Rose.


    Rose simply believes that the soldiers are letting her go because that was what Old Chief George had promised to the dead Margie.


    Diaz also runs in the direction of Rose after seeing her escaping from the walls of the Green Horn Vige.


    Seeing such a sight, Rose can''t help feeling excited that she can finally reunite with herrades and escape from the dangerous ws of Old Chief George.


    However¡­


    Whoosh!


    Rose''s point of view suddenly turned upside down and she started feeling like she is flying away.


    "Why¡­?"


    "Although we are members of the Assembly of Freedom, it''s one of our unwritten rules to never ever betray ourrades,"


    Despite the fact that anarchists hate rules, there is still some order that their members must obey otherwise they''d be punished. There''s only a handful of them, so the majority of their members don''t see a problem with it.


    "Betrayal has never been wee regardless of whether you belong to the dark or the light side," Diaz muttered as he sheathed his burning sword.


    Thud!


    In the next moment, the headless body of Rose with a burned neck fell to the ground.


    Soon followed was Rose''s head whose face is expressing disbelief and was full of regrets.


    "In your next life, never ever betray the people who showed love to you. That''s something that people like us could hardly get in our life, yet you actually dared to waste one,"

 Chapter 100 The Kingmaker

    ?Chapter 100: The Kingmaker


    It''s honestly such a satisfying sight after watching Rose die in the hands of who she thought to be herrade after she betrayed Margie.


    The majority of people watching felt such emotions deep inside of them.


    Regardless though, that was just a small distraction from the main scenario.


    At this moment, everyone has realized that Chief Kylo is one of the higher-ups, or presumably an executive, of the Assembly of Freedom.


    Such a revtion was an instant wake-up call for the army of the Tenderfoot Vige as it confirms the assumption of Old Chief Kylo that they are just being sent to die in the hands of the Green Horn Vige.


    "Can we take refuge in your Vige, Old Chief George?"


    "Let us help you fight against their people!"


    "We promise that we will work for you!"


    As expected, the soldiers who weren''t part of the Assembly of Freedom instantly started expressing that they want to switch sides to Old Chief George''s Green Horn Vige.


    "I don''t trust any of you yet, so how about you voluntarily go into our temporary prison cells until we finish confirming that none of you are members of the Assembly of Freedom," Old Chief George proposed another idea.


    The reason behind that is quite simple actually; After all, he can''t possibly believe that all those people that the army of the Tenderfoot Vige has caught are all the members of the Assembly of Freedom that has sneaked into their army, right?


    He''d be no different from a fool if he would believe that to be truly the case.


    "For those of you that genuinely want to surrender, you may enter those temporary prison cells," Old Chief George pointed towards multiple small domes that are made out of vines and walls constructed from the groundbined together.


    There were already some soldiers stationed to guard the domes, so they are fully functional and ready despite the fact that they were made in a matter of a few seconds by the Mages.


    "How can we be certain that you won''t do anything bad to us?"


    "It''s not me who would do bad to you, but you guys instead. If you aren''t members of the Assembly of Freedom, why would you be afraid, right?" Old Chief George assures them.


    "This is a war, Old Chief George! Diaz from the Assembly of Freedom might be a bad person, but what he said is right,"


    "That''s right! How can we be certain that you won''t do any harm to us?"


    "As long as you promise that you won''t do anything that will get us to harm, then we will surrender peacefully, otherwise¡­"


    "Otherwise, what?! Do you seriously think that you hold the upper ground in this negotiation?!" Friedrich can''t help eximing as he felt irritated at the way these people are acting. They sound like they are the one''s doing a big favor to Old Chief George when in truth, they are no different from headless chickens right now since they are an army without any generals.


    The army of the Tenderfoot Vige instantly became quiet upon hearing Friedrich''s statement.


    Contrary to Friedrich though, Old Chief George continued speaking with a calm voice, "I know that all of you are afraid. But that''s your only choice, and that''s also our only way to prevent any harm from my people,"


    "Just like what you''ve said, we are at war right now, so there''s no certainty that my side would not bring harm to you. However, I promise that as long as you are not a member of the Assembly of Freedom, you will eventually be able to walk out of those domes alive," Old Chief George reassures once more.


    Using violence to counter violence in this kind of set-up is just going to ruin what he wanted to achieve here. That is why he chooses to approach them calmly.


    However, he can''t deny that what Friedrich had done has helped him be more persuasive. It''s like ying good cop and bad cop. Friedrich is thetter, while he is acting as the former. It is a verymon strategy used by the forces of justice, but strangely enough, it actually works almost all the time.


    It didn''t take long for Old Chief George''s persuasion to finally work.


    A few soldiers of the Tenderfoot Vige started separating from their unit and walked toward the domes.


    As soon as they got inside, the gate didn''t immediately close on them and nothing strange actually happened. Soldiers of the Green Horn Vige though are observing them very closely, but that is very understandable considering that they are enemies just a short moment ago and they dered war, at least tried to before it ultimately failed.


    Seeing that, more and more soldiers of the Tenderfoot Vige started volunteering to surrender themselves. Some of them even went as far as dropping their weapons and equipment outside the dome before walking inside and also persuading their friends to get in as well and do the same.


    As more soldiers of the Tenderfoot Vige enters, the size of their army drastically became less and less.


    Old Chief George had to construct more domes to house the continuous flow of soldiers. It was only right now that he realized just how outnumbered they werepared to the Tenderfoot Vige.


    He is very d that his n worked. Otherwise, even if they have won this war, the manpower of their military forces would no doubt receive heavy damage.


    Eventually, only a few soldiers remains as they stood in the same spot.


    It was now quite obvious that these people are the members of the Assembly of Freedom that weren''t discovered.


    As for those that were discovered, they were left alone in the same spot.


    Despite that though, nobody tried to free them from the restraints.


    Who would dare though?<novelnext></novelnext>


    Although the soldiers of the Green Horn Vige haven''t shown any hostility yet, there''s no doubt that they would once the captured members of the Assembly of Freedom tries to escape or if theirrades try to free them.


    "I guess that''s everyone?" Old Chief George looks at the hundred or so remaining soldiers of the Tenderfoot Vige who have more or less admitted that they are members of the Assembly of Freedom. "You''re very lucky that you weren''t caught a while ago,"


    "Now, fire!"


    Whoosh!


    Whoosh!


    Whoosh!


    Hail of ice and rain of fireballs started dropping one after the other onto the captured members of the Assembly of Freedom.


    It was only then that they finally started running away. Albeit it was already toote, and the attack had taken more than half of them.


    "It''s very impressive how much damage you have done to my army despite not having your soldiers move, Old Chief George! You truly deserve the title of the first Chief of ''The Bridge'' with your unprecedented means," Chief Kylo started pping his hands.


    Surprisingly though, despite what happened to his army, Chief Kylo doesn''t seem to be showing any slight signs that he is afraid or even feeling nervous at all.


    It was as if things are all going ording to his n¡­


    In the next moment, with a wave of his hand, Chief Kylo suddenly took out a huge sword from his Storage Ring.


    "Tell them to immediately close the gates of the dome!" Natas instantly eximed to Kayn.


    "Why?"


    "Why what?" Gilbert turns to look at Kayn.


    "Just do it, now!" Natas started panicking.


    "Ummm¡­" Kayn went to approach Old Chief George.


    "Is there something wrong, Kayn?" Old Chief George asks.


    "I don''t know why, but I can''t help but get the feeling that you should close the gates of the dome right this instant,"


    "I don''t see why I should do that. They aren''t rioting or something inside,"


    "They will be soon!" Natas warns.


    "Just count it as you doing me a favor. Please trust me, close the gates of the domes!" Kayn felt the need to quickly persuade Old Chief George after seeing the usual calm Natas suddenly panicking like something huge is about to go down.


    "Does this have to do with that sword?" Old Chief George turns to look at the unusual two-handed sword that Chief Kylo is currently carrying with his two hands and the support of his two shoulders. "I don''t see him being able to swing that sword more than once,"


    "That''s because he only needs one swing to turn the situationpletely around in his favor!"


    "Screw this!" Kayn immediately grabs the voice amplifier device that Old Chief George has been using all this time to make his voice loud enough for everyone to hear. "Close the doors of the domes immediately!"


    Instantly, the gates of the domes started closing one after the other.


    The people inside can''t help feeling afraid after seeing the sudden change in the situation around them.


    "I thought that you weren''t going to harm us!"


    "You promised us, Old Chief George!"


    "We trusted you!"


    Hearing their voices ofint, Old Chief George immediately grabbed the voice amplifier device back from Kayn.


    "What are you doing, Kayn?!" Old Chief George was displeased at Kayn. He was already starting to view thetter in a positive light, but because of what he has just done, his opinion of him has now turned for the worst once again.


    "Is there something wrong?" Gilbert quickly approaches Kayn.


    "I don''t know how to exin it, but just trust me this once!" If only everyone could see the look on Natas'' face right now, then there''s no doubt they would feel scared. This person was once a God, yet he is feeling unease. That is obviously an obvious sign that something insanely bad is about to happen to them.


    "It seems like someone from your side knows about my weapon," Chief Kylo smiled. It was better that way so that he won''t have to exin a lot about his new weapon.


    "Let me introduce to you Old Chief George my new weapon, the Kingmaker!"

 Chapter 101 The Sword That Can Make Kings

    ?Chapter 101: The sword that can make Kings


    Kingmaker.


    It was a weapon that not a lot of people knew about, even in the future. The reason being is that it is a soul weapon. Meaning, the person who bes its owner is the only sole person who could ever use the weapon and know its information. Moreover, the moment the owner dies, the weapon would die along with him. Simply put, the future of the weapon solely depends on its owner.


    In the future, the person who became the owner of Kingmaker was just an unknown ordinary person with no renowned background whatsoever who just happens to be lucky enough to pick it up at the perfect moment. Even though he has such a powerful soul weapon, it didn''t make his life any better. As a matter of fact, his life became worst instead since a lot of people felt jealous of him after he told them about the ability of Kingmaker. And because of that, the potential of Kingmaker was never shown on Earth.


    However, unlike the people of Earth, Natas has witnessed the power of Kingmaker countless times already on the others that the ''Tower'' had visited in the past.


    Every single time Kingmaker is used by someone capable, it would always bring about a favorable or catastrophic influence on the entire world.


    The simple reason being is just like what its name suggests, it is a soul weapon that can make Kings.


    "The Kingmaker?" Kayn wonders. He had heard some rumors about this soul weapon back then from the future. But because he has never personally witnessed its strength nor were there even any videos that show what it''s all about, he doesn''t understand the exact reason for Natas'' reaction.


    "The maker of Kings,"


    "Does it make its owner a King?" Kayn whispered while slowly taking a step back so that he can continue talking with Natas with no one disturbing him or getting suspicious about who he is talking to.


    "That''s just one of its functions,"


    "What are the others?"


    "It can make other people Kings and Queens too,"


    "I thought that soul weapons can only be used by one person,"


    "The owner is the one who makes them Kings and Queens,"


    "What do you mean exactly when you said that it can make them Kings and Queens? Is it about the noble rank, or is it about strength and power like the title Emperor of Sword and Sword Emperor,"


    "Both,"


    Kayn instantly felt speechless. That implies not only can the owner of Kingmaker make individuals powerful, but they can alsomand a huge army from multiple different Kingdoms.


    "But that''s not the most dangerous and sought-after skill of Kingmaker. The reason why I want you to close the entrances of the domes is that whoever swore loyalty to the owner of Kingmaker can never betray him,"


    "The moment they do, they would be a living puppet to the owner of Kingmaker until they die,"


    "Meaning¡­" Kayn can''t help glimpsing at the hundreds of people inside the domes right now.


    An enemy army right in the very center of the army of the Green Horn Vige.


    What does that mean?


    It means that a catastrophic event is about to go down soon!


    "Rest assured, as long as one is only a wielder of Kingmaker and not its owner yet, then they''d only be able tomand a limited number of people,"


    "Now that I think about it, it wasn''t Chief Kylo who became the owner of Kingmaker," Kayn finally remembered the owner of Kingmaker. That individual was just a weak and incapable person with nothing great under his name. "So, how many people can its wielder control?"


    "A thousand,"


    "A thousand¡­?"


    That number was more or less the total number of soldiers in the army the Tenderfoot Vige has brought. And probably more than a third of them have volunteered to surrender and are staying in the domes right now.


    "Were we just ying in the hands of Chief Kylo all this time?"


    "I am afraid, but it seems like it,"


    "Is he perhaps nning to use this war as something like the official debut of Kingmaker?"


    "No," Natas shook his head. "The reason for this war should be because Chief Kylo is trying to be the owner of Kingmaker,"


    "What do you mean?"


    "One of the requirements toplete before bing the owner of Kingmaker is to win a war, and not just any war, but a world war,"


    This means that right from the very start the exact reason for this war was neither because of the difference in ideologies between Chief Kylo and Old Chief George nor because the Assembly of Freedom simply wants to cause destruction and bring anarchy to ''The Bridge'', but rather it''s because Chief Kylo wanted to stage a war so that he can win it.


    Of course, simply starting a war wouldn''t be enough to meet the requirement of the Kingmaker because it has to specifically be a world war. But, it just so happens that every floor in the ''Tower'' is considered a world of its own, including ''The Bridge'' itself. So, Chief Kylo''s exact intention is not just to start a war against the Green Horn Vige, but to start a war with everyone in ''The Bridge''.


    What''s happening right now is technically the beginning of the war between the Assembly of Freedom against the entirety of ''The Bridge''.


    "What are you going to do with that humongous sword?" Friedrich can''t help smirking at Chief Kylo.


    "You can barely even carry it!" Gilbert can''t help adding.


    "I am guessing that you can''t swing that sword more than once!" Cedrick eximed.


    Unlike the others, Old Chief George turns to look at Kayn who is now standing considerably far from them as of this moment.


    He had heard Chief Kylo saying that someone seems to know of Kingmaker. And the only person he could think about was Kayn.


    "Tell me about that sword!"


    "Kill everyone in the domes!"


    "That¡­" Old Chief Kylo felt surprised.


    "You have to do it now before it''s toote,"


    "What do you mean?"


    While Old Chief George was still contemting Kayn''s suggestion, Chief Kylo raises the sword high up above his head, preparing to swing it.


    "Start killing them now before Chief Kylo can swing the sword!"


    "We can''t possibly do that!" Natasha interrupted.


    "You have no other choice. Even if you don''t do it now, you''d still be doing it soon,"


    "I reject your suggestion," Old Chief George doesn''t even bother to consider it because it''s foolish. He spent a lot of effort to convince those people to drop their weapons and volunteer to surrender. And now that they did, he would go back to his words? No one would trust him anymore once he does that.


    "You won''t be able to,"


    Even if he tells them the truth, Kayn can already expect that they won''t believe him. So, he''s just dropping them the only choice they have so thatter on, they won''t have to think for long to find a solution.


    Old Chief George turns his attention back to Chief Kylo.


    "Before I swing my sword, I just want you to know that everything that happened from the start until now was all just a part of my n,"


    Hearing that, Old Chief George''s face instantly turned ugly. He instantly had a premonition that something bad is about to happen and using Kayn''s warning as a clue, it would be rted to those soldiers temporarily imprisoned in the domes.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Just when he was about to order his soldiers to start killing them, Chief Kylo has long already swung the Kingmaker.


    Whoosh!


    A powerful gush of wind immediately forces everyone to retreat a few meters.


    "It has begun!" Natas felt regretful that they are already toote.


    "Was that all there is to that swing?" Gilbert felt that it was so anticlimactic. So much suspense was built up only for that swing to only push them away by some distance away from where they originally stood.


    Contrary to Gilbert, Old Chief George''s face turned ugly as he notices the soldiers inside the domes are now starting to act weird.


    He instantly remembered Kayn''s suggestion.


    "Kill them, now!" Kayn muttered beside Old Chief George.


    "Why?"


    "They are no longer humans, but living puppets,"


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Bang!


    In the next moment, some of the people inside the domes strangely started banging their heads on the walls.


    "What the!" Gilbert felt shocked. "Have they gone insane or something?"


    "Look at their eyes," Friedrich pointed.


    Upon closer inspection, they instantly noticed that the eyes of the people inside the domes has now turned grey. It wasn''t just any ordinary grey, but the color seems to exhibit lifelessness.


    "Hey, what are you doing?!" Natasha eximed loudly.


    A few of the soldiers heard her, but the moment they turned to look at her, they simply let out a growl as if they are wild animals before joining with the others to bang their heads on the walls.


    Natasha felt speechless.


    "Something is wrong," Friedrich concluded.


    "No shit Sherlock! Everyone could see that," Gilbert rolled his eyes.


    "Living puppets? Tell me more about that," Old Chief George finally understood that Kayn was telling the truth.


    "It''s hard to exin. But I''ll just put it this way; the souls of those people still remain inside their respective bodies, but they no longer have the authority to exercise free control over it,"


    "Is it something rted to mind control?"


    "Something simr to that,"


    "Do we really have no other choice but to kill them?"


    "We do have another choice,"


    "What?"


    "We simply kill Chief Kylo and give that sword to me,"


    That was the other option that Natas had informed him of just now.


    "To you?" Old Chief George felt suspicious.


    "If you happen to know somebody else that you deeply trust who knows how to use Kingmaker, then I don''t mind you giving it to that person. I am simply presenting myself as an option,"


    "I''ll give you my answerter," Old Chief George knows that he doesn''t have to give an answer right away.


    "In the meantime," He looks at Friedrich and the others. "You heard Kayn, right?"


    "We understand," Friedrich and the others nodded their heads.


    "I want you to bring me the Kingmaker. I don''t care if Chief Kylo dies or not. And you have my permission to temporarily remove your limiter,"


    Hearing thest line, Friedrich and the others immediately started removing one different piece of jewelry from their bodies.


    "What''s that for?" Kayn can''t help asking Gilbert.


    "Do you know why we are called Green Horn Knights?"


    "Well, because you are the knights of the Green Horn Vige?"


    "Not entirely," Gilbert shook his head. "It''s because we have limited our strength to the level of a beginner,"


    "That''s you being a beginner?"


    "Why do you think you were able to sneak one on me? And why do you think we earned the trust of Old Chief George?"


    "I thought you were just bad?"


    "I admit, I was nothingpared to you when I was at your level. But I am no longer in the same league as you anymore,"


    "No wonder," Kayn finally understood why Gilbert seems too weak when he was fighting against Scar and his squad. He had to be pushed around for quite some time before eventually being able to get back at them. Also, he has never seen him use any Active Skills and Passive Skills until now. And that includes Friedrich and the others as well.


    The instant the pieces of jewelry were removed, a strong gush of power immediately exploded throughout the nearby surroundings.


    "Now you''re definitely someone in level 49,"


    "Just wait here and let us do our job,"


    "Good luck!"


    "Let''s go!" Friedrich muttered.


    In the next moment, Friedrich and the others disappeared from their spot.


    "They''re finally acting like real capable people!"


    "I heard that!"


    "That was my intention!"

 Chapter 102 A Sea Of Flames

    ?Chapter 102: A sea of mes


    Meanwhile, Kayn and Old Chief George looked down to see the current situation inside the domes in front of the walls.


    Upon closer inspection, they noticed that not all soldiers inside has actually turned into a living puppets.


    Unfortunately, the remaining sane soldiers'' numbers are quickly dwindling down as they are now being massacred by the living puppets. They arepletely helpless as only a few of them were able to bring a weapon along with them.


    "What do we do, Old Chief George?" One of the generals asked.


    "Prioritize those we can save! As for who had already turned into a living puppet, kill them without any mercy!" Old Chief George ordered.


    It was just like what Kayn had suggested to him previously. He has no other choice but to kill them anyway.


    "This is absurd¡­" Old Chief George is still in disbelief about the current situation.


    Living puppets.


    Such a concept still felt very foreign to him despite the fact that he is already watching such beings in front of him.


    He can''t even begin to imagine how it feels like to see one''s own body being controlled by something other than themselves. They must be in despair right now, and definitely suffering from torment and a lot of pain.


    What''s even stranger though is the fact that Kayn is actually aware of how this happens.


    "How''d you know about the skill of the Kingmaker?"


    "I just happened to stumble upon a book about it back on Earth," This was the only answer Kayn could think about given the brief moment of exnation from Natas about the Kingmaker.


    "At first, I just thought that the sword was simr to the one being described in that book and there was also a strategy like the one we are experiencing right now written in it,"


    "I believe it was called Kingmaker''s version of Trojan Horse ¡ª the owner or wielder of the Kingmaker would let his soldiers surrender by some means, then once they are within the base of the enemy, he would then take control of their bodies since surrendering to the enemy is considered as betrayal, thusunching an unexpected attack from the inside," Kayn made sure to add more information to make himself more convincing as he understood just how difficult it is to make Old Chief George believe him.


    It was all done impromptu though, so he is crossing his fingers right now hoping that it would convince Old Chief George.


    "Perhaps you were sent here in ''The Bridge'' for this very specific reason," Old Chief George simply smiled at Kayn and never bothered continuing to question him any more. In his mind, he already understood that if what had Kayn said is not true, then even if he continues persisting him, there is still no way for him to make thetter tell the truth.


    Everyone has a secret they hide, including him. He''ll just have to live with the fact that he can''t know everything just because he wanted to.


    Boom!


    All of a sudden, one of the domes finally breakdown into ruins.


    In an instant, all living puppets rushed towards the soldiers nearby them and started attacking with the clear intent of killing them.


    Old Chief George continued observing the situation down below. It wasn''t that he isn''t willing to help, it was just that because of his important role, he can''t put his life in any situation where he could potentially die, because once that happens, his entire Vige would instantly be left in ruins. Moreover, the people of other Viges that rely on his guidance would lose their way in ''The Bridge.


    He is more than aware of the fate that everyone has on him, and as such he has to protect his dear life.


    Regardless, he already told them not to hesitate to kill the living puppets. If they hesitated in a crucial moment and it cost one of theirrade''s life, then that is obviously no longer his fault, but the fault of the soldier who let it happen.


    Old Chief George can''t help feeling slightly afraid as he notices that all living puppets do not care about their lives.


    "They''re practically just throwing their lives away,"


    That was the best description he could describe the living puppets'' actions.


    "That''s because they have to follow the order of the wielder of Kingmaker even if they have to offer their lives," Kayn exins.


    "I can see that,"


    "Anyways, just stay behind me while I start doing my job as the Chief of the Green Horn Vige,"


    "Alright!"


    With that being said, Old Chief George immediately started throwingmands from one unit to another in order to solve the problem.


    "Mages unit, focus on regenerating the domes and making sure that they don''t get destroyed!"


    "Marksman unit, shoot down those living puppets that are trying to climb up the wall!"


    "Knights unit and Guardian units, block any holes and inform the Mage unit about it. Also, assign a few squads to take care of the broken dome!"


    "Priests unit, continue providing support to those in the front line!"


    "Assassins unit, continue informing us of the enemy''s movement and prevent their assassins from messing up our formation!"


    A series ofmands was soonid out just as simple as that by Old Chief George.<novelnext></novelnext>


    After those series ofmands, the problem with the living puppets slowly got solved. They weren''t all killed yet, but their risk level has significantly loweredpared to earlier.


    It''s only going to be a matter of time before all of them would get killed.


    "What we should watch out for are those mercenaries over there," Kayn pointed at the group of mercenaries that were clearly members of the Assembly of Freedom.


    "Five squads from the Knights unit and Guardians unit separate yourself from the main group and prepare for defense," Old Chief George agreed with Kayn unhesitatingly. Since the Tenderfoot Vige no longer has the army from their vige to fight for them, at least fight for them intelligently, thus they only have the mercenaries left to rely on.


    Those mercenaries though aren''t just any ordinary and normal individuals. Each of them is expected to be very strong since the Assembly of Freedom only epts those that meet their quality requirement. Not to mention, each of them is a bloodthirsty, destructive, and merciless anarchist with a very high tendency not to fight using the conventional method. Meaning, they''ll use every means possible just to kill their opponents, may it be using their nails, teeth, or even just bashing their heads like crazy people.


    Without asking any questions, a small portion of the Knights unit and Guardians unit separated from the main group and quickly began positioning themselves to face the mercenaries.


    In the next moment, a silent battle between the two sides Assassins unit started by the forest side.


    Bodies started dropping and getting thrown everywhere, marking the death of a soldier or a mercenary.


    "As expected," It was just like what Kayn had predicted, the mercenaries are the ones who are going to be fighting against them now. And it seems like they''ve already started making a move.


    Looking at the dead bodies on the ground, it was quite evident that more soldiers were dyingpared to the mercenaries, clearly showcasing that thetter is more stronger and powerful than the former.


    Boom!


    Boom!


    Boom!


    All of a sudden, numerous explosions sounded in the forest and they soon started seeing huge mes consuming the dense greeneries around it.


    "Old Chief George!" The general of the Assassins unit suddenly arrived on top of the wall.


    "What''s the matter?"


    "We are about to be surrounded by a sea of mes!"


    Old Chief George was instantly taken aback.


    The moment the general finished his report, the mes that consumed the greeneries swiftly traveled across the entire forest surrounding the Green Horn Vige before eventuallying to a stop on the opposite side.


    "They''re more prepared than I expected," Kayn said in a remark.


    "How did this happen?"


    "I am guessing that some of the mercenaries were spilling oils around the forest while we were busy dealing with their army,"


    "Okay, you can go back now!" This wasn''t a problem that the Assassins unit could fix.


    Old Chief George turns to the general of the Mages unit, "You know what to do!"


    "Alright!"


    Following that, a few squads from the Mages unit separated from the main group and started spreading to the surrounding of the Green Horn Vige.


    Since the Green Horn Vige covers a considerably huge area, it took the Mages squad quite sometime before they finished positioning themselves.


    Meanwhile, the Assassins unit stopped engaging with the mercenaries and went to prioritize protecting the Mages squads instead.


    Clearly, they are aware that it is a priority right now to solve the problem regarding the sea of mespared to the mercenaries lurking around in the forest.


    Anyways, some portion of the forest would be disappearing soon, so it isn''t really worth anything to stay within its premises. As a matter of fact, they''d just be wasting their time and effort, and they''ll just receive some unnecessary sacrifices.


    With almost perfect coordination, all the Mages squads began drowning the forest with water element Magic spells. Albeit they weren''t intending to stop the sea of mes, rather they want to redirect it away from the Green Horn Vige.


    Obviously, with how big the sea of mes is, it is impossible to stop it immediately or anytime soon. So, rather than doing that, why not just push the mes forward?


    "I was nning on clearing that forest in the future anyways to expand my Vige. My enemy is just doing me a big favor," Old Chief George said to Kayn. As of now, he is treating Kayn as his personal advisor. He had no advisor at the moment, so he decided to might as well give the position to thetter temporarily. Kayn had also already proven his potential.


    Kayn understood his new status. As such, he pointed in front of him, "Now we don''t have to worry about our surroundings since the only path left is to charge straight ahead,"


    "What do you suggest we should do?"


    "I already told you; charge straight ahead!"


    "Are you sure about that?"


    "Don''t forget, the sea of mes is going forward as we speak. Assuming that Friedrich and the others are hiding in the forest right now, then they would need another way to mask their presence. A battle would be a perfect recement for that. Don''t worry, doing so would reduce the casualty rate of your army to some degree with the Green Horn Knight''s assistance,"

 Chapter 103 Natas Plan For Kayns Future

    ?Chapter 103: Natas'' n for Kayn''s future


    "I didn''t expect that you can be heartless too," Old Chief George felt slightly surprised at Kayn''s suggestion.


    Kayn shook his head and responded, "I am not being heartless. There''s just no way that we can avoid incurring any casualties in a war. But instead of letting their deaths go to waste, I prefer giving them honorable and meaningful deaths,"


    "Tell me, have you ever experienced a war before?"


    After hearing the response from Kayn, Old Chief George felt that the former had been to many wars in the past.


    "I''ve seen it in movies countless of times and I understood the reality behind it,"


    Old Chief George nodded his head in understanding, "You''re right. As someone who bears the heavy weight of this war, one thing that we can do is to make sure that their sacrifice won''t go in vain,"


    Old Chief George sighs sorrowfully. He never once liked wars. Truthfully speaking, although he has the power to wage a war on the Assembly of Freedom from the moment they made their presence known to everyone in ''The Bridge'', he never ever thought of doing so because he dislikes it.


    Who likes war though? Especially if one is in the position where they are shouldering everyone''s lives.


    It''s a very heavy responsibility. But with great poweres great ountability. As such, he has no other choice but to do it.


    Of course, he feels sorry for those that die.


    With that being said, Old Chief George turns toward the general of both the Knights unit and Guardians unit, "I want the two of you to gather all your soldiers and prepare for a battle,"


    "Understood, sir!" The two generals didn''t bother asking any questions.


    As quickly as possible, the two generals began positioning their soldiers on the frontline. Needless to say, they assigned some weak squads to continue providing support to those dealing with the domes since the problem caused by the living puppets is still not solved yet.


    "I see that my strategy barely caused any damage because of the unexpected intervention of one of your people," Chief Kylo felt disappointed at his living puppets.


    He was initially nning on taking advantage of the open gates of the domes to easily cause disorder within the army of Old Chief George, but because the gates were suddenly closed, and in addition to that, his enemy''s army became prepared, his n ultimately came close to a failure.


    Yes, ''Came close'', because it is still not over yet.


    "Is that young man perhaps your advisor?" Chief Kylo was curious about Kayn''s identity after thetter disrupted his n.


    "You could say so!"


    "I didn''t expect that a time woulde when the great Old Chief George would listen to somebody much younger than him!" Chief Kylo chuckled in hopes of irritating Old Chief George.


    "If that young person has the capability to enlighten me, then why not?"


    "I guess that young man has finally opened your mind to innovation!"


    "I am old, so being partnered with someone younger is going to help me keep up with everyone else!"


    "Is that the reason why you are finally preparing to engage in a battle against my mercenaries?"


    "I was going to do it even without him suggesting such an idea to me!"


    "Still as prideful as ever. Say, young man, why don''t you just join the Assembly of Freedom and ditch that old man for good!"


    "I am afraid but I have to decline!" Kayn made his mouth get close to the voice amplifier in order to make a response.


    "Why?"


    "Because I don''t want to be part of a group of frogs in the bottom of a well,"


    He had never known about the so-called Assembly of Freedom until he entered ''The Bridge''. This simply means to say that this subsidiary of Circus was destroyed before the people in ''The Bridge'' found the exit.


    Moreover, the Assembly of Freedom is quite relentless in staying in the ''The Bridge'', which simply makes them frogs in the bottom of a well as they seem to literally make it their end goal to rule such a small corner of the ''Tower''.


    Chief Kylo can''t help being speechless at Kayn''s response. "I see that your tongue is as sharp as Old Chief George. No wonder you both became close with each other,"


    "I guess that means you have given up trying to recruit my advisor,"


    "I suggest you focus on our uing battle,"


    The moment the short conversation ended, the two generals of the Knights unit and Guardians unit finally finished positioning themselves in the frontline.


    Furthermore, a few squads from the Priests units and Mages unit have volunteered to provide support to the Knights unit and Guardians unit.


    "For the Green Horn Vige!"


    "Charge!"


    There was no need for Old Chief George to initiate the battle as the two generals are more than capable enough to take charge of the army.


    The moment the army started charging forward, the mercenaries also quickly followed suit.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Soon enough, both sides started engaging in a battle.


    Old Chief George simply watches the army from his Vige battle against the mercenaries while at the same time secretly glimpsing at the corners of the forest trying to find signs of Friedrich and the others.


    Kayn was also doing the same thing as Old Chief George. But other than that, he was also focusing on the battle down to the domes.


    Ever since he saw the capability of the Kingmaker, he became especially curious about it.


    "I''ll just say it now, the Kingmaker is actually one of the reasons why I want you to choose the Nobility as your main ss," Natas unexpectedly reveals.


    Kayn can''t help looking at Natas in shock. "Why?"


    "One of the reasons is once again about loyalty. You would definitely have a high level of trust issues in the future. There might evene a point where you''d start not trusting me as well,"


    "As a solution to that, the Nobility main ss and the Kingmaker would help you know the loyalty level of your newrades,"


    "You might not fully trust the main ss Nobility because of its rtion to the ''Tower'', but the soul weapon Kingmaker would definitely make you not afraid anymore because betraying you would be no different to giving you control of their body,"


    "One more reason is the ability to be the maker of Kings. Since your main ss is Nobility, with the help of the Kingmaker, you''d be able to quickly ascend to higher Noble ranks,"


    "Not to mention, you''d be able to help make your newrades Kings and Queens as well, hence adding more power and influence to your side and also helping you catch up with the first generation,"


    "All I wanted to say is; do every means possible to get the Kingmaker in your possession,"


    "Isn''t that exactly what I am doing right now?" Kayn whispered.


    "Not as in right this instant,"


    "Why?"


    "The reason why the owner of the Kingmaker in the future was able to possess the Kingmaker with no effort at all was probably because the previous wielder had alreadypleted all requirements. As such, when he picked it up, all he has to do was im ownership of it,"


    "I want you to just let fate takes its course right now and not intervene as much,"


    "Can I not justplete it myself?"


    "Do you want to be the antagonist of ''The Bridge''?"


    Kayn shook his head.


    "Thought so. That''s why it''s better for you to just watch on the sideline. Anyways, you have something else you have to find in ''The Bridge''. The Kingmaker is just one of them,"


    "I understand,"


    "You understand what?" Old Chief George turns to look at Kayn out of wonder.


    "I am afraid, but we should not expect that we would be able to capture Chief Kylo today,"


    "Is there a problem with our n?"


    "It''s not about the n. I just believe that Chief Kylo has probably prepared a way to escape once he feels that his life is in great danger,"


    "Are you suggesting that we make preparations to counter his escape n?"


    "No," Kayn shook his head, "Instead, we should just let him escape,"


    "Is it necessary to let him escape?"


    "I am suggesting that we let the sheep return to its herd,"


    "I''m listening,"


    "Since we are already at war against the Assembly of Freedom, we might as well finish it to the very end. By doing so, we can finally focus on looking for the exit to ''The Bridge'',"


    "I am guessing that one of the main reasons why you still haven''t found the exit is because the Assembly of Freedom has probably been secretly intervening in the process,"


    "Anyways, we won''t be losing anything anyways even if that is not truly the case,"


    "Instead, we are going to fix one major problem of ''The Bridge''," Old Chief George quickly realized the reason for Kayn''s n. "Alright! Then let''s just watch what Chief Kylo would be doing next,"


    Finally, Friedrich and the others finally revealed themselves. Their group sneakily joined in the battle between the army and the mercenaries.


    "And it has started,"


    Boom!


    However, Kayn and Old Chief George''s attention was immediately taken away from Friedrich and the others as they shifted their sight to the domes down below.

 Chapter 104 New Mission For The First Squad

    ?Chapter 104: New mission for the first squad


    It was beyond the imagination of both Kayn and Old Chief George as they watches the current situation happening down below in the domes.


    The previously dead living puppets have actually started getting up and attacking the soldiers nearby them.


    "How could this be possible?" Old Chief George couldn''t believe it.


    "I didn''t know that such ability existed in the Kingmaker," Kayn muttered while glimpsing at Natas, hoping for thetter to exin the reason for this scene.


    "Living puppets. Do you understand what the word puppet actually means? I thought that I''ve informed you enough," Natas felt slightly disappointed at Kayn, "Here''s a suggestion, since it''s impossible for you to kill the puppeteer, then your second option is to burn the puppets,"


    Hearing that, Kayn quickly informed Old Chief George while acting as if the information is his mere spection.


    "We can''t possibly do that!" Old Chief George was immediately against the idea.


    "If you don''t want to burn the living puppets, then I suggest you think of other ways to make them harmless. Just to remind you, as long as a part of their body exist, they will actually continue to move in order to carry out andplete themand they''ve received from the wielder of the Kingmaker,"


    Kayn is already aware that there is no other way aside from burning them.


    Killing the puppets has already been proven to be ineffective against them as they would just stand back up again after some time has passed.


    And if his guess is correct, even if they decide to dismember their body, that would most likely only make their situation even worst since that would result in each part of the body being able to do its own thing.


    Locking them up in cells is also going to be impossible because they would not rest until they finally escape. And because they don''t die, that would just make the true owner of the body suffer endlessly.


    Old Chief George spent some time thinking of another method before eventually concluding that there is truly no other way but to burn them.


    "As much as I hate to agree with this method of yours, just like thest time, I don''t have any other choice," Old Chief George could only helplessly ept the truth.


    Without further hesitation, he started telling the Mages unit to burn the bodies of the living puppets so that they won''t be able to continue attacking their soldiers.


    Although the Mages unit was against it from the start. But as they continue to see the living puppets simply standing right back after they killed them, they finally realized the same thing as Old Chief George.


    In a matter of a few minutes, the problem with the living puppets was quickly solved.


    Now it was time to turn their attention back to the mercenaries in the frontline and Chief Kylo.


    The ongoing battle between the mercenaries and the soldiers is now close to its end.


    The mercenaries might be stronger, but the soldiers were more organized and coordinated with one another.


    Even though it doesn''t seem like it because the soldiers are constantly defending while the mercenaries are constantly attacking. But if one wouldpare the total number of remaining men on both sides, one could easily guess that the soldiers are just being careful and are trying their best to minimize the casualties by only attacking when it is necessary.


    However, when they turn their focus to the backline, they were instantly rendered astonished as they realized that Chief Kylo had already gone missing.


    The reason they know is that Friedrich and the others are now sending signals that their target is nowhere to be found.


    "It''s just like what you expected," Old Chief George looks at Kayn. "I don''t know how Chief Kylo did it, but I am certain that we won''t be able to find him until he reveals himself again,"


    With the disappearance of Chief Kylo, the war was more or less over.


    "All of you are now free to do whatever you want on the battlefield," Old Chief George informs Friedrich and the others before he started to walk down the wall.


    Kayn closely followed behind as Old Chief George signaled for him toe.


    "We''ll wait for them at the Town Hall,"


    ¡­..


    After nearly an hour, Friedrich and the others entered Old Chief George''s office.


    A long table was already prepared for their arrival with Old Chief George in the middle with Kayn seated on his left side.


    Friedrich and the others immediately understood the situation so they got themselves seated as well.


    "Now that you''re all here, let''s begin with our post-war meeting," Old Chief George begins.


    "As we all know, Chief Kylo has unfortunately escaped. We don''t know where he went nor do we have a clue on what he intends to do next,"


    "But ording to Kayn here, he''d most likely not give up on destroying everything in ''The Bridge'' with the help of the Assembly of Freedom. We don''t know the exact reason why, but he seems to be very adamant about doing so,"


    "I am guessing that it has to do with the soul weapon called Kingmaker," Friedrich suggested.


    "That''s also my guess. But until we get enough evidence to prove that, we will continue assuming that the Assembly of Freedom has finally decided to start making a move on everyone that doesn''t belong to their guild,"


    "After all, as far as I know, it''s not only our Vige that their guild has attacked. There are eleven more territories that they''ve wage war on at the same time as our Vige,"


    "Understood," Friedrich nodded his head in understanding.


    "Anyways, my goal for this meeting is not to actually discuss with all of you what we should be doing now that the war is over. That''s because the war is still far from being over,"


    "Instead, I am here to inform all of you of your next task,"


    Hearing that, Friedrich and the others can''t help feeling excited about the new task.


    To tell the truth, because of their strength, they rarely receive tasks for a month. There were even instances where they didn''t receive a single mission for half a year. Most of the things they were doing during that time were exploring ''The Bridge'' and getting stronger.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Because it was Old Chief George''s order, they have no other choice but to follow it, thus they continuously train their bodies as if there''s no tomorrow.


    And it only ended a few days ago as they received a new order from Old Chief George to protect the territories of their allies. But because some of their allies doesn''t need protection, Old Chief George ordered them to return to the Green Horn Vige.


    Honestly, they were so delighted when they received a carrier pigeon along the way that carries a note which informs them that a war is about toe to the Green Horn Vige. That was why they arrived very quickly.


    "What is it all about this time?" Friedrich enthusiastically asked.


    "I hope that it has to do with us looking for Chief Kylo!" Cedrick silently prayed.


    "It will definitely be that!" Roshan felt certain that it is going to be like that.


    "Or perhaps we have to look for the base of the Assembly of Freedom and infiltrate them," Kimberly suggested.


    "Oh! That''s even more exciting!" Cedrick gave Kimberly a thumbs up.


    "And then we will assassinate their important members, including Chief Kylo as well," Natasha could already feel the thrill they have been longing for.


    "Talking about a cherry on top of a cupcake! Sooo good!" Jackson clicks his tongue.


    "I am afraid but it''s none of that," Old Chief George shook his head.


    Friedrich and the others instantly started feeling nervous deep inside. As far as they could remember, it would always be something bad whenever a situation like this popped up.


    "Your next mission would be¡­" Old Chief George turns to look at Kayn.


    As if understanding what it meant, Gilbert suddenly let out a loudughter. "This is fantastic!"


    From the very start, he was already more than aware that regardless of whatever the mission would be, he would have no choice but to get left behind by them because he has to continue babysitting Kayn.


    However, right now¡­


    "All of you will be babysitting Kayn as hepletes all of his tasks listed in the way of ''The Bridge''."


    "What?!!!!!!"


    "Freaking hell! Tell me that this is a lie!"


    "No, no, no! You must be kidding me!"


    "We wanted thrill, excitement, danger. Yet you want us to babysit Kayn? Do you understand how we are feeling right now?"


    "My cherry! My cupcake! Don''t gooo!"


    Meanwhile, Kayn was immediately taken aback to the point that he nearly fell from his chair. "Are you serious, Old Chief George?"


    "Do you have a problem with my decision,"


    "Definitely," Kayn nodded his head.


    "Tell me,"


    "What you are doing right now is no different from sending a bunch of powerful Heroes to guard a single sheep. It''s not worth it!"


    "Rest assured, this is just temporary,"


    "What do you mean?" Friedrich frantically got closer to Old Chief George. The others also did the same.


    "Right now, I am still waiting for the report from our allies'' territory. We obviously can''t make any effective n if we don''t have sufficient information about our enemy''s movement, right?"


    "So, until then, you''ll protect Kayn as he is now a crucial member of the Green Horn Vige. As in very important," After all, Kayn is the only person other than Chief Kylo that knows about the Kingmaker. If he is Chief Kylo, he''d definitely n out an assassination attempt on Kayn so that there won''t be any unknown variables next time.


    "As for you," Old Chief George pointed his finger at Kayn. "Don''t ever think that I''ve forgotten that you still have something else to do. Until youplete it, you won''t be going anywhere far from my Vige,"


    "But¡­"


    "How about we do it this way... As long as youplete everything in the ways of ''The Bridge'' before everything that I needed is brought to my table, you will be able toe with Friedrich and the others in their next mission,"


    "Are you perhaps telling us that there''s a chance that we will permanently be babysitting him?" Friedrich was inplete disbelief.


    "I am still not done," Old Chief George let out a cough, "Only if they agree,"


    "What happens if they don''t?"


    "Then you''ll have to stay with me until we finally solve the problem with the Assembly of Freedom,"


    "Okay¡­" Kayn could only express his helplessness silently.


    He already understood that it was because of what he had shown during the war that Old Chief George decided not to give him freedom anymore even if hepleted the way of ''The Bridge''. Otherwise, he''d be risking his life.


    However, deep inside, he is already trying toe up with a solution to this problem. After all, he doesn''t have the leisurely to stay in the Green Horn Vige until there''s finally no danger anymore. He still has other things to do, especially looking for the most important item on Natas'' list.


    "That''s all. Meeting dismiss,"

 Chapter 105 Raiding A Monster Lair

    ?Chapter 105: Raiding a Monster Lair


    Two days passed and Kayn is now standing in front of Old Chief George with a cartload of materials for thetter to check.


    "Mountain Side Root, Twin Mushrooms, Rush Corn, Dart Bee Honey, Flower of Vigor,¡­" Old Chief George started identifying each different material he had listed on the list. There''s a total of fifteen different materials on the list that Kayn has to find in Split Mountain.


    "Let''s see if you have met the exact quota I needed you to collect,"


    With a wave of his hand, Old Chief George took out a weighing scale from his Storage Ring. After setting it up properly on the ground beside the cart, he then started weighing each of the materials one kind at a time.


    "10kg!"


    "10kg!"


    "10kg!"


    "....."


    After going through fifteen different materials and markingplete thest one on the list, Old Chief George stood up and looks at Kayn.


    "Congrattions, you''vepleted the first task,"


    "It wasn''t as difficult as you describe it to be,"


    "That''s only natural," Old Chief George glimpses at Friedrich and the others. It''s very obvious already that Kayn received their help. "Moreover, no other gatherers want to gather in Split Mountain at the moment in fear of getting ambushed by some enemy units that escaped the war,"


    Apparently, some mercenaries were actually able to luckily escape through the forest during the war by taking advantage of the chaos. And because of the fire that quickly consumed the forest, it wasn''t worth the risk of chasing after them.


    The next day after the war, Old Chief George sent some scouting party to try and find them. Later on, they brought along a few mercenaries in their return, some were held prisoners while a few were dead.


    At the same time, they brought the news that the mercenaries that escaped the war seemed to have be bandits and made Split Mountain their home. Even worst was because there were only a few of them left, they don''t stay in one spot and are constantly on the move to look for new targets.


    And because Split Mountain is a known gathering spot in ''The Bridge'', everyone could guess already that those bandits would be hiding in one of the gathering spots. As such, no one wants to risk going out yet until the bandits are all either captured or killed lest they be unlucky victims.


    "So, what''s my next task,"


    "Don''t you want to take a rest for the rest of the day?"


    "It''s not toote for me to rest after I find out what you have prepared for me next,"


    "Alright," Old Chief George wave his hand once again. This time, he took out a single piece of paper and soon handed it to Kayn.


    Kayn took the paper and started reading the content written on it, "Monster Lair Raid¡­"


    [


    Monster Lair Raid


    Type of Monster: Ordinary Spider, Green Stripe Spider, Green Stripe Elite Spider, Green Guardian Spider.


    Boss Monster: Green Stripe Broodmother


    Location: Hanging Vine Cave


    ]


    "Are you sure you didn''t hand me the wrong mission?" Kayn can''t help but ask.


    "I have not," Old Chief George shook his head.


    "But shouldn''t I bepleting beginner missions first before doing some Monster Lair Raid?"


    Monster Lair Raid. Just like what its name suggests, it is an activity where a group of people or even just a single person would conduct a raid at a ce assumed to be a monsterir.


    Honestly, a Monster Lair Raid is very simr to a Dungeon Raid. The only difference between the two is with thetter, a person would be going through a portal that leads to somewhere inside the ''Tower'' and there would be a limited parameter that they can explore. As for the former, a person would be going through a nest, a territory, a fortress, and something else where a group of monsters treats the area as their home. In both instances, they''d be clearing the ce of the existing dangerous living beings.


    "I skipped the part where you would have toplete a few requests from some of the people that live in my Vige,"


    Kayn raises his eyebrow, wondering why.


    "Because it is unnecessary. And I can already guess that Mayor Sebastian''s purpose for doing so is to keep you in my Vige for as long as possible. I don''t like that since you''re already old enough to know what is good and bad for you, and what you want to do and shouldn''t do,"


    "I understand,"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Anyways, you won''t be leaving my territory yet with this mission. The Hanging Vine Cave is just a few hundred meters to the north of my Vige. You''d be able to immediately find the ce because the cave is justid out of in sight,"


    "If you aren''t sure, you can always just ask Friedrich and the others, right?"


    "Are we going too?" Friedrich felt a bit excited.


    "I can already guess that all of you are already feeling very bored constantly babysitting Kayn for the past two days. All of you can use this opportunity to continue training your mastery with your main ss and the subsses you''ve chosen,"


    "Training again!" Cedrick can''t help eximing in disappointment.


    "Hey, shut up!" Roshan immediately covered Cedrick''s mouth, "At least it is much betterpared to babysitting Kayn,"


    "You''d still be babysitting Kayn. Except for this time, you can do so by simply leaving him the easy monsters to take care of," Old Chief George reminded them in case they carelessly leave Kayn behind.


    "Does he even need babysitting?" Natasha felt doubtful about that. She already witnessed with her own eyes some of Kayn''sbat capability. One time they encountered a Forest Boar, and in just one sh, Kayn was able to take it down without breaking even a single sweat. There were multiple other situations where he had to fight monsters while collecting some materials. And in all of those instances, he made it seem like killing those monsters is a very easy task for him.


    In the span of two days, Kayn had already leveled up to level 10.


    What she is very curious about though is what exactly is Kayn''s subss. She had seen thetter using both a sword and a dagger multiple times with great proficiency. Gilbert told her that Kayn is an Assassin. But Friedrich begs to differ and informed her that he is a Knight.


    "That''s right!" Jackson and the other two, Simon and Steve.


    "Regardless of how capable Kayn is in your eyes, I think all of you can agree with me that he isn''tparable to Chief Kylo yet," Old Chief George immediately discouraged them.


    "By the way, have all the information you need been delivered to you?" Friedrich can''t help asking.


    "Strangely enough, only five out of the eleven territories have given me their report. Out of the five, one of them informs me of the destruction of their Vige and that they would arrive in my Vige after five days of travel,"


    "Would it be possible that six territories were wiped outpletely?"


    "Even if that had indeed happened, your brothers and sisters that I''ve assigned in those territories should have given me a report instead. You should be more than aware that they have to prioritize their lives above the mission of protecting my allies'' territories,"


    "Maybe they are surrounded right now and that there''s no way to send a report to our Vige?"


    "Don''t underestimate them. Those territories that haven''t reported to me yet are those Towns that belong to the Big Dipper Alliance,"


    "If ever their territories are in danger, the Great Bear would no doubt make an appearance and assist them to win against the Assembly of Freedom. Once that happens, there''s no way that they would lose,"


    "I guess I was worrying for nothing,"


    "Just take this time as an opportunity to rest before I send you on a big mission, just like what I''ve told you before," Old Chief George said hisst piece of advice before entering the Town Hall to continue with his job of being the Chief of Green Horn Vige.


    "I understand," Friedrich simply wanted to make the first squad useful. They''ve been doing nothing but useless and minuscule missions for the past six months while the other squads have been through many important and big missions. He just can''t ept it.


    "It''s okay," Natashaforted Friedrich.


    "Your second squad had it better than us," Friedrich sighs heavily.


    Natasha, Jackson, Simon, and Steve are actually part of the second squad. One of their members, who is actually their leader, is not present because she is assigned to that certain Vige that is making its way to the Green Horn Vige.


    In total, there are four squads in the Green Horn Knights, with each squad respectively having five members.


    "In terms of mission count, we are indeed betterpared to the first squad. But when ites to life expectancy, we can hardly evenpare to you guys," Jackson shook his head.


    "From the moment the Green Horn Knights was created, you''ve only received a single casualty, which was a priest, to say the least," Simon expressed his opinion.


    "Meanwhile, the second squad, third squad, and even worst, the fourth squad, have already made plenty of reshuffles over the years. Aside from the respective leaders of the three squads, all members have basically been changed because the original members have died through various means," Steve muttered.


    "Although when ites to the degree of importance between the missions your first squad was handed and the three other squads, you guys clearly had more excitement and thrill than all of usbined together," Natasha felt jealous.


    "I guess each squad has its own pros and cons," Friedrich feltforted by their words. "By the way, Kayn, what do we do next?"


    "Let''s rest,"


    "Don''t you want to gather some information about the monsters you are up against and the structure map of the Hanging Vine Cave first?"


    "No need," Kayn started walking away along with Gilbert. "All of you are free to do whatever you want to spend your time with for the rest of the day. Let''s meet up in the Town Hall same time as usual,"


    "Okay!"

 Chapter 106 Hanging Vines Cave

    ?Chapter 106: Hanging Vines Cave


    The next day¡­


    After walking quite a distance away to the north of the Green Horn Vige, Kayn was eventually able to spot the Hanging Vines Cave over the distance.


    It was a naturally made cave on the bottom of a small hill. The cave isn''t that big, but it was also not that small either. To be exact, the hole is twenty meters in diameter.


    There''s a deep slope leading straight to the entrance of the Hanging Vines Cave.


    Looking closely at the Hanging Vines Cave, he instantly notices a dense cover of vines blocking the entrance of the cave and preventing him from getting a close look at its internal structure.


    Nevertheless, he could see the obvious signs that it is a spider''sir just from the countless cobwebs hanging almost everywhere before the cave''s entrance.


    "This is it," Gilbert tapped Kayn''s shoulder.


    "Since we are here, let''s begin setting up our camp before we enter," Friedrich started giving the first squad things to do.


    Unfortunately, Natasha and the other members of the second squad can''te with them because they have to meet up with their leader to assist with the relocation. They were very excited about it, but Old Chief George informed themst night that their leader requested assistance.


    Roshan, Cedrick, Gilbert, and Kimberly quickly began setting up their tent and other necessary kinds of stuff they needed like a dirty kitchen.


    Meanwhile, Kayn and Friedrich gathered on a table that thetter had taken out from his Storage Ring along with three maps that show the entire structures inside the Hanging Vines Cave.


    "The Hanging Vines Cave has a total of three different floors inside. The first floor is where the ordinary spiders and Green Stripe Spiders are, the second floor is where the Green Stripe Elite Spider and Green Guardian Spider, andstly the third floor is where the Green Stripe Broodmother and her eggs are," Friedrich exins.


    "The entire structure of each floor is a wide open area, instead of a cramped up space that you would expect inside a cave. There are dozens of pirs supporting the ceiling, some underground rivers, and small tunnels leading to the nearby small caves around,"


    In other words, there''s a small ecosystem inside the Hanging Vines Cave that can maintain and support any living creatures that choose to reside.


    "On the first floor, we won''t be intervening much on what you want to do. So, you can basically do whatever you want and we will keep you safe throughout the entire way,"


    "Depending on your performance on the first floor, we will decide on how we should take care of the second floor,"


    "And on thest floor, only Cedrick and Gilbert would be assisting you regardless of how you operated on the second floor. That was the bottom line that Old Chief George informed me about. We can only intervene when you tell us you give up and that would instantly mark this Monster Lair Raid as a failed attempt,"


    Friedrich informed Kayn of how the entire Monster Lair Raid would y out on their side.


    "I don''t know if you have prepared ns yesterday on how you will take care of this Monster Lair Raid nor do I even care about it. This is your mission and the only reason we are here is to protect you and make sure Chief Kylo doesn''t kill you,"


    "As forpleting the mission, that would be entirely your job with only Gilbert and Cedrick as your aid,"


    "I understand," Kayn nodded his head in understanding.


    "Here''s all the map in case you need it," Friedrich handed all the maps to Kayn.


    "I actually don''t need it,"


    "Do you already have a map?"


    "I''ve already memorized it,"


    "You serious?" Friedrich felt doubtful.


    "Trust me,"


    Kayn has conducted countless Monster Lair Raids in the past. He is practically the most knowledgeable person present right now when ites to dealing with such matters.


    "Prove it,"


    "There are twenty-four pirs in total on the first floor alone. Six pirs each on the north, west, east, and south directions of thepass. There are thirty-two tunnels, twenty-five of them have small entrances and seven have medium size entrances. There are three small underground rivers. I have to go straight north to enter the second floor,"


    "....."


    Kayn started summarizing theyout of the entire map from the first floor to the third floor.


    "How?" Friedrich felt disbelief. "Do you have some sort of photographic memory or something?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "You''re overreacting," Kayn chuckled. "Here''s a fun fact, you can actually just take note that there are thirty-two tunnels on the first floor without needing to know where they are exactly located,"


    "Question. If you don''t know where the tunnels are, then how exactly would you find them? As long as you reach the edge of the cave and you follow the wall, you''d eventually find a tunnel,"


    "So, what you are trying to say is, just take note of the important details and leave the unnecessary stuff behind?"


    "That''s right. Because during a Monster Lair Raid, things could get out of control and you wouldn''t necessarily be able to do exactly like how you want it to y. So, what you need to be more focused on is how to respond and react to those situations, rather than memorizing the entireyout of the map,"


    "Why would I need this drawing if I would have to memorize everything on it anyways, right? If I don''t know which way to go, I''ll just take this map out and look for the direction I have to follow,"


    "Then what if you are in a bad situation and you desperately have to find a way out?" Friedrich wonders.


    "Then go to the edge of the cave, follow the walls, and then we''ll eventually be able to find a tunnel leading to another exit,"


    "What if it''s a dead end?"


    "Find another way,"


    "It will take a very long to do that. Who knows if you''d be able to survive until then,"


    "Are we in that kind of situation right now?"


    "No,"


    "Then why are you preparing for it already as if it''s going to be unavoidable that we''d be put in that kind of situation? Let''s only make ns for that if ever we are indeed in that kind of situation, because we''d be wasting plenty of time overthinking various different possibilities with no certainty whether it would really happen or not,"


    "And besides, that''s why you are here, right? To help me deal with that kind of situation,"


    "Gilbert is indeed right, you are truly very different from people of the same age as you. What''s even stranger is, it''s as if you''ve experienced more things than all of us,"


    "I do," Kayn said inwardly. Instead, he responded to Friedrich, "You''re just overthinking it,"


    There''s no way that he''d be able to avoid showing signs that he has more experience than almost everybody. And he is also not going to try and hide that fact.


    However, he can always deny it whenever they start suspecting it. After all, there''s no way they''d believe that someone who is younger than them, still wet in the ears, and hasn''t even entered the ''Tower'' yet knows and experienced more than them.


    They''ll just believe that he is a genius and something simr, which is the oue he is aiming for.


    "We''re done here!" Gilbert informs Kayn and the others.


    "We''ve done this multiple times, so you know what to do," Friedrich muttered before starting to walk inside the Hanging Vines Cave first. Deep inside, he was contemting hard about what Kayn had said to him just now. As much as he tries to deny it, what thetter had said is indeed very insightful.


    "I''ve already done putting up a note to inform any passersby that there are people inside the Hanging Vines Cave," Cedrick responded.


    The tents were only set up in advance so that once they are done with their Monster Lair Raid, they won''t have to waste any more time and push their already exhausted bodies to the limits just to set it up.


    And as for the note, that is actually an unwritten rule in ''The Bridge''. If there''s a note informing them that someone is doing a Monster Lair Raid, one shouldn''t interrupt them unless they want their Monster Lair Raid in the future to be interrupted by someone else as well.


    Although the note is not enough to possibly hold back the passersby from stealing anything from the camp. That''s why other than the tents and some other necessities they would require once they finish the Monster Lair Raid, they aren''t leaving anything else with value behind.


    "Rest for thirty minutes before we begin the Monster Lair Raid," Kayn understood that Friedrich''s mind is currently preupied with what he had said.


    "Where''s Friedrich going?" Gilbert can''t help asking.


    "He''s going to scout the ce first,"


    "Shouldn''t that be my job?" After all, he is the assassin in their party.


    "There''s probably a reason for that. If you want, you can ask himter on,"


    "Alright," Gilbert returns to Cedrick and the others to start preparing their equipment.


    Kayn also did the same as he started checking all of the equipment and consumables he brought for this Monster Lair Raid.

 Chapter 107 Forming A Party With The First Squad

    ?Chapter 107: Forming a party with the first squad


    The moment Kayn enters the Hanging Vines Cave, he instantly understood the meaning behind its unique name.


    It isn''t actually because of the hanging vines at the entrance of the cave that''s why it''s called the Hanging Vines Cave. Instead, it''s because the inside of the cave is covered by numerous vines hanging from the ceiling of the cave.


    Moreover, what''s very shocking is, inside the cave is literally a world of its own. It''s like entering a new world underground.


    The cave was enormous in size. He couldn''t even begin to see the other side, let alone the edge when he turns to look at both his left and right.


    Looking down below, their tform is probably hundreds of feet above the ground level of the Hanging Vines Cave. So, in order to get down and back up, they''d have to make use of the vines nearby the tform. Or, if one doesn''t mind spending longer, they can use the tunnels that lead to the caves nearby the Hanging VInes Cave.


    "Why didn''t you inform me before that the inside of the Hanging Vines Cave was actually this enormous?" Kayn asked Gilbert. But upon observing closely at thetter''s reaction, he could instantly see that he was surprised as well.


    "It wasn''t this enormous when I visited this ce in the past," Gilbert silently mutters.


    "When did youst visit?"


    "A year ago,"


    "This means that in just a few months, the Hanging Vines Cave increased in size," Kayn can''t help feeling curious at the reason why.


    "No need to worry," Friedrich suddenly arrived after disappearing for quite some time. "I went to scout the edge of this cave, and I found out that the Ordinary Spiders are using their feet to destroy the wall of the cave,"


    "Probably, they made used of their huge number in order to be able to erge the cave to its current size,"


    "How huge is the cave exactly right now?" Kayn wanted to know.


    "From here to the entrance of the second floor, it''s still the same, twelve thousand meters away. But from our left going to the right, it has increased by ten times. If my calction is correct, it should be around one hundred kilometers or so,"


    "That''s freaking insane!" Cedrick was shocked beyond belief.


    "Even if all Heroes present in ''The Bridge'' right now cooperate with each other topete against this Monster Lair, we would still not be able topare to them," Roshan expressed his thoughts.


    "Not necessarily," Friedrich shook his head. After all, unlike those Ordinary Spiders, the Heroes have their Gifts, and also the Passive Skills and Active Skills of their respective weapons.


    "I am just saying,"


    "Anyways, because of the unexpected changes in the Hanging Vines Cave, I n to inform Old Chief George to temporarily put a halt to this mission and find another new one if possible. What do you think, Kayn?" Friedrich turns to look at Kayn.


    "Forget about that. No changes will be happening in the mission," Kayn instantly rejected. "Instead, because the difficulty of this mission has increased to a significant degree, I propose that we make this into an official party raid?"


    A party raid. Just like what its name suggests, it implies a group of Heroes creating a group to achieve amon goal. But unlike guilds, this group is only going to be temporary and once they achieve their goal, it would immediately disband.


    Hearing Kayn''s proposition, Friedrich, Cedrick, Rosha, Kimberly, and Gilbert looks at each other.


    Friedrich coughed and right after asked, "Can we all discuss your proposition for a bit?"


    "Go ahead," Kayn chuckles.


    Friedrich and the others immediately distanced themselves from Kayn and soon started discussing about thetter''s proposition.


    After ten minutes or so, Friedrich and the others return and look at Kayn.


    "Regarding your proposition, we agree,"


    "I already expected that," To tell the truth, it was Natas who was rying their conversation to him in real-time.


    "However,"


    Kayn quickly interrupted, "Let me guess, you want to get a share of the loot?"


    "How''d you know?" Friedrich felt slightly surprised.


    "I''ve learned from doing a dungeon raid,"


    "So, is it alright for you?"


    "As long as you agree that I''ll get twenty percent of all the loot while the eighty percent will be divided between the five of you, then it''s fine for me,"


    "Are you serious?!" Cedrick was in disbelief. He was honestly assuming that it would be a fifty-fifty split.


    "Wouldn''t that be disadvantageous for you? After all, we practically wouldn''t havee here if it wasn''t for you," Roshan informs Kayn with kind intention.


    "Tell me, assuming that I have fifty percent share from the loot, where could I possibly use that many resources?"


    "I don''t know. Maybe to use it to increase your stats and mastery once you enter the ''Tower''?"


    "Believe me, the majority of the resources here aren''tparable to what we can find inside the ''Tower''," He had already finished reading some books describing the resources that can be found in ''The Bridge'' that''s why he knows about it.


    "Did your school teach you about that?"


    Kayn simply nodded his head.


    "If that''s what you truly want, then we don''t have anything against it. However, we will owe you a favor for this instead,"


    "Do whatever you want," Kayn already knew that they would do that. Previously, he became aware of what type of character Friedrich is. That guy basically prepares for almost everything ahead of time, and because of that, he was informed by Natas what they would do in case this happens as thetter had predicted it as well.


    "Since this is your mission, how about I give you the leadership for the first squad temporarily?" Friedrich suggested.


    "That''s more like it," Kayn instantly agrees. He was about to propose that, but Friedrich beat him to it first.


    "So, what''s the n?"


    "I honestly only have two ns in mind,"


    "One is, to get to the third floor,"


    "And the other?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "And the second one is, there''s no second n other than the first n at all,"


    "What?!"


    "Are you serious?!"


    "How about you lead us instead, Friedrich?"


    Contrary to Cedrick, Roshan, and Gilbert, Friedrich smiled upon hearing Kayn''s n.


    "I like your idea,"


    "Which part of it exactly?"


    "Everything,"


    "Are you insane?!"


    "What Kayn simply meant is; we adapt to the situation and respond ordingly as we make our way to the third floor,"


    "If I remembered correctly, he seems to not have said it like that," Gilbert felt stupid.


    "That''s the reason why I am the leader of the first squad," Friedrich softly smacked Gilbert''s head.


    "Let''s go!"


    With that being said, Kayn and the others used the vines to go down to the ground.


    As if Friedrich and the others were feeling very confident in their skill level and their capability, they choose different creative ways to go down.


    Friedrich stabbed his sword into a vine, and grabbed its hilt, before using his heavy weight to propel himself downward.


    Roshan didn''t bother using a vine as he just jumped straight down. With his endurance, plus being a guardian, such a height isn''t considered a problem for him.


    Cedrick and Kimberly, respectively being a Priest and a Mage, uses their knowledge in magic to slowly hover down to the ground.


    Lastly, Gilbert, being a nimble assassin, decided to swing from one vine to another as he made his way down.


    "What are you waiting for, Kayn?"


    "Rest assured, the vines are very tough,"


    "Don''t worry, we will wait for you down below,"


    Shaking his head nonchntly, Kayn took out his Molten Ice Sword from his Storage Ring before jumping straight to the ground just like how Roshan did it.


    "What the fuck!" For the first time ever, Gilbert swore.


    "Cedrick, Kimberly, quickly use a magic spell to catch Kayn before he reaches the ground!" Friedrich panicked.


    "Okay!" Cedrick and Kimberly nodded their heads as they used their minds to control their hovering to chase after Kayn.


    "I''ll try to catch him myself!" Roshan also volunteered to chase after the falling Kayn.


    Meanwhile, both Friedrich and Gilbert tried their best to catch up as well.


    However, because of how fast Kayn was falling, Cedrick and Kimberly were unable to do anything to catch up to his speed.


    On the other hand, because of how heavy Roshan''s body was, and in addition to that, he has nothing to use as a foothold to quickly move to the location where Kayn is falling, he was also unable to help.


    Eventually, the ground was finally closed to them.


    "Kayn!" Friedrich and the others extended their hands to try and grab a hold of Kayn.


    To their surprise though, Kayn simply glimpses at them before letting out a provoking smile on his face.


    In the next moment, Kayn brandished his sword at the ground.


    Whoosh!


    A searing and freezing crescent-shaped sword wave was released from his sword which swiftly hit the ground.


    Boom!


    At the same time upon releasing the attack, Kayn was sent flying above, thus creating a considerable distance from the ground. Subsequently, using the Molten Ice sh instantly reset the speed of his fall. Meaning, even if he hits the ground now, it won''t be considered as him falling from a hundred or so meters. Instead, he simply fell from the remaining distance between him and the ground.


    Regardless, there''s still ten meters or so of distance in between.


    Following soon after, Kayn activated Sword Dance.


    Whoosh!


    Right after, he uses Temperature Reset, which immediately reset the cooldown of all the Active Skills he had just used, including the Molten Ice sh.


    This time, instead of brandishing his sword to the ground, he made a shing motion with his back against a nearby vine.


    Whoosh!


    Boom!


    Because of that, after being sent flying once again, Kayn soon caught onto the nearby vine. He swiftly stabbed his sword deep into the vine and uses his weight to propel himself to the remaining distance to reach the ground.


    At the present moment, Friedrich and the others had already stopped moving and are now dangling onto a vine each. Deep inside of them, they all can''t believe what they have just witnessed from Kayn.


    "Holy shiiiiit!"

 Chapter 108 A Disaster In The Process

    ?Chapter 108: A disaster in the process


    "Holy Shit!"


    Friedrich and the others quickly got down to the ground and stared at Kayn who is now pulling his sword from the vine inplete disbelief.


    "Did you have all of that nned from the very start?" Friedrich can''t help asking.


    "With proper use of your Active Skills and applying some creativity to it, you''d be surprised at what you can pull off with them," Kayn smiled.


    In the past, he had spent a lot of time just to understand every Active Skill that was recorded by their guild.


    He studied and trained day and night for more than a year just to be able to master almost every Active Skill that exists on Earth.


    Fortunately, the majority of the Active Skills are slightly simr to each other and some even only have their elements different, which is ultimately what affects their result. Take for example, an ordinary Sword Wave would normally release a mana wave to a target. If a fire element is applied to it, it would turn it into a ming Sword Wave, which would have the same effect as the Sword Wave and the addition of a burn effect to its target.


    Because of that, all he has to do was get familiar with how an element would possibly or practically affect the Active Skill. Needless to say, he also had to learn all Active Skills first.


    "Tell me honestly, does the Hero Academies these days teach their students those kinds of awesome stuff?" Gilbert was intrigued.


    "They do, if you listen and understand what they are trying to impart you," Kayn said, but inwardly he responded, "They definitely don''t,"


    "Cool!" Gilbert swore to enroll in a Hero Academy the moment he returns to Earth.


    "Can Mages pull something simr to that too?"


    "Even better!" To be exact, Battle Mages could execute even greater showmanshippared to what he did.


    "I''ll visit a Hero Academy in the future,"


    "How about Priest?"


    "Every subss can do it!" That is honestly the truth. Even the Noble and Merchant main sses can pull something simr.


    "Nice!" Cedrick made a first bump with Roshan.


    "Enough about that," Kayn finally decided to change the topic. "Let''s continue talking about that once we are done with our mission. In the meantime, let''s see where exactly we are on the first floor,"


    "Gilbert, try to scout out the area ahead and find which way we have to go to get to the entrance of the second floor,"


    There is no need for them to clear every monster in this Monster Lair just like in a Dungeon Raid. The goal here is to kill what gets close to them and make sure to y the boss. Once that happens, this Monster Lair Raid would significantly be weaker and would no longer pose that much of a threat to the nearby territories.


    That is the main goal of a Monster Lair Raid. Albeit, sometimes, a raid party would clear all the existing monsters.


    However, in their case right now, because of how huge the Hanging Vines Cave is, and in addition to that, the countless spiders that are expected to exist in this ce, there''s no doubt that it''s next to impossible for them to clear all of them.


    As such, their goal is only to kill the Green Stripe Broodmother and leave immediately afterward.


    "Alright!" Gilbert immediately left.


    "Roshan, make sure to guard our rear,"


    "Roger!" Roshan positioned himself to the back.


    "Cedrick and Kimberly, stick closely to Roshan so that he can immediately protect you in case something wrong suddenly happens,"


    "Understood,"


    "Yes,"


    "I''ll lead the front, while Friedrich, you stick close to me,"


    Friedrich nodded his head.


    "Let''s proceed,"


    While moving, Kayn constantly receives an update from Gilbert on which way they should go as thetter left noticeable marks in front of them.


    Along the way, they''ve encountered some Ordinary Spiders that just so happen to make a nest in their path. They weren''t a problem, so they quickly took care of them.


    From time to time, Green Stripe Spiders, which is an even bigger and more powerful version of the Ordinary Spiders wouldunch a surprise attack at them.


    After some brief investigation, they''ve realized that each area is actually under the management of Green Stripe Spiders. In other words, the Ordinary Spiders are like workers, while the Green Stripe Spiders are their supervisors.


    Just like the Ordinary Spiders though, the Green Stripe Spiders also didn''t pose any threat to them.


    Honestly, they''ve already expected that the situation would turn out like this on the first floor from the very start. After all, the monsters that upy this space are considered to be the weakest of the bunch.


    The real struggle would start on the second floor.


    Not long after, Kayn and the others stopped as they reached the entrance to the second floor.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Just like the entrance to the first floor, they have to go down the vines in order to reach the ground on the second floor.


    However, this time, there are plenty of cobwebs all over the ce. Moreover, there''s a huge number of Green Stripe Spiders acting as sentries.


    "This time, we have to be careful to not be spotted by any of them," Kayn reminded everyone.


    Unlike the first floor, the security on the second floor has noticeably increased. It''s clearly because this floor is considered thest line of defense of their queen.


    Kayn quickly took out the map of the second floor from his Storage Ring as he grabs a pen in the process.


    "We''ll be using the pirs as our resting points and cover to reach the entrance to the third floor," Kayn hastily marks all twenty-four pirs on the second floor. Apparently, all three floors have twenty-four pirs to support the ceiling, and each of them is separated by one thousand meters. Needless to say, there''s a possibility that the number of pirs has changed considering that the cave has now increased in size. Nevertheless, the distance of each pir should have remained the same.


    "I was nning on taking the long way by going to the edge of the cave and sticking to the wall as we travel to the entrance of the third floor. In that way, we''d only have to pay attention to three different directions," Also, the other reason is so that they can quickly use the tunnels as a cover if ever they encounter a huge group of spiders.


    "But if the same situation is happening on the second floor as well, we''ll still be taking the long way, but this time we won''t be sticking to the walls, but to the pirs instead,"


    "Any questions?"


    "No," Friedrich and the others immediately replied.


    "Let''s go,"


    By following the route that Kayn draw on the map, they soon reached the pir closest to the edge of the cave. They could already see the wall of the cave from their location.


    On their way there, they made sure not to get spotted by any of the sentries and also hide from the Green Stripe Elite Spiders and Green Guardian Spiders they''ve spotted.


    Those spiders were no longer an enemy to scoff at especially if one just consider their sizes.


    Even though they can still kill them easily. But there''s certainly bound to be consequences as the fight would no doubt turn messy. Once that happens, other nearby spiders would definitelye in their direction. And by then, it''s going to be a never-ending battle until they clear all spiders in the Hanging Vines Cave.


    "Our goal here is just to kill the Green Stripe Broodmother, always remember that," Friedrich reminded Kayn once more.


    Although Kayn wanted to avoid getting spotted and would like their existence not to getpromised, he was thirsting for a fight. As a matter of fact, he had killed a few sentries already with the assistance of Gilbert and Cedrick.


    "It''s just like what I expected," Kayn spotted countless Ordinary Spiders working on erging the size of the Hanging Vines Cave.


    "Now that I''ve seen this, I can''t help but wonder what exactly is their goal?"


    "Yeah, I am curious too,"


    "Perhaps their continuously growing number is now bing a problem to them?"


    "Spiders are known to live in clusters to the point that they don''t mind hugging each other,"


    "There''s definitely a conspiracy here,"


    "Perhaps a possible spider invasion to the surface,"


    "Maybe. I''ll report this to Old Chief George once we are done here and hear what he has in mind,"


    "A disaster in the process," Natas whispered to Kayn''s right ear.


    "Can the Green Horn Vige deal with them?"


    "Definitely," Friedrich replied confidently.


    Contrary to Friedrich, Natas shook his head and said, "They won''t be able to, and unfortunately, no one was able to deal with them,"


    "Are you sure?"


    "As long as the four squads of the Green Horn Knights are present, we can do almost everything in ''The Bridge'', am I right?" Friedrich looks at Cedrick, Rosha, Kimberly, and Gilbert while the four express their agreement.


    "Everyone was only saved from the disaster when someone reached the door of the ''Tower''. I don''t know anything more than that as I''ve only paid attention to ''The Bridge'' whenever something major or serious happens in here,"


    Meaning, the disaster never ended.


    "Can we solve this problem ourselves?"


    "I don''t rmend doing so," Friedrich and Natas coincidentally said at the same time.


    "Why?"


    "Everything must go through Old Chief George first, especially if it is a matter in his territory,"


    "I said it before, let history repeat itself this time around. Just pick up the fruits that it would be dropping on the ground,"


    "Alright," Kayn understood. "Since this is not rted to our mission, let''s continue our journey to the entrance of the third floor,"

 Chapter 109 Green Stripe Broodmother

    ?Chapter 109: Green Stripe Broodmother


    Kayn and the other uses the pirs to hide from the nearby monsters.


    As they were moving, they keep on observing the working Ordinary Spider over the distance.


    "How many exactly are there?" Gilbert is now rendered beyond belief.


    "There seems to be more than tens of thousands of them. And that''s just from the distance we have covered so far," Cedrick apparently counted along them along the way.


    "Hundreds of thousands, probably," Roshan took a wild guess.


    Fortunately, because of the numerous vines all over this ce, they have plenty of other means to hide other than pirs. Albeit the pirs were still more practical. Otherwise, they would have been spotted a long time ago.


    "If all of that escaped to the surface, we''d most likely be erased from ''The Bridge''!" Gilbert could finally understand now just how insane the real situation is right now. "Tell me, why do we even bother continuing with this mission? We should be returning to the Green Horn Vige and report this extremely important matter to Old Chief George,"


    "Calm down, Gilbert," Friedrich tapped Gilbert''s shoulder. "We are just here to kill the Green Stripe Broodmother and after that, we will return back to the Green Horn Vige,"


    "Can you really be sure that it won''t be the same as what we are looking at right now down there on the third floor?"


    "Rest assured, I can guarantee that," Kayn interrupted.


    "How?"


    "After the arrival of the ''Tower'',  the behavior of spiders adapted to those of ants. They respect their queen and treat their queen very special. When ites to the living environment of their queen, they''d make sure to only provide the best and top quality service,"


    "Now look around. Do you think erging the cave on the third floor would serve any purpose to improve the living environment of the queen?"


    "Yes! By erging the cave, she''d have more space to move around,"


    "You''re wrong! A huge empty space is not something a spider would like, especially for a queen. See this ce? It''s packed to the brim. And most likely the only real reason why they are expanding is that it''s full. But once they solve that problem, they''d definitely stop expanding,"


    Although Kayn had said that, he knew deep inside of him that not long from now the spiders would find a way up in one of those tunnels. Once they do, they''d start mass producing their numbers in order to cover the whole entire space in ''The Bridge''.


    That was what Natas had informed him while they were walking as he suddenly remembered one of his brothers talking about it.


    Apparently, the Green Stripe Broodmother never actually truly know that a surface world exists, because every single time one of her spiders gets out, they never go back down again for many different reasons, one of which is that they are killed by the Heroes.


    However, after the Ordinary Spiders found a tunnel to the surface, and due to the current overpoption of the Monster Lair in the Hanging Vines Cave, a continuous stream of spiders came rushing out. Even though a considerable number of them were in, some still came back down to tell the Green Stripe Broodmother of their great discovery.


    It was from then on that the disaster started.


    "Let''s keep up the pace if you don''t want to stay here longer," Kayn reminded everyone. They''ve been able to slip under the radar of all these spiders present around all this time only because they were quick in moving from ce to ce. But that obviously won''t be for long. The longer they stay here, the more dangerous it would be for all of them.


    With that being said, Kayn and the others started hasting their movement.


    Just like what Kayn expected, a group of spiders found them.


    "This was unavoidable," Kayn muttered to everyone.


    The group of spiders was made up of over fifty spiders. There were two Green Guardian Spiders, ten Green Stripe Elite Spiders, twenty Green Stripe Spiders, and the rest were Ordinary Spiders.


    This was the exact reason why they were sneaking around, because the moment they get found, it wouldn''t just be one spidering for them, but a group made up of fifty spiders. Clearly, with such a huge number, things would turn messy.


    "Luckily, we are already very close to the entrance of the third floor," Friedrich let out someforting words.


    Everyone could see behind the group of spiders the entrance to the third floor. Meaning, they were just very unlucky to seriously stumble upon a group of spiders at the veryst minute.


    "Can we not just go for the entrance of the third floor? Of course, we still kill some of them," Gilbert suggested.


    "They''ll follow us, and by then it would be impossible tounch a surprise attack anymore on the Green Stripe Broodmother," Cedrick exined.


    "Kayn, any suggestion?" Friedrich looks at Kayn. He actually has a n in mind, but because Kayn is the leader, he decided to hold his n for the moment.


    "Do we really need a n?" Kayn waves his hand, quickly taking out the Molten Ice Sword from his Storage Ring. "Just fight!"


    After saying that, Kayn immediately charges straight toward the group of spiders.


    Simrly, the group of spiders also decided to charge at the iing Kayn.


    "He always gets me all the time," Friedrich smirks while staring at Kayn''s back.


    Honestly, that was exactly what he was nning on doing. What''s there to fear when they are obviously stronger than a mere group of spiders?


    The only thing that Gilbert and the others are worrying about is obviously the possibility of more spidersing to them. They''ve forgotten that as long as they actually solve this problem quickly, they wouldn''t have to face such a problem.


    In the next moment, Friedrich took out his sword and charged alongside Kayn.


    Seeing this, Cedrick, Roshan, Kimberly, and Gilbert decided to immediately follow suit.


    Whoosh!


    Kayn releases a Molten Ice sh to the iing Ordinary Spiders.


    Boom!


    The Molten Ice sh waved through the group of Ordinary Spiders, instantly killing everything it passes through.


    Sword Dance!


    Both Kayn and Friedrich activated at the same time.


    Since he already used a Molten Ice sh just now, Kayn also uses the Temperature Reset skill to reset the cooldown of the Molten Ice sh.


    With tacit understanding, Kayn and Friedrich shoot out their respective sword wave in the direction of the twenty Green Stripe Spiders.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Because the two sword waves were almost made out of identical properties, except only for their element, they slowly merged together as they made their way to their target.


    Ssshhh!


    The two sword waves merge together.


    Whaashhh!


    With thebined strength of the two sword waves, it split all twenty Green Stripe Spiders in half and cut one of the legs of a Green Guardian Spider before dissipating into thin air.


    As simple as that, there are only the two Green Guardian Spiders and the ten Green Stripe Elite Spiders remaining in the initial fifty spider group.


    "Let''s leave it to them," Friedrich suggested as he briefly glimpses at Cedrick, Roshan, Kimberly, and Gilbert that are currently far behind.


    "I agree," Kayn agrees.


    With that in mind, Kayn and Friedrich open a path for Cedrick and the others to pass through.


    Cedrick and Kimberly both stop, letting Roshan and Gilbert continue onward.


    Shield Bash!


    Boom!


    The two Green Guardian Spiders were forcefully halted by Roshan and sent retreating a few meters.


    Shield Dash!


    Whoosh!


    Roshan pushes the two Green Guardian Spiders a few more meters so that they''ll be a lot closer to the ten Green Stripe Elite Spiders.


    Over at the back line, Kimberly finished casting a Chain Lightning spell and is now trying to aim at a good spot on the clustering spiders.


    To make sure that Kimberly''s attack would be effective, Gilbert prevented any spiders from escaping the cluster by throwing countless daggers at them.


    Shadow Daggers!


    Whoosh!


    Numerous daggers shot out from the palm of Gilbert''s hand.


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Bang!


    A fence-like structure was instantly created.


    "Magic Power Enhance!" Cedrick cast onto Kimberly.


    "Here it goes!"


    Pzzzshhh!


    A ray of lightning shoots out from Kimberly''s palm and straight above the clustering spiders.


    Zzzshhh!


    Upon reaching the heads of the clustering spiders, the ray of lightning exploded into numerous chains that rained down and traveled toward their respective targets.


    Buzzz!


    All spiders began dropping to the ground one by one while asionally letting out an electric wave from their bodies.


    "Begin the clean up!" Kayn informs everyone.


    Evidently, all the spiders were only paralyzed. They weren''t dead yet.


    Because all the spiders could no longer move, Kayn and the others no longer need to pull off fancy moves to kill them. They simply grabbed a dagger from their respective Storage Rings, approached them fearlessly, and soon they began stabbing the vital spots of a spider.


    Everything happened very quickly, hence no other spiders nearby were alerted. Moreover, because Kimberly only uses the Chain Lightning spell, barely any sounds were produced from her magic spell.


    Once they were done killing all the spiders, Gilbert quickly stored their bodies in a separate Storage Ring, thus leaving no traces behind.


    After doing so, they finally entered the entrance of the third floor.


    Unlike the first floor and second floor, they don''t have to use any vines in order to reach the ground on the third floor. Albeit there were still countless vines around, staying true to the name Hanging Vines Cave.


    This time, there was simply a slope leading deeper and deeper underground.


    The space inside the third floor was still huge though, but it wasn''t as ridiculously huge as on the first floor and second floor.


    Kayn and the others followed the slope since there was no other way around. But they made sure to stick closely to the wall so that they only have to pay attention to three different directions.


    Along the way, they strangely didn''t spot a single spider around. However, there were countless of what seemed to be spider eggs all around them.


    Just to be cautious, no one touched any of the spider eggs.


    Continuing to travel for a few hundred meters underground, they eventually reached a huge open space at the very end of the third floor.


    At the center of the open space, they finally found their target ¡ª the Green Stripe Broodmother.

 Chapter 110 The Unexpected Discovery

    ?Chapter 110: The unexpected discovery


    The Green Stripe Broodmother is a very huge monster. Its abdomen alone is already ten meters in diameter. And adding her upper part, she''d be a twenty meters huge spider.


    "Were Green Stripe Broodmother always this huge before?" Gilbert looks at Friedrich. Thetter is the only person he knows who has a prior understanding of the Monster Lair in the Hanging Vines Cave.


    Friedrich shook his head and replied, "They''re only ten to fifteen meters in size,"


    "Can we still handle her?"


    "Definitely," Friedrich was confident. He had killed a fifteen meters size Green Stripe Broodmother in the past alone. So, facing a mere twenty meters Green Stripe Broodmother is for sure not going to be a problem, especially since they are going to fight her as a party.


    "Kayn, do you want to do the honor?"


    "Wait," Kayn signaled everyone to stop.


    As soon as Kayn said that, two more Green Stripe Broodmothers walked to the first one they have found.


    "There are three?!" Gilbert eximed in surprise.


    Cedrick and Roshan immediately covered Gilbert''s mouth.


    The three Green Stripe Broodmothers instantly turned to look in the direction of the muffled sound and found no one, thus they returned to what they were doing.


    "Can you please control yourself!" Cedrick scolded Gilbert.


    "I am sorry," Gilbert bowed his head slightly. To be honest, he was just shocked beyond belief that''s why he wasn''t able to hold himself back.


    "This is very strange," Friedrich can''t believe what he is seeing right now.


    In the next moment, dozens of Green Stripe Broodmothers started appearing in the open space one by one from the connecting tunnels. Eventually, the open space became full of Green Stripe Broodmothers.


    Fortunately, Kayn and the others are currently hiding at the entrance where no Green Stripe Broodmother passed by.


    "Impossible¡­" This time, Friedrich is inplete disbelief.


    "One, two, three, ten, twenty, fifty, eighty¡­ There''s more than a hundred of them," Cedrick''s face has now darkened.


    "This is no longer a mission we can continue. I suggest that we leave," Roshan pulled Friedrich''s hand.


    "We will leave," Kayn interrupted. "But first, let''s watch what they are about to do,"


    After all, more than a hundred Green Stripe Broodmother wouldn''t just gather in the same ce because of no reason at all. There''s definitely something going on right now, and he wants to see it with his own eyes, also Natas too, as he has not seen nor been informed by his brothers or sisters of something like this.


    "I agree with Kayn," Friedrich pulled his arm away from Roshan. He is aware that everyone is very scared right now, who doesn''t though? Even he is scared as well. But they also have to make sure that they provide the most urate information possible to Old Chief George.


    Supposed they just leave right now and tell Old Chief George they halted the mission because over a hundred Green Stripe Broodmothers appeared unexpectedly, there''s no doubt that thetter would ask them for the possible reason why the Green Stripe Broodmothers were behaving that way, and other deeper causes.


    Simply put, it would be meaningless for them to go back with barely any information in their hand.


    "You guys can wait at the entrance of the third floor first. We will follow you once we got what we wanted," Kayn gave them a new order after noticing their emotions.


    "Yes, that is also my order," Friedrich added.


    "No, we are not leaving," Cedrick stepped forward and braced himself first.


    "Indeed, not until youe with us," Roshan was finally able to pull himself together. The main reason why he was the first one to panic was that as the Guardian of their party, he would be responsible for protecting everyone. In their case right now, he isn''t sure if he can still do that.


    "We will stay, but only as far as ten minutes of gathering information could get us. If we go any longer than that, I am afraid that even if we have the information we need, none of us will be alive to bring it to Old Chief George," Kimberly muttered as she cast a magic spell topletely hide their presence, "And even if you want more, I''ll make sure that you won''t be able to get any,"


    Whoosh!


    Vines suddenly entrapped Friedrich. Because he never expected iting from Kimberly, his fully subdued.


    "I suggest you don''t do the same to me too," Kayn raises both of his hands.


    "You might be an important individual for Old Chief George, but you aren''t to me," Kimberly smirks. "So, you can do whatever you want,"


    "If you say so¡­" He can''t lie. What Kimberly had just said actually slightly hurt him.


    "Rest assured, Old Chief George has entrusted your safety to me," Gilbert patted Kayn''s shoulder infort.


    Kayn simply responded with a smile before turning his head back to get an update on the current happenings with the Green Stripe Broodmothers.


    Observing the Green Stripe Broodmothers closely, Kayn finally notices that they are actually carrying food.


    "I am guessing they are offerings," Friedrich said as he notices the same.


    The Green Stripe Broodmothers were huge, so they didn''t notice that they were actually carrying something in two of their legs. Plus, they were facing the other way, so it was hardly noticeable.


    Ants¡­


    Centipedes¡­


    Earthworms¡­


    Rats¡­


    Moles¡­


    Those were the types of monsters the Green Stripe Broodmothers were carrying with them. All of them happen to be monsters that live underground.


    "Weren''t they supposed to be the strongest of their kind?" Gilbert can''t help asking.


    "Not necessarily,"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "What do you mean?" Cedrick instantly became curious.


    Friedrich, Roshan, Kimberly, and Gilbert''s interests were also piqued.


    "Just like us, humans, monsters also don''t stop evolving and growing even stronger. Once one of their kind crosses a certain line, an even more powerful species would be born,"


    "In the past, we justbel them with the word ''Unknwown'' before their initial names,"


    "I am familiar with that term," As one of the earlier generations of Heroes, Friedrich had witnessed multiple times that some monsters in the past that they are now familiar with at the present time were temporarilybeled with the word ''Unknown'' until scientists finished investigating them.


    "However, when their power reaches beyond what their species is supposed to only possess, it would be the ''Tower'' itself that will give them a name, or in some cases, it''s the monsters that personally gives themselves a name,"


    "So, what you are trying to tell us is, over there right now exists probably another new species of a spider monster, and it''s a monster more powerful than the Green Stripe Broodmother?"


    "That''s right," That was Kayn''s only conclusion. Also, Natas supported his im. "The only question is, what exactly it is?"


    As if to answer everyone''s question, the surrounding suddenly started rumbling. It was as if something extremely huge is currently moving.


    Shortly after, in front of every Green Stripe Broodmothers, a huge hole was created.


    It was probably already there before the rumbling started. It''s just, something was blocking it.


    In the next moment, a huge eye appeared in front of everyone.


    Friedrich immediately pushes Kayn and the others to the side so that the eye won''t be able to see them.


    "Wait," Kayn uses the reflection of his sword in order to see if the eye was still there. Unfortunately, it was, and it is currently surveying the surrounding.


    "That was an eye, right?"


    "Definitely!"


    "Obviously!"


    "Certainly!"


    "A spider has eight eyes, and that was just one of its eyes. If its eye is already that huge, just imagine how enormous its entire body going to be!" Gilbert expressed his current thoughts.


    "That hole in the wall is more or less a hundred meters huge, and its eye entirely covered it. If we use that as a reference, then I am guessing that monster inside there is thousands of meters in size, or even bigger," Kayn can''t help saying.


    "That''s five percent of the entire Green Horn Vige!"


    "Say, how huge exactly are the first floor and second floor right now?"


    "It probably covers tens of thousands of meters, and still counting as we speak¡­"


    Everyone instantly realized something.


    Kayn and Natas look at each other.


    "Did the spiders already report to their queen about the surface world or not?" Kayn whispered silently.


    "I don''t know. My brother didn''t tell me the exact time that took ce. But, my assumption is, it probably already happened,"


    "We are already toote,"


    "What do you mean?" Friedrich looks at Kayn.


    "This Monster Lair already knew about the surface world. And if I am correct, the reason why they are expanding the cave is so that that the owner of that huge eye could finally get out of its hole,"


    "How could a monster of that size even be trapped and also get sealed in this ce?" Friedrich wonders.


    "The answer to that question is probably something we''d never know unless we go inside that hole ourselves," Kayn muttered. But deep inside, he already has an assumption deep inside of his mind.


    "We found what we are looking for, right?" Kimberly wants to get out as soon as possible.


    "Yes, but until that eye looks away, we can''t go anywhere else yet," Friedrich reminded them. "And also, can you take this off already? Now that I know there''s a huge monster in here, I don''t want to stay here anymore even if I want to,"


    "I almost forgot," Kimberly quickly removed the vines that trapped Friedrich.


    "Let''s be patient," Kayn wants to be extra careful.


    As soon as he notices that the eye has now looked away, Kayn immediately signaled for everyone to swiftly make their way back to the entrance of the third floor before something bad happens.


    While running, Kayn unconsciously looks back as he felt something behind him. The moment he did so, he immediately realized that the eye actually didn''t disappear, it simply blinked.


    Kayn shivers in fear. "Run quickly!"


    "Why?"


    ? "Don''t ask, just run!" Exining further would just be a waste of his energy.


    Despite Kayn''s stern warning, Gilbert still glimpses behind him. It''s quite evident that curiosity got to him that''s why he disregarded what Kayn had just said.


    Upon seeing what''s behind them, Gilbert dashes as fast as possible without saying any word, soon leaving the others behind him.


    "Idiot!"


    "What''s wrong with him?"


    "Just don''t look back and run as fast as Gilbert right now!" It was helpless to stop Gilbert. Regardless, he uses it as a way to encourage everyone to run more quicker.

 Chapter 111 A Narrow Escape

    ?Chapter 111: A narrow escape


    Not long after, everyone finally made it up to the entrance of the third floor.


    "What was behind us?" Friedrich can''t help asking.


    "Trust me, you definitely don''t want to know," Gilbert shook his head.


    "Why are you guys staying still? Continue running away!" Kayn eximed as he went past Friedrich and the others.


    Hearing Kayn''s warning, Gilbert quickly followed without bothering to ask any questions.


    Friedrich, Cedrick, Roshan, and Kimberly simrly did the same after immediately noticing that Gilbert didn''t act irritating this time.


    Gilbert normally asks plenty of questions whenever something importantes around. So, for him to hold himself from asking and just run away definitely implies that something really serious happened when he and Kayn looked back previously.


    "What exactly did you see?" Friedrich asked Kayn as he arrived beside thetter.


    "I was mistaken," Kayn felt sorry.


    "What do you mean?"


    "That huge monster''s eye didn''t disappear, it just blinked,"


    "Blinked¡­" Friedrich instantly understood the seriousness of the matter. "In that case, it probably saw us, right?"


    "There''s no doubt about that," Not only that, it has also sent amand to the Green Stripe Broodmothers present to go after them. As to how he knows it, Natas informed him along the way.


    He badly wanted to tell Friedrich and the others. Though, he won''t be able to exin how exactly he understood a spider''snguage.


    It wouldn''t be strange if it was Natas since he is a God and has lived inside the ''Tower'' for fate knows how long already.


    However, he is different. As far as Friedrich and the others are concerned, he is more or less a genius young man. That''s all, nothing more. So, if he does something that crosses that boundary, he''d be a very suspicious individual instead.


    Rattle! Rattle!


    Just like what Kayn expected.


    In front of them, a group of spiders intercepted their way as if knowing already that they would go through there.


    In his opinion, they clearly didn''t expect anything. It''s probably that they''ve sent a group to intercept all possible locations to escape and this group in front of them just happens to be the lucky bunch.


    "Don''t hesitate to clear a path! And make sure to put this inside your mind ¡ª there''s no need for us to kill all of them!" Kayn sternly reminded.


    "Understood!" Friedrich and the others nodded their heads.


    In the next moment, Friedrichunches a sword wave to clear a path for them.


    Whoosh!


    Bang!


    Every spider blocking their way was instantly killed by the sword wave.


    "Go behind me!" Roshan informs everyone.


    Roshan immediately uses Shield Dash the moment everyone gets behind him.


    With Roshanpletely clearing there in front, Kayn and the others had no more problem breaking through the group of spiders.


    As soon as they broke through, none of them bothered to look back as they continued running forward. It wasn''t mainly because they have to get out of this ce as fast as possible, the other reason is that another group has intercepted their way.


    "This is crazy!" Friedrich muttered as he took out another sword from his Storage Ring.


    Unlike Kayn that has a skill that allows him to reset all cooldowns of his Active Skills, Friedrich on the other hand can only take out another sword to be able to use another sword wave.


    It might be a simple solution, but it is honestly very inconvenient.


    A swordsman only uses one sword in every stage of their life. Like if they break through another level in their swordsmanship skill. In this case, however, it has instead brought about disruption to Friedrich''s familiarity thus also affecting his capability.


    Good thing though that he only has to use this second sword in order to be able to utilize its sword wave skill.


    Whoosh!


    Once more, Friedrich uses sword wave to kill the spiders blocking their way.


    Unfortunately, unlike Friedrich, Roshan can''t take out another shield so that he can use again the Shied Dash skill. That''s because the Guardian ss ispletely different to the Knight ss. Their weapons still have skills in them, but they''re mostly used to enhance their endurance, vitality, and strength. In other words, rather than being an offensive skill, their skills are mainly for support and defense.


    "Let me!" Kimberly quickly volunteered topletely clear their path. Gathering mana on her hand, she soon activated a fire element magic spell.


    Whaash!


    A spell that seems to be a methrower burned anything else that blocks their path and also causes the remaining alive spiders to temporarily back off.


    "Those mes can only hold them for a brief moment!"


    Without any hesitation, Kayn and the others quickly used the opportunity to break through the second intercepting group.


    "Let''s make a detour over there!" Kayn pointed to the opposite side of the pir. Previously, they were trying to not get found by the Ordinary Spiders that are currently expanding. But with their current situation, they might have to use the tunnels in order to lighten their burden since by doing so they would have fewer directions to worry about.


    "I''d rather have you guys face those Ordinary Spiders than those groups we just faced," Cedrick expressed his thoughts while at the same time casting a rejuvenating spell on Friedrich, Roshan, and Kimberly. As an experienced Priest, he could multi-cast his support magic spells quite easily and without breaking even a single sweat.


    "Are any of you familiar with any of those tunnels?"


    "I have used some of them, but those were only on the first floor," Roshan replied.


    "I used one on the second floor, but it was on the opposite side," Friedrich felt regretful. He already understood the situation. And if only he knew beforehand, he would have definitely suggested going to the other side.


    "I haven''t," Gilbert coughed, slightly embarrassed.


    Cedrick and Kimberly both shook their heads. Being a Priest and a Mage, fighting solo against a group of enemies is very disadvantageous for them, especially for a Priest thatcks offensive skills and capability.


    Kayn could only heave a heavy sigh.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "You don''t have to worry, all of those tunnels lead to the surface," Friedrich said someforting words.


    "Are you certain?"


    "Yes," Friedrich was confident of that. "Although there would be interconnecting paths as you go deeper and deeper. But as long as you follow a path that leads upwards, you''d eventually be able to reach the surface,"


    Since they are currently deep underground, they would obviously have to follow a path that leads upward. Otherwise, they''d be stuck forever in the tunnels.


    "Alright," Kayn immediately thought of a n. "As soon as we see a tunnel, let''s immediately go for it!"


    That was the best course of action they can take right now because if they choose to follow the same path they used before, they would be facing countless different spidersing from all directions that bring about infinite variables.


    Because they were no longer trying to hide, they continued to fight against a continuous stream of spiders blocking their path forward. And this time, countless Ordinary Spiders have joined the fight as well.


    "We should have continued the previous path until we found a tunnel," Friedrich can''t help saying.


    "It''s the same story," Kayn responded. Regardless of what they do, all spiders present in this cave would still flock to their location. One of the reasons why he wanted to stick to the wall is so that their other side would have limited space for the spiders to move around.


    After a few more minutes, they finally spotted a cave in the distance.


    "Over there!" Gilbert immediately pointed out.


    "Let''s charge to that tunnel at full force!" Kayn eximed loudly.


    As if seeing hope to finally get out of this ce, everyone decided to no longer hold back as they used all of their skills avable.


    Sword Wave!


    Friedrich and Kayn merged their sword waves together to make their attack more effective, thus being able to clear a much bigger area.


    Shield Bash!


    Roshan threw a bunch of spiders in midair.


    Shadow Daggers!


    Gilbert started shooting down all the spiders in midair, instantly killing them.


    Shield Dash!


    A clear path forward was immediately created.


    methrower!


    Whaash!


    A tongue of me spits out everywhere and burns everything in its path.


    Knowing that her magic spells would be very crucial in this final attempt to escape, Kimberly decided not to hold back as she started throwing one AOE (Area of Effect) type of magic spell in front of them.


    Ground Spikes!


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Bang!


    A series of spikes made out of earth shoots out from the ground.


    Those spikes created some kind of wall that cleared a small path for them to use in between.


    Kimberly soon after set up a Hail spell right beside the spikes.


    Tititititing!


    A series of sounds from the breaking ice that rained above echoed throughout the surrounding. All spiders under its range were unfortunately stabbed by sharp icicles.


    "I''ll save myst magic spell for thest," Kimberly muttered as she lead the way to enter the small path in between the spikes.


    Kayn and the other followed closely behind, obviously afraid of getting left behind.


    Unfortunately, the path didn''t cover until the entrance of the tunnel. Nevertheless, the moment they left its protection, there is only ten or so meters left to reach the tunnel.


    Without any hesitation, Kayn activated both the Sword Dance skill and Temperature Reset skill to prepare for onest sword wave.


    As soon as he saw an opportunity to attack, Kayn immediately brandished his sword.


    Whoosh!


    A very powerful sword wave cut its way through all spiders in its way, instantly killing all of them.


    "I only have this one AOE spell left," Friedrich said to Kayn.


    All of a sudden, Friedrich halted his step.


    Seeing this, Kayn and the other instantly stopped and quickly went to his back.


    Sword Strike!


    Whoosh!


    A sword ray was released from the tip of Friedrich''s sword.


    Slightly simr to the Shield Dash, everything in the path of the Sword Strike skill was cleared out.


    Because of the Sword Strike skill, a clear path to the entrance of the tunnel was created.


    "Let''s go!" Kayn gestures his hand as he leads the way in front.

 Chapter 112 Kayn’s Sacrifice

    ?Chapter 112: Kayn''s sacrifice


    Fortunately, Kayn and the others were able to get inside the tunnel right on time before the countless spiders cover the path they''d just created with great effort. And exactly the moment all of them got inside, the path was instantly covered with the crawling spiders relentlessly trying to hunt them down.


    Because of that, as soon as they got inside the tunnel, they didn''t bother stopping for even a single second to try and catch their breath. Instead, they sprinted even faster.


    Simrly, the spiders outside the tunnel started pouring inside to chase after them. However, because of the size of the tunnel, it was only the Ordinary Spiders and Green Stripe Spiders that were able to get inside.


    Nevertheless, they still have to remain cautious because of their numerical advantage. Even if they kill ten of them, there would still be countless more to fill in their spot automatically.


    As they kept on running, they eventually came to crossroads with dozens of tunnels connecting to one another.


    Friedrich already informed Kayn about this before.


    "Just follow the path that leads upward!" Friedrich reminded Kayn once again.


    Making a quick scan of the paths, Kayn soon spotted a path that leads upward.


    "Over there!" Kayn pointed out as he runs in that direction with the others closely following them.


    As they continued to follow the second tunnel, they once again faced another crossroad.


    Just like thest time, Kayn simply made a quick scan of all the tunnels, and not long after he found the tunnel that lead upward.


    Once more, they repeated the same set of actions that they did the first time.


    Follow the tunnel.


    Encountering a crossroad.


    Pick a tunnel that leads upward.


    Repeating it over and over again.


    None of them knew exactly where they are right now nor whether they are even close to the surface or not.


    All that they arepletely aware of is that they are no longer in the same depth level as the second floor of the Hanging Vines Cave.


    All of a sudden¡­


    "Wait for a bit," Kimberly suddenly decided to stop running and turned around as soon as they entered another tunnel.


    Gathering mana in her hand, she soon fired a fireball at the entrance of the tunnel.


    Whoosh!


    "No!" Friedrich tried to stop Kimberly, but it was already toote.


    Boom!


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Bang!


    The entrance to the tunnel was immediately blocked by the pieces of rocks that separated from the wall around it.


    "You shouldn''t have done that!" Friedrich scolded Kimberly.


    "Why?" By doing that, the spiders would no longer be able to follow after them.


    "A lot of these tunnels actually connect to one another somewhere along the way. So, even if you blocked the tunnel we chose, they would simply look for other tunnels to get to us,"


    "All this time, the spiders were simply following us using the same path we have taken. But because of what you did, they would now start using the other tunnels,"


    "Some of those tunnels would be longer than ours, while others are going to be shorter, which implies they could wait in the next crossroad until wee out from ours or that they would just get inside our tunnel on the other side,"


    Meaning, Kimberly unknowingly made their situation really bad just when it was already turning out for the better for them.


    "I didn''t know," Kimberly lowered her head as she felt apologetic. All she was thinking just now was how to help them, never did she expected that it would turn out like this.


    "In situations like this, never do something without asking yourrades for opinions," Friedrich reminded everyone else. "I don''t want to see someone else do the same mistake again, do you all understand?"


    "Yes!" Cedrick and the others nodded their heads.


    On the other side, Kayn could only heave a sigh of regret. He absolutely can''t me Friedrich for reacting that way, but he also can''t me Kimberly since what she did was just an ident. Even he doesn''t know that because Friedrich failed to inform them about that earlier.


    Needless to say, he still can''t me Friedrich because there''s practically no time to bother exining as they have to focus all of their attention on running away and escaping this ce as soon as possible.


    "Let''s not waste more time and let''s go!" Kayn interrupted their conversation.


    Kayn and the others continued running away. Unlike thest time though, they are preparing their weapons, especially Friedrich and Roshan who are both in front, in case a spider would suddenly jump at their party.


    As they continued running, they stumbled on another crossroad.


    Kayn surveyed the nearby tunnels to try and find the tunnel that leads upwards. However, he was quickly interrupted when a few spiders jumped out from the tunnel above their heads.


    Shield Bash!


    Roshan immediately sent them back to where they came from.


    In hopes of redeeming her previous mistake, Kimberly blocked the tunnel above them this time by using vines. By doing so, the spiders won''t try to look for another tunnel as they can still destroy the vines. Simply put, the vines simply serve as a way to buy some time for Kayn to find the next tunnel.


    "There!" Kayn pointed while running into the next tunnel.


    Following the path, they soon noticed some traces of grass on their feet.


    "This is a good sign. It means that we are finally close to the surface!" Friedrich finally sees some hope of getting out.


    Looking above them, some roots from the trees above could also be seen. At least just a small portion of the root. Despite that, it was more than enough to increase the low morale of everyone.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Just a bit more," Kayn muttered.


    Another crossroad.


    However, this time, all paths were unexpectedly leading upwards.


    "What I feared the most has finally happened," Kayn expressed his thoughts. He was already thinking of such a possibility along the way.


    Previously, as he was picking what tunnel they would go through next, he already noticed that there are some tunnels that seem to be slightly leading upwards.


    If he didn''t have such good eyesight, he wouldn''t have noticed that there were just some parts of the ground that strangely bulged or that there was a hole a few meters ahead.


    Also, Natas was quick enough to approach those tunnels and inform him that they are not good.


    More importantly, he is also familiar with the structure of tunnels, caves, and rted environments after going through them countless times.


    It was only through those three methods that he was able to lead everyone safely.


    Because of the situation in front, Kayn and the others have no other choice but to temporarily stop.


    Kimberly quickly started closing the tunnels that lead downwards with vines so that she can buy more time for the party to analyze the tunnels in the front and find the correct one.


    Roshan also volunteers to protect their rear as he is aware that he can''t do anything to help. He is actually good with a lot of things, it''s just that analyzing the tunnels is not one of his areas of expertise.


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Not long after, the spiders finally starteding from the tunnels.


    "I can''t promise that I would be able to hold them for a very long time," Kimberly reminded them as she uses her mana to regenerate the vines.


    Roshan quickly positioned himself behind Kimberly so that he can pull her to safety once things turn bad for them.


    "Let me help you guys instead!" Gilbert finally decided to switch to helping Kimberly and Roshan instead as he conceded in trying to find which tunnel is the right one.


    As more time go by, the harder it became for Kimberly to hold down the spiders.


    Fortunately for them, the tunnel wasn''t big, thus it only allowed a few of the spiders to attack the vines.


    Regardless though, they can''t stay and wait here for a very long time.


    "My mana is close to running out!" Kimberly eximed.


    "Just a bit more!" Friedrich asked for some time.


    "How about that?" Cedrick pointed to a certain tunnel.


    "No, there''s plenty of small holes, leading me to think that the ground would copse and bring us down again," Kayn shook his head.


    "That tunnel seems quite good!" Friedrich pointed towards a tunnel.


    "No, that''s a dead end!" Kayn could roughly guess since the slope''s vertical angle seems to be tilting to the roof instead of forward.


    "Forget it, all of you go there!" Kayn pointed to one of the few tunnels he is believes to be the correct path to the surface.


    Hearing Kayn''s words, Roshan immediately pulled Kimberly and Gilbert as he then rushes to the tunnel.


    "Go, go, go!"


    Because Kimberly was no longer applying mana to the vines to reconstruct them, it didn''t take long for the spiders to finally destroy and get through them.


    "Gooo!" Kayn pushes Friedrich to the tunnel as he quickly notices that thetter seems to be thinking of buying some time for them to escape.


    As soon as Friedrich was pushed into the tunnel, the entire space suddenly started rumbling as if an earthquake is taking ce.


    The source of the rumble seems from deep underground and it was also clearly not an earthquake or something simr to that.


    Boom!


    In the next moment, the ground got sted open as a huge head of a Green Stripe Broodmother broke through and created a hole.


    Fortunately, Kayn reacted on time to narrowly avoid the bite of the Green Stripe Broodmother. However, the direction he jumped toward was to the opposite side of the tunnel where Friedrich and the others are. What was even worst was that the tunnel close to him was leading downward.


    "Kayn!" Gilbert called out.


    "Go!" Kayn gestured his hand to leave him.


    "No way!" Friedrich was instantly against the idea.


    "Just go and don''t worry about me!" He can take care of himself.


    "There''s no way we''d do that!"


    "We''ll try to get to you!"


    "Just wait over there!"


    Because of the loud voices of Friedrich and the others, the Green Stripe Broodmother turned in their direction.


    Seeing this, Kayn didn''t hesitate to throw a Molten Ice sh at the Green Stripe Broodmother in order to get her attention.


    It was effective as the Green Stripe Broodmother turns her head to look at Kayn.


    "Leave and ask for help from Old Chief George to rescue me!"


    This time, Kayn no longer stayed as he stood up and ran away to the tunnel close to him.

 Chapter 113 Kayn’s Decision

    ?Chapter 113: Kayn''s decision


    Rattle!


    Rattle!


    Rattle!


    At this moment, a continuous flow of spiders went and passed by below Kayn''s feet as he hang on top of a tunnel that leads to a dead end. There is barely any space inside this tunnel and it also isn''t sufficiently long to even be considered a tunnel in the first ce, more like a long hole. Nevertheless, it is dark enough to hide his bodypletely using the shadow.


    "Just continue hiding, I''ll inform you once it''s finally safe for you toe down," Natas reminded Kayn.


    Contrary to Kayn who is hiding, Natas is just casually hopping from the back of one spider to another as if he is ying some sort of game.


    As someone who practically exists but at the same time doesn''t, Natas could basically do whatever he wants and no one could stop him.


    Kayn can''t help feeling slightly jealous of Natas, but when he remembered the fact that thetter is very weak right now, such thoughts instantly disappeared.


    Nearly an hour passed before the area was finally cleared of any spiders.


    "You can go down now,"


    Hearing that, Kayn no longer hesitated to jump to the ground. He was already feeling numb as he hangs onto the wall using his dagger. If he wasn''t a Hero, he wouldn''t have been able to handle it for that long period of time.


    "Let''s go back to the way we came from,"


    "I suggest you don''t,"


    "Is there any problem with that ce?"


    "Do you seriously want to go back to the Green Horn Vige?"


    "Why not?"


    "Going back would simply hinder your growth rate,"


    Over the past two days, Natas silently observed what Kayn was doing in the Green Horn Vige. All this time, aside from gathering the materials on the list, the other thing he did was kill a small number of monsters. Because of that, he barely leveled up.


    Considering that Kayn came from the future, to merely level up by ten times in two days is the worst achievement of all.


    Back when World President Nichs reincarnated back to the past, he leveled up by thirty times given the same span of time as Kayn.


    In the previouss he had visited in the past as well; all the people who were given a chance to reincarnate back to the past started leveling up at a very fast rate.


    That''s to be expected though. After all, they have knowledge of the future plus the experience to temporarily rece theirck of sufficient skill and capability. As a result of taking advantage of that, their rate of improvement has always been rated by their race as never been done before.


    "You''ve probably adapted to life in ''The Bridge'' already by now. So, there''s no need for you to continue the way of ''The Bridge'' that Old Chief George has made for you,"


    "And if you can''t help worrying about it, I have already looked through all of it and had memorized all of them in my mind," Natas pointed to his head. "If you want toplete all of them still, you can do it while at the same time, we focus on what we came here to do from the start,"


    "Then how about Chief Kylo?" Kayn is worried that Chief Kylo would endanger his life.


    "Chief Kylo barely saw you, and even if he recognizes your face, as an assassin, you could probably make some small modification to it to prevent him from easily recognizing you,"


    He could indeed do that and he had even considered doing it all this time. However, because Old Chief George seems to want to achieve something else, he decided not to. Also, it was quite convenient for him because he doesn''t have to reveal such skill to Friedrich and the others.


    Honestly, his situation right now is exactly like what Natas had expected before ¡ª he is having trouble trusting people.


    The way he trusts them now is no different from just temporarily trusting them.


    He trusts them today, then he no longer trusts them tomorrow.


    There was even one person that he previously trusted an hour ago, but the next hour, he no longer trusted that person.


    And all of that, he experienced in the past two days.


    "Let me think about it," Kayn can''t instantlye to a conclusion. "In the meantime, let''s find another way out,"


    "I''ve already scouted a path earlier. Let''s go over there!"


    Following the lead of Natas, Kayn soon started seeing grass and tree roots along the way.


    Eventually, he notices some holes above him where sunrays would poke. Unfortunately, because of the hardened rocks, he couldn''t just simply dig his way through it.<novelnext></novelnext>


    In the next half an hour, he finally arrived at the end of the tunnel.


    Right in front of him is a seemingly endless grasnd that epasses a few hills over the distance.


    "That wasn''t hard," Kayn felt slightly surprised at how easy it was to get out.


    "You were already very close to the surface, to begin with," Natas rolled his eyes. "Anyways, have youe to a decision yet?"


    "Yes," Because there were no longer any spiders chasing after him along the way, thus he had a lot of free time to think about Natas'' proposition.


    "Let''s start our adventure,"


    That was the choice that Kayn decided.


    He remembered that Old Chief George told him that the goal of the way of ''The Bridge'' aside from helping him adapt to this ce is for him to stay in thetter''s territory for as long as possible.


    Since that''s the case, then why bother continuing to stay, right?


    Furthermore, he can stillplete the way of ''The Bridge'' even if he is no longer in the Green Horn Vige.


    Fortunately, he always carried a map of ''The Bridge'' in his Storage Ring.


    After observing and taking note of important locations drawn on the map, he finally embarks on his journey.


    "Our first stop is the Canyonside Town,"


    Canyonside Town. Just like what its name suggests, it is a Town located along a canyon. The canyon though is one of the well-known gathering spots in ''The Bridge'' just like Split Mountain.


    The canyon is called the Springwater Canyon. It got its name because right at the very center of the canyon is a river that came from an underground spring.


    His reason for choosing Canyonside Town is because it''s one of the territories that isn''t an ally to the Green Horn Vige and is not involved in the war currently happening right now, at least not yet.


    Also, there''s an important material that he has to find in the Springwater Canyon called the Spring Source Bonsai. The reason for its name is already self-exnatory ¡ª simply put, it is the source of the spring water that flows in the Springwater Canyon.


    Needless to say, he was only going to borrow the Spring Source Bonsai, rather than steal it, and return it once he is done. That''s because it is one of the few necessary items he needed to get to the final item they are looking for in ''The Bridge''.


    To tell the truth, he was already nning back then when he was still in the Green Horn Vige to go to the Canyonside Town once he was allowed the freedom to start exploring ''The Bridge'' from Old Chief George.


    "ording to the map, the Canyonside Town isn''t far from where we currently are, which is the Hills Valley," Kayn felt like talking as he started getting bored.


    The Hills Valley is one of the safest ces in ''The Bridge''. And because of that, there''s no monster to be seen nor even a single Human being.


    "Why would no one go to such a beautiful ce?" Kayn wonders although he already knows the reason why. Since the Hills Valley is safe, there''s no profit to get from this ce. In addition to that, there are no materials to be found here, too. Hence, there is not even a single person gathering in the area to be found.


    "Just continue walking,"


    "We''d be able to start seeing the Springwater Canyon after ten kilometers or so,"


    "More than ten thousand meters?!" Natas was surprised as he instantly turns his head to look at Kayn. "Since that''s the case, instead of continuing to walk right now, we should start setting up a camp already,"


    "It''s still morning,"


    "What do you mean morning? It''s already afternoon!"


    "What?!"


    He nearly forgot. Because they were inside the cave, it became very difficult for them to get a clear grasp of the exact time. The serious and dire situation back then also prevented them from thinking about such a small detail like what time it is.


    "It''s going to be nighttime soon,"


    "That''s really bad!"


    Even though the Hills Valley is considered one of the safest ces in ''The Bridge'', it isn''t actually entirely safe and such a case truthfully only applies when the sun is still up.


    The moment the sun goes down and it''s nighttime, multiple monsters would be using the Hills Valley as somewhat like a bridge to cross to the other areas around it, like Springwater Canyon and Split Mountain.


    Without wasting any time, Kayn went to look for another tunnel as they have already gone far away from the tunnel he exited from and it is going to waste a lot of time to try and find it again.


    Other than a tunnel on the ground, there''s practically no other hiding ce to be found in such an open area.


    "Over there," Natas pointed towards what seemed to look like a hobbit hole. There is no house nor was it even a living quarter though. It was simply just a hole dug into the side of a slope.

 Chapter 114 Meeting An Old Acquaintance

    ?Chapter 114: Meeting an old acquaintance


    Kayn spent a night on the small hobbit hole. He blocked the entrance and other holes with some grasses he had gathered around. And then lit up a small campfire inside to cook his food and provide heat for the cold night.


    The next morning, as soon as he got out of the hobbit hole and surveyed his eyes in the surroundings, he soon notices dozens of bodies of monsters that got killed through different means.


    Even without needing to look closely, Kayn could already guess that they have been hunted by monsters that are a lot stronger than them.


    All of a sudden, an idea pops up in his mind.


    ¡­..


    The Canyonside Town is already bustling with a lot of activities the moment Kayn arrived.


    He was already registered to the Green Horn Vige and received an Identification Card, so he simply showed the card to the guard at the gate and he was immediately granted entry.


    If he hade from any other territories though instead of the Green Horn Vige, there''s no doubt that those guards would definitely thoroughly check on him.


    As he walks through the street, a considerable number of people would glimpse in his direction. It wasn''t because he is young though nor was it about the fact that he is a new face in this town. Instead, it''s because he is carrying five monster bodies on his back.


    "Excuse me, young man, are you perhaps looking for the market to see all of those?"


    An old man suddenly approaches Kayn after noticing him looking around cluelessly.


    "Yes, I want to sell what I''ve huntedst night,"


    Currently, he has disguised himself as a hunter that went huntingst night. He made use of a few of the monsters that he found outside the hobbit hole and then made himself look the part in order to perfect the disguise.


    The reason why he chose to disguise himself as a hunter is that almost all Viges and Towns in ''The Bridge'' would wee hunters into their territories. Of course, that''s only if they have a clean background. Otherwise, only a few Viges and Towns would be weing them.


    One of the intentions behind that is that hunters are one of the main providers of materials for their territories and also one of the biggest sources of ie since most of the time they would simply spend their ie on the services the territory provides.


    "You can go straight here, and once you see a crossroads, you go right. Afterward, you go straight, and after some time, you''d be able to see the market,"


    "Thank you," Kayn slightly bowed his head respectfully before going on his way.


    Following the instruction of the old man, Kayn soon arrived at the market.


    He looked for the stall that epts monsters'' carcasses, and as soon as he found one, he immediately sold all of the monsters.


    In the process of selling, he didn''t bother to barter for more profit since he only needed those monsters'' carcasses for disguise. Moreover, those were just free loot anyways.


    "If I remembered correctly, I can find missions a territory offers at their Barrack''s bulletin board," Kayn muttered to himself.


    With that in mind, Kayn asked one of the merchants for directions to the Barracks.


    ¡­..


    As soon as Kayn arrived at the Barracks, he was instantly greeted by a long line of people from the bulletin board to the entrance.


    "Has it always been this long?" Kayn asked himself.


    "It always has been,"


    Kayn turns to look at the person who responded to his question.


    The man was wearing eyesses and seems to be in his mid-twenties. He is wearing a magician''s robe and is carrying a wooden staff in his right hand, implying that he is a Mage.


    "He is probably the earliest batch of people that entered ''The Bridge''," Kayn thought to himself.


    "I guess I was being rude," The man scratches his head. "I am Jude, your name is?"


    "I am Kayn," There is no need for him to hide his true name since Chief Kylo only recognizes his face. And even if thetter tries to get information about him from somebody else, they''d still not be able to provide his name because only the people he interacted with in the Green Horn Vige know about it.


    "If it''s okay to ask, are you new in the Canyonside Town?"


    Kayn nodded his head.


    "No wonder," Jude rubs his chin. "I won''t beat around the bush. I belong to a party that is currentlycking one person to fill in one spot toplete the first requirement to ept the mission. We don''t require any exceptional person, we only need one that won''t be a deadweight on us,"


    "I understand where this is going. But how can you be so certain that I am not going to be a deadweight to your party?"


    "Well¡­" Jude scratches his head before heaving a heavy sigh. "To tell you honestly, we''ve been trying to ask everyone thates in through that door to join our party for the past week. We''ve probably asked more than fifty people already. And as you can see, we''ve failed to recruit all of them,"


    That''s to be expected. After all, no one would definitely join a random party, especially if the members of the said party know each and there just so happens to be a single spot missing.


    "I know that we have met just a short moment ago, and you are definitely cautious and doubtful about our identity and intention. If you are interested, we can ask every single clerk that you choose in the Barracks to check the reviews of our party,"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Let''s put that aside for now," Kayn quickly interrupted. "Tell me what mission you want to ept first,"


    The look on Jude''s face right now is honestly so funny. It''s as if he is looking at the only hope their party has right now so that they can finally proceed with the mission they have been wanting toplete for a week.


    That is one of the two main reasons why he decided to give Jude a chance.


    The second main reason is, he actually recognizes Jude.


    Jude, also known as Judge of Fire Jude. He was a very famous figure in the future known for being one of the strongest Mages when ites to using the fire element.


    In the past, Judge of Fire Jude was one of the most loyal subordinates of Selena, the Empress of me, along with Leah. Unfortunately, contrary to Selina who only faked her death, Judge of Fire Jude died for real.


    If he recalled correctly, Judge of Fire Jude was one of the people that were present at the time that Selina was said to have died. Most definitely, he was not lucky enough to survive whatever happened during that specific moment.


    "I am afraid to say, but I can''t say it. It''s very confidential, that''s all you have to know,"


    "Then do you expect me to just ept it without knowing how dangerous exactly it is?"


    "That¡­" Jude immediately realized his mistake.


    "You actually don''t have to tell me the exact detail of the mission. Instead, just assure me that it is not hard, that I would be safe, and that I can handle the mission just fine," Kayn decided to help Jude so that next time he would know what to do.


    "How would I know that?"


    "First, you ask them about their level,"


    "What level are you, then?"


    "I am currently at level 10,"


    "Then what''s next?"


    "Are the monsters or whatever is in that mission something that a level 10 can handle?"


    "Probably,"


    "Where is it located?"


    "Springwater Canyon,"


    "Exact location,"


    "Along the river of Springwater Canyon,"


    "What a coincidence, I was also intending to look for a mission over that location," Kayn felt slightly surprised.


    "Then it seems like we have the same goal. How about you juste with us, and maybe we can help you too,"


    "Not yet," Kayn shook his head. "Lastly, what type of mission is it?"


    "Just a scouting mission,"


    "A scouting mission¡­" Kayn can''t help feeling slightly suspicious of the intention of the person who posted this mission. He thought, "Perhaps he is looking for something else,"


    "Now for the final piece of information, which in most cases, is what would make the person you are trying to recruit want to join you, what is the reward of the mission?"


    The main reason why all of these Heroes have gathered in the Barracks is obviously not because it''s their responsibility and duty to help, that they are bored and just want to do something, nor is it because they want to do a charitable thing and an act of kindness.


    The exact reason is that there is a reward forpleting the missions posted on the bulletin board.


    If it wasn''t for that, let alone these Heroes, even ordinary people won''t bother to look at any of the missions posted on the bulletin board since there''s nothing to gain from doing so.


    Jude instantly understood the point of Kayn''s question. With a bright smile stered on his face, he whispered to Kayn, "We will be getting 5,000 coins,"


    Kayn can''t help blinking his eyes in doubt.


    "I know it is very hard to believe, but through our connections in the Barracks, our friend, who is a soldier of the Canyonside Town, quickly hid that mission before it can be posted on the bulletin board so that he can give it to us,"


    "As of this moment, he is still keeping it to himself, patiently waiting for us to gather enough members in our party,"


    "Alright, I am in!"


    Whatever mission it was, Kayn decided to find out about itter on. As of now, all he is thinking about is he doesn''t want to let this opportunity slip by his fingertips.

 Chapter 115 Springwater Source Bonsai Part 1

    ?Chapter 115: Springwater Source Bonsai part 1


    Kayn followed Jude along with his party which is made up of five men, including thetter, as he brought him to an entrance of a sewer.


    Upon arriving, Jude''s friend was already waiting for them with a piece of paper in his hand.


    "You know what to do with this," Jude''s friend handed Jude the paper.


    Without wasting any time, Jude made a small wound on his thumb using his teeth and made a thumb mark on the paper.


    "Done," Jude nodded to his friend.


    "I''ll report this to the Barracks. As for your party, you can begin the mission any time you''d liked," Jude''s friend informed them before quickly leaving.


    "That was quick," Kayn can''t help muttering. "And suspicious," He added in his thoughts.


    "It''s illegal to do something like this in the Canyonside Town, that''s why the process is very quick," Jude exins.


    "I see," Kayn responded. But his eyes turn to look at Natas who is hovering on top of a building''s roof, evidently observing where Jude''s supposedly friend was going.


    "He is meeting a bunch of suspicious individuals that suddenly appeared out of nowhere," Natas uttered very loudly so that Kayn can hear him. "Now he is unfortunately dead,"


    That information was more than enough for Kayn and Natas.


    Natas hovers down to Kayn''s side. "It seems like your suspicion isn''t baseless anymore,"


    "I told you so," Kayn already suspected that something strange was on with the person who posted the mission.


    A scouting mission, at the river of the Springwater Canyon. And the reward was also very astronomical for merely gathering information, which would no doubt motivate any party that epts the mission.


    He also notices something when the mission was handed down to Jude by his friend. In one of the paragraphs, it stated that the party that epted the mission would have to scout the area for a week straight and gather as much information as they can find in the area.


    Well, that might exin why the reward was astronomical because the duration is considerably long.


    But for him, the duration is exactly what''s very suspicious about it. Duration doesn''t always imply more payment, but it always implies more results.


    More information means more details.


    And what exactly would all of that information be used for?


    Gathering materials?


    Monster hunting?


    Dungeon Raid?


    Along the way to Canyonside Town, he studied the map of the Springwater Canyon. Aside from gathering materials and monster hunting, there''s no Dungeon Raid to do here. And as far as he knows, all information needed for monster hunting in the Springwater Canyon is already very essible because even he knows about it while he was still in Green Horn Vige. So, there''s no need to scout for any information.


    So, the question is brought up once again, what exactly do they need the information for?


    After Natas witnessed the death of Jude''s friend just now, he now has an answer to that question.


    The person who posted the mission is here for the same thing as him.


    Unfortunately for whoever that person is, while he has to wait before he can receive all information, Kayn, on the other hand, is getting all of it in real-time.


    Hence, there''s less for him to worry about, at least as of this moment.


    "Let''s go!"


    Jude''s voice pulled Kayn out of his thoughts.


    Because of the level of confidentially that must be performed for this mission and out of convenience as well, Kayn and the others used the sewers to go outside of Canyonside Town.


    Once outside, they followed the path that leads down to the riverside of the Springwater Canyon.


    The path was very difficult to traverse, and one wrong move could very much spell death for one of them.


    Because of that, Kayn and the others tread very carefully.


    After tens of minutes of walking the arduous path, they finally reached the riverside.


    "Let''s take a rest for a bit before proceeding,"


    "Charles, after you finished taking your break, start scouting the area for a camping ground," Jude ordered.


    Hearing that, Kayn can''t help sighing in relief. He is very d to know that his next task isn''t going to involve a lot of extreme effort. He seriously doesn''t want to perform something difficult right after experiencing that event that happened in the Hanging Vines Cave.


    Scouting and camping, now that''s one of the definitions of rxation and resting. After all, how hard could that be, right?


    ¡­..<novelnext></novelnext>


    Very hard¡­


    That is now Kayn''s current thoughts after they''ve gone through dozens of perfect spots in order to set up a camp because of monsters suddenly attacking them as they start setting up their tents and stuff.


    "Has it always been difficult to start a camp in the Springwater Canyon?" Kayn finally decided to ask.


    "No, which is very strange," Jude shook his head.


    "It''s probably because of our location," Charles interrupted.


    "Tell me more,"


    "I don''t know why, but this certain part of the Springwater Canyon is the only ce where setting up camp is very difficult,"


    "That must be the main reason behind why this mission exists; to find the root cause for the strange behavior of the monsters in this area,"


    Kayn can''t help nodding his head in agreement. Of course, not to Jude''s assumption, but to the probability of what thetter spoke about to be the case if only he doesn''t know the truth.


    Jude''s assumption is honestly not that far-fetched and hard to believe.


    Apparently, almost all missions posted in the Barracks would be rted to safety, security, and other tasks that can bring benefit and profit to the territory.


    What''s happening right now is evidently a big problem for the people that live in the Canyonside Town, especially for the gatherers as the aggressive behavior of the monsters makes it difficult for them to gather materials that can be found in this specific area.


    However, just like what he said back then in the Eclipse forest; when monsters start gathering in one spot and acting weird, in most cases it means that there is a treasure in that ce.


    "How about we just pick one spot, and clear out all monsters to a certain distance from camp as our perimeter, before we finally begin setting up our camp?" Kayn suggested.


    "That''s thest option," Jude shook his head. He knows that what Kayn had suggested will definitely work and he had also considered that option a long time ago. But that would cost a lot of effort on their part. Hence, they would have to spend the rest of the remaining time of the day resting because they would no doubt be extremely tired already with setting up the camp alone. They obviously can''t do that since that would waste a full day and they could have used some of that to gather a little information for their mission.


    "You''re the leader,"


    Unlike Friedrich and the others in the first squad, he doesn''t have any sort of influence in Jude''s party nor has he earned the qualification to try and suggest a better n to their leader yet. If he does any of that, he''d be offending Jude, thus ruining their first impression of him.


    "Come on people, let''s not give up yet!" Jude motivated the members of his party.


    With that being said, Kayn and the others continued to look for a ce to set up their camp.


    Every now and then, their scout, Charles, would find a good spot to set up their camp. They would go there and start setting up tents and stuff, but before they can aplish more, a group of monsters would suddenly attack them and ultimately ruin all of their progress.


    Although they''ve killed all monsters that attacked them in the end.  But the area would be ruined enough to the point that they can no longer set up camp over there.


    Such a situation continued for a few more hours.


    Time and time again, they failed.


    If only they didn''t bring extra tents and stuff and they weren''t fortunate enough to be able to save them in time before they get damaged by the monsters, then let alone setting up a camp, they wouldn''t even be able to have anything left to use to set it up.


    "I give up!" Jude finally conceded.


    "It''s about time," Kayn thought to himself.


    "That might be the main reason why he died back then; because he was too stubborn," Natas expressed.


    "Let''s do exactly what Kayn had suggested to us before," Jude can''t even be bothered anymore exining again the n.


    For onest time, Charles looked a perfect spot to set up camp.


    As soon as Charles found one, Jude and the others, including Kayn as well, started clearing out a perimeter to clear off any monsters and also to scare them from approaching their camp.


    The moment they were done with that, setting up their camp became very easy.


    No monsters suddenly attacked them.


    They don''t have to salvage any more tents and camping stuff.


    Andstly, they don''t have to waste time looking for another spot.


    Everyone part of the party immediatelyy on the ground as soon as they finished setting up all the tents and stuff.


    "Let''s call it a day,"


    As much as he hates to say that, Jude doesn''t have any other choice after noticing how exhausted his party members are already. Anyways, they''ve gathered some information along the way. Albeit it was only a bit, at the very least, they still made progress in their mission.


    Regardless of how little, progress is still progress.


    That is what''s very important right at this moment.

 Chapter 116 Springwater Source Bonsai Part 2

    ?Chapter 116: Springwater Source Bonsai part 2


    Very early in the morning on the next day, Kayn and the rest of the party began scouting around the Springwater Canyon.


    They''ve wasted a lot of time yesterday, so they''re trying to double their effort today to cover up more progress in their schedule.


    Honestly, Kayn doesn''t have a clue about Jude''s party schedule and what they intend to achieve for the whole span of the entire week. He is simply doing whatever he is told to do.


    Fortunately, the scouting is done individually. It might he is assigned to a specific area on the Springwater Canyon and he has to gather all information he could find in that area only and report it to their camp. Afterward, he''d be given another area to scout.


    Unlike the others who are still in their first area, he had already finished scouting four different areas on the map. After all, he is an assassin before.


    Other than what was already recorded about Springwater Canyon in the past, he has found nothing else noteworthy yet.


    "No one should get suspicious if we suddenly leave our area," Natas appeared beside Kayn after he observed what the other members of the party are currently doing.


    "What were the others up to?"


    "Being greenhorns, as you expected,"


    Along the way, he noticed that there was actually no assassin in the party. Hence, no one could teach anyone about scouting and their knowledge about it mainlyes from books. Truthfully, Charles might have been assigned yesterday to scout, but he is actually a Knight, and his knowledge about that topic barely scratch the surface.


    As for the rest, Jude is a Mage, and the other three are respectively a Priest, a Guardian, and another Knight.


    It''s a three-to-two formation, a standard and mostmon formation that the majority of the established parties would adopt.


    The reason for adopting such a strategy is that it focuses more on assault and defense, which is what''s necessary for most missions.


    Having an assassin in a party is rather optional, to be honest. That''s why it''s a subss that mostly works alone since from the moment an individual chose it, barely any party would bother epting them, and if they do ept them, most of the time they are only meant for certain tasks, like scouting and disabling traps. Over time, working solo became carved deep within their bones, thus the reason why they are the ss that''s most suitable for any sort of reconnaissance mission.


    "Let''s leave here for an hour," Kayn muttered as he set up a timer on his watch.


    With that being said, Kayn and Natas went deeper into the Springwater Canyon.


    As he was scouting around the different areas he was assigned before, he noticed that the deeper he is in the center of the Springwater Canyon, the fiercer, wilder, and more aggressive the monsters seem to behave.


    It was as if they are trying to protect a very precious object deep within the Springwater Canyon and they don''t want others to approach it.


    Luckily, the monsters weren''t very strong, at least not yet.


    Using the dense greeneries as cover, Kayn slowly and carefully made his way to the center of the Springwater Canyon.


    The distance to the center wasn''t very far from where they have set up camp. It was around ten kilometers away.


    After twenty-five minutes of traveling, Kayn finally reaches a hugeke right at the very center of the forest and is surrounded by tall walls of the canyon over the distance.


    It was like the canyon was hugging theke, protecting it from harm.


    "No wonder Jude picked such a very difficult path to traverse," Kayn finally understood. There''s only one single path to reach the center of the Springwater Canyon, and that was the path they took yesterday.


    Although it''s very possible to jump from one of those walls. But the question is, is there anyone in ''The Bridge'' capable of executing such a feat?


    As far as his concern, only Heroes level 100 and above could handle such height, unless they are Guardians. But even thetter would still receive a lot of injuries unless they are high-level. And those injuries would more or less be fatal factors that will affect their survival.


    Kayn immediately positioned himself on a small hill to get a good view of the entireke.


    He is trying to look for something ¡ª something that serves as a marking for where the Springwater Source Bonsai could be.


    "There should be some sort of clue around here,"


    "We could probably more or less guess already that the Springwater Source Bonsai is at the very center of the Springwater Canyon," Natas started uttering.


    "The question is where? You''re a God, so you should definitely know about it," Kayn turns to look at Natas.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Even Gods have to gather information before they can find something. The only difference we have we you Heroes is that we have established a very strong connection to function as ourwork for gathering information all over the ''Tower''. That''s why we can ess a lot of information, and very easily on top of that,"


    "Inside ''The Bridge'', however, we got no one in here to provide us with any useful information. Haven''t you noticed, there are no inhabitants of the ''Tower'' in this ce,"


    "Couldn''t you look at any ce in the same way as you watch a video?"


    "We can, but this wasn''t my jurisdiction,"


    "Who''s jurisdiction was it?"


    "The God of Mischief, Ikol,"


    "Can we ask for his help?"


    "You''re seriously considering asking that God for help?"


    "Oh¡­" Kayn almost forgot his experience when fighting against Ikol.


    Ikol wasn''t just the God of Mischief for nothing. Even back then, he had a lot of trouble trying to defeat him with all of his tricks and schemes. If he was given a chance to pick who he wants to face between Ikol and the four Gods of War, he would rather choose thetter despite how strong they are, especially when working together. At least with thetter, he wouldn''t have to constantly worry about his back and whether it''s safe to rest or not.


    There was a phrase he heard back then that said, "It''s better to offend a strong person rather than an intelligent person because the former would fight you alone, while thetter would bring an army just to make sure that you are defeated,"


    "Let''s forget about Ikol for now," Natas is very much against such an idea. Even though he is the God of all Gods in the ''Tower'', he still has to remain cautious whenever ites to Ikol as he can''t understand what''s going on within thetter''s mind.


    "For now, how about we spend this week leveling you up?" Natas suggested. At this moment, Kayn has only added one single level to his stats, making him level 11. He is feeling very worried and the thought that even if they could indeed find the Springwater Source Bonsai in one of theseing days, Kayn would be too weak to take it, and even if he lets someone else take it for him, he''d might still not be capable enough to steal from whoever that person would be if he turns out to be just as powerful as Chief Kylo.


    "I''ve taken note of some monsters in this ce. If we allocate half of the day to monster hunting, we should be able to get you to level 20 before we leave this ce,"


    "Wait for a moment," Kayn jumped down near theke as he had thought of something. "I don''t have any problem leveling up to 20 if that''s what you want. But we aren''t sure yet if that''s the level that I needed to achieve in order to increase the chance of us getting the Springwater Source Bonsai,"


    Picking up a stone of considerable size on the ground, he started infusing a lot of mana in it.


    The moment the stone started cracking, which is a sign that it can no longer contain the total amount of mana being infused into it, he pulled his right arm to the side, and right after he threw the stone to the center of theke.


    Whoosh!


    The throw was so strong and fast that the water underneath the stone would split.


    In the next moment, a giant turtle head suddenly appeared in between the center of theke to block the iing stone.


    Bang!


    A muffled sound of a stone hitting a metal sharply echoed to the surrounding.


    With the appearance of the huge turtle, huge waves were being sent to the shore, causing the nearby trees to sway in the other direction.


    The turtle stared in the direction of where the stone hade from and started observing. But it failed to notice anyone as the person who threw the stone had long already hidden his whereabouts.


    Kayn hid behind the small hill while Natas remained at thekeside to observe the turtle.


    After a few minutes, the turtle finally decided to dive back to return deep into theke since it didn''t find the perpetrator.


    As the turtle slowly submerges its body back into theke, Natas soon found the material they have been looking for on top of the turtle''s shell.


    A small tree with blue-colored leaves where water constantly flows out of its roots.


    "It seems like we''ll have to defeat that turtle if we want to get the Springwater Source Bonsai,"


    Unfortunately, the Springwater Source Bonsai seems to have deeply rooted itself onto the shell of the enormous turtle.


    As soon as the turtle returned back somewhere deep in theke, the water slowly returned to tranquility as if there is no dangerous giant secretly hiding deep within.

 Chapter 117 The Appointed Day And The Secret Of Bonus Stat

    ?Chapter 117: The Appointed Day and the secret of Bonus Stat


    "Was that monster what I am thinking it was?" Kayn walks out behind the small hill not far from where Natas is currently standing after confirming that the ce is safe and clear.


    "Guardian Turtle," Natas nodded his head.


    "I didn''t expect that such a monster would exist in ''The Bridge''¡­" Kayn felt disbelief.


    Guardian Turtle. It''s a turtle monster that''s ranked sixth in the family of turtle monsters, followed by Mountain Turtle, Dragon Turtle, Ancestral Turtle, Continent Turtle, and World Turtle.


    The Guardian Turtle is considered a gigantic beast and is a very tough opponent to defeat. Although they are not strong or powerful when ites to assault. But their defense is enough to protect them and keep them alive.


    However, a Guardian Turtle has a very ring weakness.


    Just like what the Guardian Turtle name implies, it is a monster that is guarding something or someone very precious.


    In the case of the Guardian Turtle that they''ve just seen, its weakness is most likely the Springwater Source Bonsai rooted in the center of its shell.


    Once that precious object is taken away from the Guardian Turtle or it has failed to protect it, it''s going to instantly revert back to its weakest state, the ''Soldier Turtle'', thus making it very easy to defeat.


    Unfortunately, because it has be weak, the loot that one could get from it would naturally be affected negatively as well. That''s why in most cases when hunting a Guardian Turtle, the hunters won''t touch what it''s guarding so that they can get the most loot once they defeated it. Nevertheless, the question still remains if they can defeat it or not.


    "A level 1 to 5 turtle monster is merely considered a Soldier Turtle. Once it hits level 6, it will be a Knight Turtle. Level 11, a Lord Turtle. Level 21, a King Turtle. And only when it finally hits level 31 would it reach one of the two requirements to be a Guardian Turtle. The other requirement is to find a precious object to guard,"


    "Considering that we are in ''The Bridge'' and are still far from the entrance of the ''Tower'', that Guardian Turtle is probably somewhere in level 31 to 35," Kayn roughly guessed. "If we make use of its weakness, we could probably defeat it,"


    "We still can''t underestimate it," Natas reminded.


    Because it''s considered a ring weakness, the Guardian Turtle would obviously know about that fact too. Hence, it will do everything in its power to prevent its enemies from taking advantage of it.


    Moreover, a level 31 monster isn''t necessarily considered simr to a level 31 Hero. Of course, vice versa also applies. But in most cases, it would require a group of Heroes of the same level as the said monster for them to even be able to have the chance to defeat it.


    "Anyways, even if we know a way to defeat the Guardian Turtle, your level is still too low to even have the chance to get close to it," Natas pulled Kayn out of his thoughts.


    "I know¡­" He was only thinking of possible ns for them to use. Still, he can''t deny what Natas had just said. Let alone using his methods, he won''t even be able to get close to the Guardian Turtle without risking his life.


    "You have six days to reach level 20 or more. If you can''t reach that, then I suggest we forget about this matter for the meantime and focus solely on getting stronger, understand?" Natas initiated a deal with Kayn. He''d rather temporarily lose the Springwater Source Bonsai than forever lose Kayn.


    "What are we waiting for then?"


    "I was only waiting for you," Natas rolled his eyes.


    Kayn chuckled before finally proceeding with their next course of action ¡ª leveling up.


    ¡­..


    Six days passed very quickly.


    Within those six days, Jude''s party continued to repeat whatever they were doing on the second day over and over again until they finally got bored of it and had enough.


    Contrary to them though, Kayn never showed any signs of getting bored. That''s because he would always go monster hunting after reaching a certain quota he had personally set for himself for each day.


    One time, members of Jude''s party finally can no longer hold back their curiosity at Kayn''s method of why he isn''t feeling bored and seems to always be full of energy every single day.


    As soon as they found out, they instantly realized that the person they have casually recruited to merely fill in a missing spot in their party unexpectedly turned out to be an even scarier being than the monsters that live in this area of the Springwater Canyon.


    They also finally got an answer to the question of why the poption of monsters around them seems to have sharply decreased in numbers over the following days.


    It wasn''t because they relocated or something like that after their bases got found out during the scouting activity, but it was because they were killed by a being that''s more of a monster than them.


    Nevertheless, they understood that it is impossible for them to replicate what Kayn is doing. So, they continued with their daily boring activities until thest day of their mission.


    The 7th day.


    That is thest day of their mission.


    The moment the time hits 12 o''clock in the afternoon, Jude quickly rounded up all members of his party, including Kayn ¡ª who is very much different from who he was on the first day; as they quickly began gathering their stuff so that they can finally leave this ce for good.


    As they walked in the same path they took toe here, Kayn can''t help looking at his new Status Window.


    [


    <<Kayn>>


    Race: Human


    Noble Rank: Baron


    Level: 22<novelnext></novelnext>


    Main ss: Nobility


    Temporary Subss: Knight


    Currency: 550 coins


    Fame: 0


    Avable SP: 10


    Stats -


    Strength: 20


    Endurance: 15


    uracy: 15


    Agility: 20


    Vitality: 15


    Mana Capacity: 15


    Power Score: 100


    Passive Skills: None


    Active Skills: None


    ]


    A total Power Score of 100 despite merely being level 22.


    If anyone else can see his Status Window right now, there''s no doubt that they''ll be instantly rendered in disbelief.


    Such a high Power Score is supposed to only be attainable for someone in level 25 or above. Yet, a mere level 22 already possessed it.


    Moreover, he still has 10 more Stats Points in reserve, which could instantly bring his Power Score to 110, another unprecedented feat.


    To be honest, Kayn actually knows a trick that can increase his stats without relying solely on the Stats Points received every time he levels up. That method is none other than training and receiving Bonus Stat. Not just any ordinary training like working out, exercising, or mastering the use of his weapons. It''s the type of training that focuses solely on certain stat.


    Take for example. If one wants to increase their strength, they''d have to do exercises and rted activities that focus on increasing the strength of their body. They''ll have to repeat it over a certain number of times before they can receive a Bonus Stat in their strength. Regrettably, that Bonus Stat would be in a series of small fractional numbers, like +.5, +.1, or even worst, plus point zero and something.


    The Bonus Stat received is abysmally low regardless of it popping up a series of times, making most people give up on choosing such a method to grow stronger. However, what they don''t know about Bonus Stat is, as long as one actually continues to repeat it over and over again, the increase in fractional number would actually slowly increase higher and higher. Eventually, the series of Bonus Stat received would no longer be in fractional numbers, but in whole numbers.


    Meaning, one would be able to endlessly receive a series of whole numbers as Bonus Stat.


    And that''s not even yet the end. From a series of +1, it would turn to +2, plus five, plus ten, and so on and so forth as one continues. A series of +50 is the highest Bonus Stat attainable by performing such a method. s, he had never truly reached that level in the past.


    However, this time, he''ll make sure to attain that Bonus Stat so that he''ll be able to be even stronger than the past him. That''s the main reason why he is already doing his best to improve the Bonus Stat increase.


    After looking at his Status Window and feeling proud about his achievement in the past 7 days, Kayn turned his attention back to making his way to return to Canyonside Town.


    All of a sudden¡­


    "Be careful, there are people following your party in secret by using the cover of the greenery in your surroundings," Natas revealed a piece of surprising information.


    Hearing Natas'' report, Kayn started secretly glimpsing to his sides. Just like what the former had mentioned, he had quickly noticed some dark silhouettes following them.


    "Jude¡­" Kayn silently called out.


    "Yes?" Jude looks at Kayn while still continuing to move. He can''t afford to temporarily stop walking forward because their location right now is very dangerous.


    "Ready your weapons,"


    "Why?" Jude narrowed his eyes together.


    "There are others around us,"


    Jude stopped talking as he started observing the surrounding.


    Evidently, because of what Kayn had shown in the past seven days, he has reached the level where his words are now being considered by Jude and the members of his party.


    "I see¡­"


    Realizing that, Jude secretly signaled his party members to prepare their weapons to defend against an iing ambush.

 Chapter 118 Jude’s Secret Part 1

    ?Chapter 118: Jude''s secret part 1


    Naturally, Jude''s party didn''t make it too obvious that they know that there are other people secretly following behind them.


    As a party that haspleted dozens of missions in the past, they always carry along weapons and hide them in their clothes. Those weapons though are only meant for temporary use, like buying some time to take out their main weapons from their respective Storage Rings.


    Contrary to them though, Kayn carries with him his main weapons most of the time ¡ª the Molten Ice Sword and some of the merged daggers. Although he would sometimes put the sword inside his Storage Ring. But those were only the moments when carrying it on his body would make it inconvenient for him.


    "They are on the move," Natas quickly warned Kayn, "I think they''ve noticed that their presence has been revealed to our party,"


    "At least they are aware of their own ipetence,"


    Kayn signaled Jude''s party to prepare for the arrival of their uninvited guests.


    Whoosh!


    Whoosh!


    Whoosh!


    Cling!


    ng!


    Bang!


    Already knowing that an ambush is going to happen soon, Jude''s party was immediately able to block the men that suddenlyunches an attack at their party.


    Whoosh!


    Kayn immediately made a swift turn with his right hand brandishing the Molten Ice Sword hiding on the sheath on his waist.


    Whoosh!


    A powerful sword wave hit the man that jumped out of the bushed, instantly cutting his body in half.


    The man''s eyes were inplete disbelief as he watches his upper body fall to the ground with his face first.


    "Unluckily for you, I am no longer as weak as a week ago,"


    If he was still at level 10, he wouldn''t have been able to pull that off in one swift motion.


    "Abort mission, abort!"


    One of the men screamed out loudly as he started running away from Jude''s party. The others also quickly followed suit and went their own way to escape.


    "Let''s catch them!" Charles eximed.


    "Leave them be, for now," Jude went to stop Charles from taking one more step.


    "Why?"


    "It''s suspicious,"


    "What do you mean?"


    "Jude''s right," Kayn decided to step in. "They were too weak,"


    For a group of people to ambush Jade''s party with a bunch of weak individuals and then immediately run away afterward could only mean one thing;


    "Their main goal from the start was to get a clear understanding of our capability," Jude muttered.


    "I am guessing that their main squad is currently waiting for us over at where those men are running right now,"


    "Could be one of those hills over there,"


    "Or they could also be waiting in all directions,"


    "This is really bad,"


    "Do you know of any way to get out of this ce?"


    "There''s none other than this path,"


    "I am not someone familiar with this ce, so I can barely offer you any suggestions," Kayn heaves a sigh of regret. If this was in the Green Horn Vige and Split Mountain, he''d be able to think of dozens of ways out as he had gotten himself somewhat familiar with the ce during the time he was gathering materials.


    "Let''s make our way back to where we have previously set up our camp and see what our enemy ns to do next," Jude quickly instructed everyone.


    They are at disadvantage here because their enemy has already made advance preparations to ambush them. If they continue moving forward, it would be the same as willingly going over to their trap.


    Rather than doing that, he intends on leveling the ying field by getting as far away as possible from their enemy''s trap, hoping that they''d abandon their ambush and chase after them.


    As they run away, the next thing that happened was exactly like what Jude had expected.


    Dozens of movements started taking ce behind them.


    Although they have no way to get a clear view at their back and they also don''t want to look back in any case that their enemy would take that as an opportunity to get them, they could still hear the series of sounds their enemy are making as they chase after them.


    Whoosh!


    Whoosh!


    Whoosh!


    A string of arrows started shooting in the direction of Jude''s party. Luckily, because they are moving very fast and are using the terrain to their advantage, none of the arrows were able to get any of them.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Just hang on everyone, we are about to reach our camp," Jude encourages his party members.


    Not long after, Jude''s party reaches their previous camp.


    Despite the fact that they''ve cleaned up the ce, some leftovers from the seven days of staying in this ce still remained. For example, some chopped logs, the dirty kitchen, fences that acted as their wall, and other more necessary structures.


    Charles and the other Knight along with the Guardian of their party took advantage of the wall to minimize the area they have to protect.


    Jude and the Priest positioned themselves closely behind them so that they won''t risk themselves from long-distance attacks.


    As for Kayn, he continued moving forward, soon reaching the forest behind Jude''s party and disappearing within the greenery.


    Jude believed that Kayn is an assassin, therefore he ordered thetter to go to the backline of their enemy and take care of their Mages, Priest, and Marksman while at the same time gathering information about who they are up against and why they are doing this to them.


    Unbeknownst to Jude, Kayn honestly already knew who they are up against right now as Natas had informed him along the way. Even without Natas'' informing him about it though, he could easily guess that these people are probably the men of the person who posted the mission on the Barracks.


    As for why they are doing this, he has not a single clue, at all.


    That is why he didn''t express any disagreement with Jude''s n as his order coincidentally coincided with his interest.


    Using the cover of trees, Kayn soon reaches the backline of their enemy''s forces.


    He went to a trunk of a broken tree at the side and then crouched down close to the ground nearby it before beginning his observation.


    "Three Mages, two Priests, and five Marksmen,"


    Kayn quickly finished taking note of their enemy''s long-distancebatants.


    As soon as he was finished with that, Kayn swiftly transferred to another location that can get him the view of their enemy''s close-rangebatants.


    Fortunately, the spot was somewhere very close to Jude''s party, so he would be able to easily return to them once he is done with his reconnaissance.


    "Two Assassins, three Guardians, and five Knights,"


    In total, there are twenty men in the force of their enemy.


    "The leader seems to be that Guardian," Kayn observed closely the man being protected closely by the two other Guardians and being watched intently by the two Priests behind.


    Only the leader of a squad would receive such treatment from the others. So, Kayn didn''t have any difficulty finding out.


    "There are some missing," Kayn wondered where those weak men tried to ambush them at the very beginning.


    "They were killed," Natas informed.


    "I see,"


    The reason is probably that those men have ultimately failed to achieve their mission and also caused the main force to abandon their strategy to chase after Jude''s party.


    "Is this everyone?" Kayn can''t help asking Natas as thetter has been observing their enemy much longer than him.


    "So far, I haven''t noticed anyone else yet,"


    Kayn nodded his head in understanding. "The only objective remaining is to know the reason why these people are doing this,"


    From the start, he couldn''t help wanting to know the exact reason why the person who had posted the mission about scouting in this ce would all of a sudden send out his men to hunt them. If thetter needed information, he would have received what Jude''s party havepiled first before doing something like this. In that way, he wouldn''t have to go through all this trouble his men are experiencing right now.


    "There''s probably a good reason for why that person chose to do this," Natas felt suspicious that there might perhaps be another reason behind the decision for doing this.


    "Wait here for a moment," Kayn started sneaking closer to the location of the close-rangebatants.


    "What are you doing?" Natas felt worried.


    Kayn didn''t bother answering Natas'' question as he continued sneaking forward. Not far from him, one of the assassins of their enemy''s forces is hiding secretly behind a tree trunk, just like what he did earlier ago.


    "Ohhh¡­" Natas finally understood after seeing where Kayn is going.


    "Make sure that you don''t get caught," Natas jokingly said.


    Hearing Natas'' joking remark, Kayn formed a smirk on his face as he signaled to the former using his hand, "Watch me,"


    In the next moment, Kayn swiftly pulled the assassin behind while his hand covered thetter''s mouth to prevent him from making any sound.


    The assassin tried to fight back, but because of Kayn''s twenty points in strength, the assassin could only wiggle his body around.


    Motioning his hand forward, a dagger appeared on Kayn''s hand like magic.


    The moment the assassin saw the dagger in Kayn''s hand, his eyes instantly opened very wide as he refused to ept his fate.


    Nevertheless, the assassin is helpless to do anything to change it.


    "Too bad,"


    With a quick sh with the dagger, Kayn slit the throat of the assassin.


    In order to prevent the assassin from creating any sound, Kayn quickly stabbed the former''s lungs very deeply.


    "Go to sleep,"


    The assassin slowly closes his eyes, the unwillingness to die was very evident on his face.


    As soon as the assassin died, Kayn swiftly took some of the former''s clothes so that he can disguise himself as part of the enemy''s force.

 Chapter 119 Judes Secret Part 2

    ?Chapter 119: Jude''s Secret part 2


    After disguising himself, Kayn quickly stored the body of the assassin inside a separate Storage Ring before proceeding to take over thetter''s role in the squad.


    Launching a surprise and crucial attack.


    That''s obviously the role of the assassin he killed.


    There are only two assassins in the squad, so it isn''t that difficult to predict what their purpose is.


    Kayn quickly changed his location close to the long-distancebatants.


    Some individuals from the long-distancebatants noticed his action and paid some attention to him, curious about what he is doing. But eventually, they turned their attention back to Jude''s party after thinking that perhaps he was just looking for a good spot tounch a surprise attack.


    Kayn is very experience with the role of an assassin and what they normally do, so he didn''t feel slightly nervous nor afraid that his disguise would get exposed with his action.


    As soon as he positioned himself at a perfect spot that gives him the best view of the long-distancebatants, he decided to wait patiently on what their squad''s next course of action would be against Jude''s party in hopes of seeing an opportunity that he can take advantage of.


    There''s currently no chance to pull off an effective attack on their squad, and he also deemed it impossible to create one himself as hecks enough information about who he is up against.


    An assassin doesn''t always just go around picking up kills just because the opponent left their back unguarded. There are also times when they have to make sure first that they can guarantee their safety after executing their target.


    Such time is right now.


    Even though he can kill some of the long-distancebatants nearby him, or maybe even all of them, he isn''t certain that he can really get away with it afterward. After all, he didn''te here with the intention of sacrificing his life.


    As he waited, Kayn also decided to eavesdrop on the conversation currently taking ce in front of him.


    "What are we waiting for?" One of the Guardians asked their leader.


    "Our employer doesn''t mainly want us to kill all of them. He also requested to make sure that we reveal Jude''s secret so that he can confirm its validity,"


    "What is Jude''s secret?"


    "That''s the problem; even he doesn''t know, let alone me or our squad,"


    "Then how can we make Jude reveal it?"


    "That''s also the question I have been asking myself all this time,"


    Kayn instantly understood why their enemy is still not making a move yet.


    "Certainly we have a clue, right?"


    "We do," The leader nodded his head. "Our employer said that as long as we push Jude to the brink of death, he would no doubt make use of his secret weapon. And that secret weapon happens to be somewhere nearby here, and is also what our employer wanted us to find out,"


    "It seems like Jude has always been an extraordinary individual even before he became one of the loyal subordinates of Selena," Kayn thought to himself. He honestly expected Jude to be very strong and capable. But he never truly expected that thetter would have something even greater hidden in his sleeve that warrants the attention of big shots to target him.


    "This is making me rethink that maybe the person who posted the mission doesn''t intend to find the Springwater Source Bosai all this time," Kayn silently muttered.


    "Regardless, we at least found what we were looking for," Natas interjected.


    "We are still stuck here and can''t do anything yet to get what we want," Kayn sighs.


    "Just wait patiently," Natas patted Kayn''s shoulder infort. "We''ll eventually get there soon,"


    Their major concern, which was Kayn''s level, has already been solved. So, as long as they can get out of here alive, they''ll simply return toplete their main interest.


    "Let''s proceed with n C,"


    "n C?" Kayn wonders. It seems like they''ve created multiple ns to make sure that they''ll be able to achieve their goal.


    He glimpses at the second assassin over the distance, and after seeing that thetter didn''t make a move, he also followed suit and remained hidden in his spot.


    Contrary to them, the long-distancebatants started gathering mana around their surroundings.


    As for the close-rangebatants, they slowly move closer and closer to Jude''s party.


    Seeing that, Kayn prepared himself to attack the long-distancebatants once an opportunity reveals itself to him.


    "Attack!"


    Whoosh!


    A series of magic spells started raining down on the location of Jude''s party.


    In response to their enemy''s attack, Jude swiftly set up a barrier to block the magic spells.


    Boom!


    Boom!


    Bang!


    The barrier sessfully blocked all magic spells. As a result, none of their party members received any injuries. Albeit the barrier disappeared right after enduring the continuous assault.


    "Charge!"


    In the next moment, the close-distancebatants run forward.


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Boom!


    Charles, the other Knight, and the Guardian of their party started defending against the assault of their enemy.


    Regrettably, because of the disadvantage in numbers, Charles, the Knight, and the Guardian of their party soon started losing their ground, causing them to retreat a few steps backward.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Luckily enough, with the help of the wooden wall, only a limited number of men could face them at the same time. Nevertheless, they still can''t afford to be careless because they are still losing in numbers.


    "Ahhh!"


    The other Knight screamed out as he sustained an injury on his shoulder after a momentary carelessness.


    "Get behind me!" Charles immediately took his spot so that he can heal himself.


    The Guardian too also covered Charles'' back so that he won''t get injured too.


    "Just hold on!" Jude eximed before looking in the direction of the long-distancebatants, silently hoping that Kayn is now making a move to change their situation.


    Although he isn''t preupied with an opponent right now, he still can''t do anything to help because their enemy is right in front of his party members. If he attacks, he''d be putting hisrades in harm''s way as well.


    Moreover, attacking the long-distancebatants is also going to be useless because they can obviously make a barrier as well to block his magic spells. He would just be wasting his mana and stamina if he does that.


    Noticing something strange, Kayn asked, "Why is Jude not casting any support magic spells on Charles and the others?"


    "He problem hasn''t learned any," Natas could only assume. If Jude had learned a support magic spell, he would have long used it already seeing the situation of Charles and the others right now.


    "How inconvenient," Kayn said as a remark. Most Mages would learn one or two support magic spells exactly because of situations like this. "I guess I don''t have any other choice now,"


    Coincidentally, when Kayn decided to make a move, the other assassin also started sneaking closer to Jude''s party.


    Analyzing the distance of the assassin and the possible attacks he''d pull off, he decided to ignore the assassin temporarily. He believes that Jude''s party can take care of a single assassin.


    Kayn disappeared from his location.


    In the next moment, he arrived behind a Mage.


    St!


    Kayn didn''t hesitate to brandish his sword.


    "Argh!"


    With the death of one of the Mages, the long-distancebatants immediately realized that an enemy has sneaked behind them.


    However, even if they know about that, it''s already toote to do anything against someone attacking them at close range.


    Whoosh!


    Kayn immediately releases a sword wave at point-nk range so that they can''t escape his attack and would also get killed.


    Bodies started dropping on the ground.


    Without wasting any time, Kayn quickly turns around to face the other direction.


    He activated Sword Dance.


    "Watch out!"


    This time, Kayn didn''t opt for a double sword wavebo. Instead, he simply shed his sword at the Priest closest to him.


    The warning came toote as the Priest wasn''t able to conjure his barrierpletely.


    "Ahhh!"


    The Priest''s body dropped to the ground, lifeless.


    "He probably ran out of Active Skills to use. It''s time for our counterattack!"


    Whoosh!


    Whoosh!


    Whoosh!


    A series of assault magic spell shot toward Kayn.


    Kayn quickly activated Hot and Cold as he turned his body to the side where a fireball is approaching.


    Bang!


    Kayn directly received the fireball, causing him to retreat.


    However, that was all because the Hot and Cold skill negate fifty percent of fire element attacks. In addition to that, he is wearing armor, thus further decreasing the damage he would be receiving. In the end, the fireball only left a dent mark on his chest te.


    "Impossible!"


    Kayn didn''t bother to respond to the shocked expression of the remaining long-distancebatants.


    In the following moment, Kayn started brandishing his sword to im the lives of the remaining alive long-distancebatants.


    "Shit!" The leader of the squad could only helplessly watch as hisrades get killed one by one. His unit is considerably far to help, and they are also being kept preupied with the closebatbatants of Jude''s party after their assassin began his assault. Hence, they got dyed.


    As soon as some of the men freed themselves from Jude''s party, they immediately made their way to the assassin that massacred theirrades.


    "Idiots!" Kayn muttered as he activated Temperature Reset, instantly resetting all of the Active Skills he had just used.


    Following that, he activated Sword Dance to multiply his attack damage.


    "Have a taste of my ultimate," Kayn brandished his sword in front.


    Whoosh!

 Chapter 120 Judes Secret Part 3

    ?Chapter 120: Jude''s Secret part 3


    Whoosh!


    A huge sword wave traveled in a straight line toward the few iing meleebatants.


    "Shit!


    "Defense!"


    "Turn around!"


    All of them made various different reactions after seeing the dangerous attacking to them.


    Boom!


    Bang!


    "Argh!"


    The Guardians and those Knights that were able to execute a sword wave of their own in time were able to protect themselves. Though some were quite unlucky since they happened to be right in front of the Guardians, thus they got caught in the sword wave before they can do anything to save their lives.


    As soon as Kayn released a sword wave, he didn''t stay a single second more and quickly made a run to the forest behind him.


    He isn''t a fool to believe that he can pull off the same stunt to the close-rangebatants, especially with their leader present.


    However, before Kaynpletely disappeared, he heard a familiar scream behind him, prompting him to look back.


    "Argh!"


    The leader of their enemy squad was able to stab the heart of the second Knight of Jude''s party with the assistance of the assassin that sneaked to the side andunched an attack.


    Kayn could only shake his head, feeling slightly guilty about the fact that if only he took care of the assassin back then, he could have done something to change that man''s fate. On second thought, the leader of their enemy squad might do something else to achieve the same result.


    "He got careless," Natas can''t help saying after noticing the look on Kayn''s face. "He went far ahead of the Guardian. So, thetter wasn''t able to block the assassin''s surprise attack,"


    "I understand," Regardless of whether that is true or it''s just Natas'' way offorting him, he quickly put the thought to the back of his head. He had experienced far too many deaths in the past. So, seeing another death today merely surprised him, that''s all.


    He continued running to the forest.


    As he traveled using the cover of the greeneries around him, he continues to observe the situation with Jude''s party.


    With the absence of one Knight, Jude''s party''s defense and assault noticeably decreased by a huge margin.


    Right now, the Guardian positioned himself in front, while Charles help to defend his side. Also, with an open angle, Jude could finally lend some assistance without affecting his teammates.


    "I have to get there fast!" Kayn muttered to himself.


    "No," Natas suddenly blocked Kayn''s way.


    "What are you doing?"


    "I am afraid to say this, but you have to let fate take its course this time,"


    "Is there something wrong with your mind right now?"


    "I understand how you feel, but I can''t help but feel that something crucial for the growth of Jude is about to happen soon. If you do anything else, it might prevent him from achieving a critical part of his life,"


    "Who cares about that?! I am looking at someone that needs saving, and I am going to save that person!"


    Although he got betrayed in the past, it doesn''t necessarily mean that he would do the same to others as well.


    In that case, what''s the difference between him and those people that betrayed him?


    And what rights does he have to enjoy living a third life if he turns out to be just the same as his enemies?


    "Sometimes, a sacrifice must take ce in order for a greater good to happen,"


    "If that sacrifice can be prevented¡­"


    "It can''t," Natas shook his head. He might not have known what exactly happened here, but he is fully aware of the cards hidden under Jude''s sleeve. And he believes that he got one of those cards from the event that''s about to happen today.


    "If what I am assuming is the truth, then you''ll stand to benefit something from this,"


    "Don''t tell me," Kayn turns his head in the direction of theke.


    "It''s just an assumption,"


    "Still," Kayn looks at the Guardian, Charles, and the Priest beside Jude. "Do they really have to die for this?"


    "If only you were strong enough, then there might be a chance to do so," Natas looks at Kayn from head to toe. "But with your current state right now, even if you can defeat all the close-rangebatants beside the leader, you still won''t be able to defeat thetter, even with Jude''s party''s help,"


    "Moreover, Jude would still have to make use of whatever secret he is hiding,"


    "At least the others would have a fighting chance to survive if I go and help!"


    "What if it''s their deaths that would make Jude use his secret?"


    Kayn instantly turns silent. In most cases, it''s the death of someone that will awaken something deep inside of them.


    "I fucking hate this!" Kayn clinches his fist in unwillingness. He seriously doesn''t want to witness again another death from Jude''s party. But he also can''t cause a major effect on the natural flow of time in the third life.


    Bang!


    Kayn punches the tree beside him in irritation.


    With Natas'' warning, Kayn decided to crouch down and continue to watch the fight.


    Charles and the Guardian beside him continued to retreat farther and farther to the back. Eventually, they retreated to the initial location of Jude and the Priest.


    "Where the heck is Kayn?" The Priest, whose name is Ivan, can''t help eximing.


    "He might have run out of stamina already," Jude assumed. "After all, he killed all of their long-rangebatants,"


    "I know¡­ It''s just¡­ I don''t want to die!"


    "No one is going to die anymore!" Jude tried to reassure them.


    "Are you sure?" Ivan looked at Jude solemnly.


    "I''ll make sure of that,"<novelnext></novelnext>


    All of a sudden, the Priest smiled.


    "Ivan?"


    "Sorry Jude, but I was offered something greater in exchange for doing this,"


    "What are you doing?!"


    Ivan suddenly pulled out a dagger from his Storage Ring.


    "I am just doing what I believe could change my life forever," Ivan brandished his dagger to Jude, who is right beside him.


    "Arg!" Jude instantly got cut on his right arm. "Don''t do this, Ivan!"


    "It''s useless. I''ve already made up my mind in the past seven days," Ivan slowly approaches Jude as he continued to brandish his dagger in thetter''s direction.


    "What did he offer you?"


    "A life where I don''t have to constantly work hard in order to survive in ''The Bridge'',"


    "You are aware that such a thing is too good to be true, right?"


    "A chance¡­ that is what I am trying to fight for. And as a matter of fact, that man already gave me a downpayment which allowed me to have a taste of such a life,"


    "Since when?" Jude is having trouble believing that one of his friends is trying to kill him right now.


    "Ever since our sixth member died,"


    Unwanted memories suddenly flowed into Jude''s mind. "He did what he has to do. He sacrificed himself so that all of us can survive,"


    "I know, and that''s exactly what I am doing ¡ª trying to survive,"


    "Argh!" Jude received another injury to his right arm.


    "Fighting every single day, constantly trying to earn money so we can eat and take care of our daily lives, and finding a way to get out of this god-forsaken ce. Aren''t you tired of that, Jude?"


    Jude lowered his head down.


    Seeing that, Ivan stopped. "Because I am! Instead of trying to find a way to leave ''The Bridge'', I have decided to instead find a way to live in this ce and ept the fact that we will grow old in here,"


    "I have now epted the fact that there is no hope in getting out of this ce,"


    "Please understand Jude. All I want is to find a way to live. Unfortunately, to achieve that, you have to die!" Ivan brandished his dagger at Jude.


    ng!


    Unexpectedly, a shield blocked the dagger that was about to reach Jude.


    "Bryan?" Jude looked at Bryan in surprise.


    "I was supposed to be the one dying at that time, but Anjo pushed me away. This time, I finally have the chance to repay his favor,"


    "Bryan, nooo!"


    Because Bryan turned around, he left his back wide open to the enemy leader.


    "What a touching moment. Too bad, I have to do what I have to do," The leader brandished his sword at Bryan''s back.


    "No, you don''t!" Charles tried to reach the leader''s sword with his sword so that he can protect Bryan.


    Whoosh!


    ng!


    Unfortunately, the leader releases a sword wave, thus Charles'' sword simply broke in half,pletely unable to defend against the attack and allowing it to continue to its target.


    St!


    Bryan''s body was cut in a half.


    Right after killing Bryan, the leader immediately turned his attention to Charles'' whose weapon had been broken.


    "Too bad," The leader brandished his sword in Charles'' direction.


    ng!


    However, a sword suddenly blocked the iing sword.


    "You¡­!" The leader immediately recognizes Kayn as the person that killed all the long-distancebatants of his squad.


    "I can''t let you do that," Kayn stared at the leader.


    "Let''s see about that!"


    ng!


    ng!


    ng!


    Kayn and the leader started exchanging blow after blow with their swords.


    Unfortunately, Kayn is slowly being pushed back to a corner, evidently showing that he is much weakerpared to the leader.


    "Do something!" Kayn eximed to Charles and Jude. He didn''t go against Natas'' intention just to get himself killed here.


    "Idiot! I told you to stay put!" Natas felt annoyed at Kayn for not listening.


    "Shut up!" Kayn responded.


    "Who are you talking to?"


    "My fucking subconsciousness!"


    "Oh, that''s nice! You are already doing something that a dead person would do,"


    Kayn ignored the leader''s words as he focuses his attention on defending against his attacks. He can''t afford to get distracted unlike thetter.

 Chapter 121 Judes Secret Part 4

    ?Chapter 121: Jude''s Secret part 4


    Seeing Kayn''s predicament, Charles quickly waves his hand to get another sword from his Storage Ring.


    "Don''te to me, assist Jude!" Kayn eximed at Charles after seeing him approach his direction.


    "I¡­" Charles felt troubled. He looks at Kayn before looking at Jude who is currently dodging Ivan''s attacks,pletely unable to cast any magic spell to defend himself. "This¡­"


    "Are you sure?"


    "You definitely won''t take long, right?!" Kayn raised his voice.


    "Definitely!" Charles was confident that he can defeat a mere Priest in no time.


    "Do it! Now!"


    "Okay!"


    Charles immediately turned around and charged toward Ivan.


    Ivan evidently notices Charlesing at his as he had heard thetter''s conversation with Kayn.


    "You''re in luck," Ivan retreated. "If it wasn''t for Kayn, you would have died along with everyone else,"


    After saying that, Ivan runs in the direction of the leader''s squad. It''s quite obvious already that the enemy group long knew about the iing betrayal of Ivan.


    "No wonder there were barely any heals," Charles can''t help muttering before looking at Jude who is currently catching his breath.


    "You¡­ can¡­ go¡­ and¡­ assist¡­ Kayn!" Jude uttered in a hurried voice.


    Boom!


    All of a sudden, a smoke bomb exploded where Kayn and the leader were fighting.


    "You don''t have to," Kayn pulled Jude''s arm as he made a run to the direction of theke while forcefully dragging thetter behind.


    "Wait for me!" Charles quickly followed.


    "What are you doing?!" Jude can''t quiteprehend what exactly is going on.


    "We are running away, obviously!" Kayn rolled his eyes as he runs.


    "It''s very obvious already that we can''t defeat their leader," Charles can''t help adding. Even without needing to ask, he could easily understand the reason behind Kayn''s action.


    At first, he thought that Kayn was stupid because he came to help them instead of just running away. Now he finally understood that Kayn was only intending to help them and not face off against the leader of their enemy.


    Finally understanding Kayn''s intention, Jude pulled his hand away and started running on his own. "Do you know which way to go?"


    "I don''t," Kayn shook his head. "I am only going whichever direction could get us out of this ce and save our lives,"


    Jude looks at Charles.


    "Don''t ask me. I also don''t know if there''s any ce that can be considered safe. How about we just go and climb the canyon?"


    "Idiot!" Kayn berated.


    "I know. That''s why you shouldn''t ask me,"


    "Screw it! Follow me!" Jude went ahead of Kayn.


    "Where are we going?"


    "Don''t ask questions and just follow me. Whatever you seeter on, I hope that you won''t reveal it to anyone else and just keep it to yourself. Otherwise, you might get yourselves into danger,"


    "We understand," Kayn nodded his head while at the same time glimpsing at Natas who has now shut his mouth up.


    "I don''t know what you are about to do. But whatever the requirements you want me to do afterward, I''ll follow, even if it''s marrying a man, I would willingly do so, as long as you get me out alive here," Charles cried out.


    Kayn and Jude instantly looked at Charles in a weird manner.


    "My life is definitely more important than my freaking dignity,"


    "Well said," Kayn could only agree as he doesn''t want to hear any more weird stuffing out of Charles'' mouth.


    Looking behind, Kayn and the others could instantly see the leader of their enemy''s squad still chasing after them.


    Knowing about that, they hasten their feet so that they can widen their distance even more.


    After a few minutes of running away, theke located at the very center of the Springwater Canyon was finally in sight over a few tens of meters away.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Ake?" Kayn pretended to be clueless.


    "Don''t act as if you don''t know this ce. I''ve seen you visiting thiske plenty of times over the past week," Jude admonished Kayn.


    "Have you been following me?"


    "I wasn''t. I''ve always been guarding this ce ever since we arrived here," Jude has never truly done any scouting. He was already familiar with the terrain in this ce, so he simply made dozens of copies beforehand and submitted them every time he returns.


    "So, do you know why these people are attacking us?"


    "I have a guess. But I don''t know if that''s really the case or not,"


    "Why didn''t you tell us about this from the very beginning?" Charles felt slightly irritated that they were made fools by Jude.


    "You saw what happened with Ivan, right? Say that I told all of you. That would mean that they won''t have to wait for a week before deciding to attack us anymore,"


    "He''s right," Kayn quickly interrupted as he doesn''t want to see an internal conflict happening in their group in the current situation. They are already facing a huge predicament right now, and if another problem is added, that would no doubt spell death for all of them.


    "And trust me, this was a secret that''s best to be kept by one person. I only decided to reveal this to you because we have no other choice and I also don''t want all myrades to die,"


    As they reached the shore of theke, Jude suddenly stopped in his tracks.


    Kayn and Charles also did the same as they both moved behind Jude before quickly turning around to face the iing enemy squad.


    Regardless of how fast they''ve run, they are fully aware that it''s impossible for them to get away from their pursuers.


    "Why did we suddenly stop?" Charles is now starting to feel nervous and panic deep inside as their enemy gets closer and closer to them.


    "Just wait for a moment," Jude picked up a stone from the shore. "If it wasn''t for you showing this to me, I wouldn''t have thought that there would be an easier way to call it,"


    "That was merely a coincidence,"


    "Whether it''s coincidence or not, it won''t change the fact that you did this,"


    In the next moment, Jude threw the stone that was imbued with mana.


    Whoosh!


    Unlike Kayn''s case in the past, Jude''s stone created an even bigger wave that caused a ten or so-meter-deep split in the water of theke.


    Bang!


    Simr to thest time, a huge turtle shell suddenly appeared to block the stone.


    "What on Earth is that¡­?" Charles was instantly rendered in disbelief as he stared over the distance with wide eyes open.


    Quite some distance away from Kayn and the others, the leader and his squad immediately halted on their step and stared with shocked expressions at the huge beast that suddenly surfaced out from theke.


    Jude started exining to Kayn and Jude, "Sometime in the past, I fell from the top of the Springwater Canyon. I thought that was the end of me, but when I woke up the next day, I discovered myself being carried on the back of a Guardian Turtle,"


    "From then on, I made a bond of friendship with the Guardian Turtle after it took care of me for a very long time. In exchange for its favor, it asked me to keep its existence a secret and help it keep this specific area of the Springwater Canyon safe from any people other than me,"


    "That''s why I decided to ept this mission. It wasn''t for the reward, but it was so that I can secretly tamper with the information we gathered and prevent anything to happen to my friend,"


    "Did that happen at that time we thought that you were dead?" Charles wanted to know. If his memory serves him correctly, that was the time when their sixth member had sacrificed himself to protect their party. Albeit it wasn''t enough since Jude also decided to stay behind so that they can escape.


    "Yes,"


    "If you''re the only one that knows about this secret, then why is there someone else that seems to know that you are hiding this?" Kayn wonders.


    "My guess is; the person who had posted the mission to gather information about this specific area here is the same person who intended to kill me in the past. He probably felt suspicious at the fact that I am still alive and suspected that something great is hidden in this ce,"


    "Do you have any person in mind?"


    "Sadly, even back then, I still don''t know who wants me dead. And no matter how hard I try to recall, I can''t remember offending anyone that is powerful enough to hunt me down relentlessly,"


    "I also can''t," Charles shook his head. He had been a member of Jude''s party from the moment they both came to ''The Bridge''. Simply put, they both entered at the same time and had made the n to create a party before deciding to use an Entry Crystal. As for the other members, they both slowly got to know them as they continued to stay in ''The Bridge''.


    "I am guessing that there''s something only that person knows about that you probably have in your possession without you being aware that you have it in or on you," That''s the only assumption that Kayn could think about.


    "If that''s truly the case, then I am willing to give up that item as long as we can get out of this ce alive," Just like Charles'', Jude also put more importance on his life than some secret that he isn''t aware of.


    "Anyways, what are we going to do next?"


    "It''s time for us tounch our counter-attack!" Jude smirked.

 Chapter 122 The Four Keys

    ?Chapter 122: The Four Keys


    As if the Guardian Turtle understood the reason why Jude forcefully called for it, it loudly bellowed in the direction of their enemy squad.


    Roarrrrr!


    The bellow was so loud that it nearly destroyed the eardrums of everyone nearby.


    Fortunately, Jude, obviously expecting it already, had cast a barrier to protect their ears.


    Contrary to them though, their enemy squad wasn''t so lucky to prepare a barrier to block off all sounds.


    "Ah! My Ears!"


    "Damn it! The sound!"


    Eventually, as the sound cleared off, they quickly reorganized their squad.


    "Sir Damyan, what are we going to do?"


    One of the knights asked their leader.


    "We hold for now," Damyan signaled his squad to stay and keep watch on how the situation would y out next.


    The appearance of a Guardian Turtle was very surprising for him. But he isn''t feeling the least bit threatened by it because of the fact that regardless of how gigantic the monster was, he could definitely outrun it if things turned out for the worst.


    Although, he is very curious about why Jude called out for such a monster. Is thetter perhaps nning to use it to distract them? If that''s truly the case, then they already failed on the mere fact alone that the monster in front of them is a turtle.


    Nevertheless, he didn''t lower his guard.


    The Guardian Turtle quickly swims its way to approach Kayn and the others. As soon as it arrived, it lowered its head as if inviting them to get on top of it.


    Kayn and the others quickly hopped on and the Guardian Turtle carefully raises its head up again as it then stared in the direction of Damyan and his squad, full of hostility in its eyes.


    Damyan''s face turned ugly as he watches everything happen. He was in disbelief as he didn''t expect the Guardian Turtle to be an ally of Jude''s party. He finally realized that Jude didn''t intend to use the Guardian Turtle as a mere distraction, rather he was asking for its help to protect them.


    "Retreat a bit," Damyan quickly ordered his squad members to retreat a few meters so that they can create quite some distance from the Guardian Turtle.


    "This is truly unexpected," Charles can''t help muttering as he watches Damyan''s squad retreating.


    "Was this your secret all along?" Kayn pretended as if he wasn''t assuming this to be the case.


    "This is just part of the entire secret," Jude responded vaguely.


    "Is there more?" Charles felt excited. "Are there perhaps more Guardian Turtles in thiske?"


    "No," Jude shook his head at Charles'' ridiculous assumption.


    If that was really the case, he wouldn''t have had to hide this secret, because even if the entire poption of ''The Bridge'' knows about it, they would not dare to do anything. After all, Guardian Turtles don''t necessarily attack unless being attacked first, and also they barely have anything valuable in their body, and if they take the most valuable loot it would mean conceding the rest. In other words, it''s not worth the risk, at all.


    "If it''s alright to ask you, may I know what the other secrets are?"


    "I don''t know everything yet, but all I know is, it is rted to the method for us to finally leave this god-forsaken ce," Jude said solemnly.


    Charles'' eyes instantly widened in surprise. "What do you mean¡­"


    "Keys¡­" Kayn muttered.


    "You¡­!" Jude looks at Kayn in surprise. "How did you know?"


    "Collect all four keys and one would be able to leave ''The Bridge''," Kayn continued. "However, the keys aren''t allowed to reveal who they are and they are also chosen randomly amongst everyone that entered ''The Bridge'',"


    "Moreover, if one of the keys died, then everyone in ''The Bridge'' would no longer be able to escape unless only one person remains,"


    It was exactly as Kayn had said; just like every door, one must use a key to open it. The ''Tower'' wasn''t excepted by such a rule.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The main reason why everyone is still stuck in ''The Bridge'' is because they don''t know that they have to use a key to unlock the door of the ''Tower. No, to be more precise, they thought of it at first, but they instinctively believed that it shouldn''t be that easy since it''s rted to the ''Tower''.


    Kayn naturally knows of this because of Natas. Thetter had already told him about the way to escape ''The Bridge'' before entering it. However, because they have something to retrieve from this ce, he didn''t make a move yet.


    "Don''t tell me¡­"


    "I am not one of the keys,"


    But now it''s a different story.


    Kayn looks at Natas.


    "I didn''t know,"


    Kayn narrowed his eyes.


    "I''ve already told you numerous times. Although I am one of the Gods in the ''Tower'', the Gods of all Gods on top of that, it doesn''t necessarily mean that I know everything,"


    The nature of choosing a key is very random and in the early stage of ''The Bridge'', there''s no way of possibly knowing about it. So, he didn''t bother to look for who they are even back then in the past since it''s just going to be a waste of time, especially since events happening in ''The Bridge'' aren''t as exciting as those that take ce inside the ''Tower''.


    More importantly, in the past, the people stuck in ''The Bridge'' never actually made use of the keys to escape. Instead, they used brute force and destroyed the door of the ''Tower''.


    It was very possible to do that as long as one is able to make a weapon that goes above level 50, which is the level cap of ''The Bridge''.


    Although such a method would mean that not everyone in ''The Bridge'' would be able to escape as some people must stay behind to manage and control the weapon. The reason is that the door of the ''Tower'' is indestructible. They can damage it, but it will regenerate very quickly. And the only reason why they were still able to escape was only that the size of the damage could buy enough time to let a few escape every time it gets damaged.


    A ssic strategy of sacrificing a few in order for the majority to live.


    "If you''re not one of the keys, then how did you know about its existence?"


    "Because the world outside already found a way to get all of you out of ''The Bridge''. They sent me here to help all of you escape,"


    "Is that true?" Charles'' eyes stared at Kayn full of hope.


    "Yes," Obviously, Kayn was only lying. But it doesn''t matter even if they got to know about it once they return back to Earth, because he could simply make up more lies over and over again. Or, if necessary, eliminate them so that there won''t be a risk of his secret getting discovered. Albeit, that''s obviously not going to happen because no one would think that it''s possible to reincarnate back to the past unless World President Nichs reveals his identity to the entire world.


    "How can we believe you?" Jude was still feeling suspicious.


    "Have you seen someone as young as me in ''The Bridge''?"


    "Now that you''ve mentioned it," Jude has just noticed that Kayn is actually very young to be someone that lives in ''The Bridge'' for a very long time. "Howe I''ve only noticed it now?"


    "You didn''t look closely," That''s because he purposely made his face look dirty every time so that it can slightly disguise his actual age.


    "That''s not important," Kayn turns his attention back to Damyan and his squad. "Now that they''ve found out that you have a monster friend, what are you nning to do to them?"


    "Eliminate them," After all, with this discovery, they''ll slowly uncover the secrets of finding the keys. Albeit that''s actually good. The only problem is, they might think that the solution to finding the key is to actually kill the Guardian Turtle. And since he can''t exin it to them, then there''s no way to rify the truth.


    Kayn quickly understood the reason behind Jude''s choice and he agrees with it without a second thought. The reason for that is that he doesn''t want to be the one to tell everyone in ''The Bridge'' a lie. It''s okay if it''s only Jude and Charles, but it''s a different story when ites to telling a huge number of people.


    In the next moment, Jude suddenly jumped to the right side of the Guardian Turtle and started whispering something to its ears.


    Natas followed Jude, so he started telling Kayn what Jude is saying to the Guardian Turtle.


    "As long as their leader is dead, we can eliminate the rest of those people,"


    In other words, Jude mainly wants Damyan killed, and he, Kayn, and Charles would be responsible for the cleanup.


    It''s understandable though, because clearly with the speed of the Guardian Turtle, there''s no way that it would be able to prevent everyone from escaping, especially Damyan. So instead of doing that, it''s much better to focus on one target only.


    Furthermore, the person considered as a threat is really only Damyan.


    After whispering his n to the Guardian Turtle, Jude quickly went back to Kayn and Charles.

 Chapter 123 Damyan’s Fall

    ?Chapter 123: Damyan''s fall


    In the following scene, the Guardian Turtle opened its mouth very wide. Mana started gathering right at the very center of its mouth and a blue-colored sphere slowly formed.


    "Spread out!" Damyan eximed loudly as he dashes to the side.


    Following Damyan''s order, his remaining men quickly started spreading out all over the ce.


    To the surprise of Damyan, the mouth of the Guardian Turtle turned in his direction.


    "Are they specifically targeting me?" Damyan quickly realized. It seems like his order of spreading out was a huge mistake as it gives Jude''s party the chance to set him apart from his squad and prevent him from asking for their help.


    "I think I still can remedy this situation," Damyan muttered to himself.


    Whoosh!


    As soon as Damyan said that, a huge wall was suddenly erected to separate him from the rest of his squad.


    Damyan stood still as he looked up at how high the wall was. He then turned to look at Jude and immediately understood that it would be impossible for him to break through the wall because thetter is still constantly infusing mana into the wall.


    "I guess I have no other choice," Damyan quickly went the other way. He has no other choice since there''s no way for him to go around the wall that blocked his way. His only choice is to go for a full circle around theke.


    Wherever Damyan goes, the mouth of the Guardian Turtle would follow him very closely.


    While running away, Damyan tried to throw some attacks at Jude''s party in hopes of distracting them. Unfortunately for him, the Guardian Turtle has already constructed a barrier to protect Jude''s party.


    Jude''s party simply looked at Damyan as if looking at a helpless sheep trying to run away from a wolf.


    "Wait¡­" Damyan quickly realized that someone is missing. "That assassin¡­ Kayn!"


    Damyan quickly turned his attention to his squad who are now making their way to the other side, evidently intending to meet him up in between.


    "Go back!" Damyan started warning them.


    However, because of how far Damyan was, he realized that it was impossible for his squad to hear him.


    "Go back!"


    "Go back!"


    Nevertheless, Damyan continues to warn them while at the same time, he hastens his feet so that he can get close enough for them to finally be able to hear him.


    Unfortunately, Kayn was a lot faster than Damyan.


    Whoosh!


    Without anyone expecting, one of the Knights suddenly dropped down to the ground.


    Seeing such a scene, everyone immediately halted and raised their weapons.


    "Protect your backs, everyone!"


    The Guardians immediately positioned themselves in front of the Knights.


    What they didn''t expect though, an unfamiliar Knight has actually secretly infiltrated their squad.


    "Keep your eyes wide open,"


    "Understood!"


    "Has anyone noticed him yet?"


    "He has hidden quite well,"


    "Too bad," Kayn unsheathed his sword. "I guess all of you would be dying then,"


    "What?!"


    Whoosh!


    Sword Dance!


    Molten Ice sh!


    Element Reset!


    Sword Dance!


    Molten Ice sh!


    A full-circle sword wave came out of Kayn''s Molten Ice Sword.


    "Argh!"


    Because everyone literally left their backs wide open for Kayn, they were all left defenseless from his attack.


    A series of painful shrieks sounded all over Kayn before being followed by bodies dropping one after another to the ground.


    "Nooo!" Damyan cried out in pain. He never expected that he was never the target, but the remaining members of his squad instead.


    Unbeknownst to Damyan though, he was always the target from the very start.


    Although Kayn eliminated the members of Damyan''s squad first, that''s only because it''s one of the ways to defeat Damyan. As long as his squad remains, he won''t be able to ask for their assistance anymore.


    While Damyan was still in the midst of epting the death of all of his squad members, Jude used that opportunity to finally make the Guardian Turtle attack.


    "Fire!"


    Whoosh!


    A huge beam of blue-colored light traveled straight toward Damyan''s location, splitting theke in its wake.


    Sensing the iing danger, Damyan quickly jumped back to dodge the attack.


    Boom!


    The beam of light passed in front of Damyan.


    That was very close¡­


    "Prepare for another attack!" Jude informs his friend.


    The Guardian Turtle nods its head and right after opening its mouth to start gathering mana just like thest time.


    Finally understanding how powerful exactly the Guardian Turtle''s attack is, Damyan quickly pulled himself together so that he could avoid the attack again.


    While doing so, he can''t help glimpsing in Kayn''s direction, but soon noticed that thetter has long already disappeared from where he was just now.


    Because of that, Damyan raised his guard and prepared his weapon for Kayn''s surprise attack before starting to approach the dead bodies of his squad.


    Even though they are dead, as the leader of the squad, he still holds the responsibility to at the very least bring their bodies back to the Canyonside Town and bury them properly.


    While approaching, Damyan surveyed his surroundings for any signs of Kayn.


    At the moment, Kayn hid behind one of the trees nearby while only using his sword to show where Damyan is.


    Damyan safely arrived beside the bodies of his squad members.


    As he looks at them, he can''t help feeling sad and in pain once more as he remembers just how helpless he was just now to change anything.


    He slowly approaches them and cautiously inspected their bodies in case Kayn has left something to catch him in surprise. Like for example, hiding a bomb underneath them.


    Kayn wasn''t that type of person though. Even though he kills his enemies without any signs of mercy, he would never go as far as ruining their bodies. At least only in the case if they aren''t members of Circus or the Assembly of Freedom. If they were, then he would use all means necessary to defeat Damyan.


    It didn''t take long for Damyan to understand that Kayn is actually quite decent and a person with a certain level of integrity in him.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Thank you," Damyan expressed his gratitude to Kayn for respecting the bodies of the dead. He then started storing their bodies one by one in a separate Storage Ring.


    The instant Damyan finished storing the dead bodies, a dagger suddenly dropped to his feet.


    "Eh?" Damyan wonders.


    Boom!


    An explosion unexpectedly erupted right under the feet of Damyan.


    Damyan wasn''t able to put up a guard against the sudden attack, so he was instantly covered by a tongue of me before flying away tens of meters and soon hitting a tree nearby.


    "Fire!" Jude eximed.


    Boom!


    The Guardian Turtle fired its beam of light.


    Seeing another attack from the Guardian Turtle, Damyan quickly jumped away to escape.


    Regrettably, this time, he was as lucky anymore as his left arm got caught.


    "Argh!" Damyan cried out in pain. He was dyed slightly, that''s why he wasn''t able to swing his arm away from the range.


    Immediately taking advantage of the opportunity, Kayn appeared beside Damyan and brandished his sword.


    ng!


    Damyan was quick enough to notice Kayn so he was swiftly able to block his attack.


    "I truly never expected that you are actually a Knight,"


    "I am a Knight and also an Assassin,"


    "I can see that,"


    Kayn jumps backward to retreat away from Damyan.


    Although Damyan only has one arm left, he still can''t underestimate him.


    "Smart move,"


    If Kayn stayed a bit longer, he would have used an Active Skill that he won''t be able to dodge at point-nk range.


    After saying that, Damyan charges straight at Kayn.


    Seeing that, Kayn could only raise his sword to defend himself as he is fully aware that Damyan still has some Active Skills that he hasn''t used yet.


    Elephant Kick!


    Unexpectedly though, instead of waving his sword, Damyan uses his feet and kicked Kayn''s sword.


    Bang!


    Kayn was instantly sent retreating away. As a result to that, his defense was disrupted.


    "You''re wide open," Damyan brandished his sword.


    ng!


    Damyan felt surprised as another sword blocked him from reaching Kayn.


    It was Charles.


    "I hope you didn''t forget about me,"


    "How could I? I will never forget someone who failed to protect theirrade,"


    "That won''t happen again,"


    "Let''s see about that," Damyan brandished his sword again.


    Charles also did the same.


    "It seems like you''ve never learned from your mistake,"


    "Is that so?"


    Whoosh!


    To Damyan''s surprise, a sword wave was released from Charles'' sword.


    Luckily, Damyan also released a sword wave, albeit a bitte.


    Because Charles released a sword wave much earlier than Damyan, his sword wave shed against thetter as soon as it appeared.


    Bang!


    Damyan''s arm got pushed away.


    "Now!" Charles eximed.


    Right beside Charles, Kayn could be seen dashing forward.


    Kayn didn''t waste a single second as he brandished his sword at Damyan who is unable to defend himself.


    "Damn it!" Damyan could only brace himself from Kayn''s attack.


    St!


    Kayn''s attack left a wide wound on Damyan''s chest.


    Just when Damyan thought that it was over, he sees behind Kayn another person making a stabbing motion to his chest.


    "This is for Bryan!"


    Pluck!


    Charles was sessfully able to stab Damyan''s right chest.


    Damyan coughed out a mouthful of blood.


    "You missed my heart," Damyan weakly muttered.


    "I wasn''t targeting it,"


    Damyan quickly realized that Charles'' attack was nothing but a mere diversion even though it was a good opportunity to finally be able to kill him.


    Whoosh!


    Another sword stabbed his left chest.


    Once more, Damyan coughed out a mouthful of blood.


    "I didn''t expect that I would be dying like this¡­"


    "You were strong. I give you that. But you just met someone who has more experience than you," Kayn responded.


    "It was truly an honor fighting against you,"


    "Likewise,"

 Chapter 124 Next Quest: Finding The Other Keys

    ?Chapter 124: Next Quest: Finding the other Keys


    With the death of Damyan, the enemy squad who are after them finally fallspletely.


    However, one person was still missing.


    "Where''s Ivan?" Jude asked as he approaches both Kayn and Charles.


    "I don''t know," Charles shrugged his shoulder.


    "I haven''t seen him," Kayn would definitely target Ivan first if he was within the group he had killed earlier.


    "We have to find him!" Jude eximed with panic.


    "I am afraid but I think it''s already toote," Kayn shook his head to dismiss Jude''s n. So much time has already passed. And if Ivan really escaped during the events that took ce earlier, then he should have reached quite far by now. Chasing after him would just be a waste of time.


    "Instead, we should think of a way to escape,"


    "Escape?" Charles felt slightly confused.


    "If Ivan reaches back to the Canyonside Town. There''s no doubt that he will spread to everyone what he had seen here. The person who wanted to kill us would definitely be the first one to get informed. So, we should make a run for it before it''s toote,"


    "I have grown attached to the Canyonside Town over the past months of my stay in the town. And as much as I want to stay, we have no other choice but to transfer to another territory," Jude sighs regretfully.


    "If we can catch up to Ivan, we should be able to stay, right?" Charles genuinely doesn''t want to go to another territory. He likes staying in Canyonside Town and has already made plenty of friends over the course of time. And unlike other territories he had visited in the past, he already treats the Canyonside Town as his second home.


    "I''ve already told you. Chasing after Ivan is just going to be useless now. There''s also a possibility of another squad just waiting nearby," Kayn tapped Charles'' shoulder. He understands full well the feeling of leaving a ce one has already called home.


    Hearing Kayn''s assumption, Jude''s face instantly turned ugly. "We should go,"


    He jumped to the side of the Guardian Turtle and started informing him about their n of going to another ce.


    Jude spent quite some time persuading the Guardian Turtle before thetter eventually give its consent.


    "Hold on tight!" Jude quickly warned Kayn and Charles. Unlike onnd, the Guardian Turtle is very fast underwater.


    Whaash!


    As soon as Kayn and Charles hold onto something, the Guardian Turtle suddenly dived deep into the river.


    The deeper they went, the stronger the force of the current became.


    Kayn gripped his hands very tightly so that he won''t let go. Charles also did the same time.


    Not far from them, they could see Jude being protected by some kind of barrier.


    "This is unfair," Kayn thought to himself as he quickly realized that the Guardian Turtle has personally concocted a barrier to protect Jude.


    Not long after, Kayn could see a huge cave in the distance.


    He never truly expected that there would be a cave deep inside theke that is even bigger than the Guardian Turtle itself. On second thought, this finally exins how exactly the Guardian Turtle came to theke.


    From where they are, they could see that the cave is very dark and there''s almost nothing for them to see.


    Nevertheless, the Guardian Turtle continued swimming in the direction of the cave without any fear.


    Soon, they entered the cave. But unlike what Kayn had initially expected, the cave suddenly turned very bright.


    Looking all over their surrounding, they could see countless snails of varying sizes moving all over the wall of the cave that are emitting different colors of light over their shells.


    Although Kayn couldn''t say anything, it''s quite evident in his eyes that he was impressed with the unexpected beauty inside the cave.


    As soon as they entered the cave, the speed of the Guardian Turtle significantly decreased, allowing Kayn and Charles to rest their tired arms.


    "Come here," Jude called out.


    Without wasting any time, Kayn and Charles swim toward the barrier that''s protecting Jude.


    They got into the barrier with no effort and were finally able to catch their breaths.


    Charlesid down on the shell instantly.


    On the other hand, Kayn approaches Jude.


    "Do you know about this ce?"


    "Yes, this is where the source of the springwater of the Springwater Canyon came from,"


    Hearing that, Kayn can''t help ncing in the direction of the Springwater Source Bosai not far from them.


    He previously thought that the Springwater Source Bonsai on top of the Guardian Turtle is the only source of springwater for the Springwater Canyon. It seems like he was wrong.


    As if to confirm such thought, a field full of Springwater Source Bonsai soon appeared in Kayn''s view.


    He couldn''t help his mouth opening widely in shock.


    The field surrounded an entire portion of the cave, as if like moss.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Can you ask the Guardian Turtle to get close to the field of Springwater Source Bonsai?" Kayn kindly requested. He obviously can''t forget about what he came to Canyonside Town for.


    "Raphael, can you get close to the Springwater Source Bonsai?"


    Raphael is the name of the Guardian Turtle.


    "I guess that''s something to expect from a turtle''s name," Kayn thought to himself.


    The Guardian Turtle grunted in response before slowly approaching the field of Springwater Source Bonsai.


    As soon as they got close enough, Kayn quickly started gathering Springwater Source Bonsai.


    Jude and Charles also did the same as they want to benefit from whatever Kayn intended to use these materialster on.


    After they gathered dozens of Springwater Source Bonsai, the Guardian Turtle suddenly swam farther away from the field as if telling them that they have gathered more than enough and gathering more would start affecting the ecosystem of the Springwater Canyon.


    Kayn and the others understood it, so they also decided to stop plucking any more Springwater Source Bonsai.


    Honestly, Kayn only needed one Springwater Source Bonsai. But he thought that it would be nice to have a few more for other uses in the future.


    "If it''s okay to ask, what do you need these Springwater Source Bonsai for?"


    "I n to visit a volcano in the future, and this Springwater Source Bonsai would be very helpful at that time,"


    It''s alreadymon knowledge that the weakness of fire is water.


    "Can wee?" Charles felt interested and wanted to know if they can join.


    "You definitelye as long as you don''t steal what I wanted from that ce,"


    "There would definitely be other treasures," Jude assures.


    "I''ve already seen someone betraying their friends, lovers killing their partners, and allies backstabbing theirrades just for the sake of earning more benefit and profit," Kayn sternly warns them and reminded them that he isn''t ignorant despite his young age.


    "You''ll eventually learn to trust us," Jude muttered confidently.


    Time continued to pass as the Guardian Turtle swims through the tunnel deep underwater.


    After a few hours of swimming, they finally exited the cave and were instantly greeted by a beautiful coral reef.


    Without needing to ask, they know that they are now in an ocean somewhere in ''The Bridge''.


    Not long after, the Guardian Turtle finally resurfaced on the nearby shore.


    Kayn and the others quickly jumped off the back of the Guardian Turtle.


    "Finally there''s ground!" Charles celebrated.


    Unlike Charles, Kayn started observing their surrounding and took out a map in his Storage Ring to find out where exactly they are.


    On the other hand, Jude is currentlymunicating with the Guardian Turtle to tell it to stay hidden nearby this shore.


    Jude approaches Kayn and asked, "So, where are we?"


    "Seaspring Bay," It wasn''t hard to locate their location because it is the only ocean nearby to the Springwater Canyon. In addition to that, Seaspring Bay got its name because the ocean around it is mixed with spring water.


    "That was quick," Jude felt surprised. "If I remember correctly, there''s a vige nearby this ce called Sea Spring Vige,"


    "We can go there to get some materials that we will need in our quest,"


    "That''s exactly what I n on doing," Kayn nodded in agreement.


    The quest that Jude mentioned is something the two have discussed along the journey.


    Because they''ve found out the existence of the keys, they decided that they would look for the others so that they can finally leave ''The Bridge''.


    Although it is not time yet to start looking for a way to get out of ''The Bridge'', Kayn still agreed to it since it wouldn''t disrupt his n. Moreover, he ns to leave ''The Bridge'' as soon as possible once he finally gets what he wanted from this ce. To make matters even better, each key can actually detect other keys nearby them. So, this quest is quite convenient for him.


    Charles finally enjoyed enough of the sand so he asked, "Which way do we have to go to get to the Sea Spring Vige?"


    "Just a few hundred meters to this direction," Kayn pointed north.


    "You and I will gather the materials in the Sea Spring Vige, while Charles," Jude looks at Charles. "You stay here and protect Raphael,"


    "Why me?!" Charles opposes.


    "Because you fit the role perfectly,"


    Without waiting for Charles'' response, both Kayn and Jude immediately left. Regardless of what he would say, they don''t care as he can''t change their final decision.


    As Jude watches Kayn and Jude leaving him, the Guardian Turtle, Raphael, suddenly resurfaces beside right him.


    "Hel¡­hello¡­ big guy¡­" Jude uttered with a shaking voice.

 Chapter 125 Offending The Junior Will Bring The Senior, Elder, And Ancestor

    ?Chapter 125: Offending the Junior will bring the Senior, Elder, and Ancestor


    After walking for a few hours, Kayn and Jude finally arrived at the Sea Spring Vige.


    "Next time, you give me the map," Kayn berated Jude. After leaving Charles, Jude suddenly took the map from him, saying that he would lead the way in case he doesn''t know which direction to go. In the end, they got lost. Fortunately, he is very good at reading maps, so after a few detours and such, they finally saw a road that leads to the Sea Spring Vige over the distance.


    "I know¡­" Jude lowed his head down. He still felt slightly embarrassed at his actions earlier ago because he turned himself into a joke instead of his initial intention of making a good impression on Kayn.


    After handing down their IDs and doing a routine check with the soldier guarding the gate of the Sea Spring Vige, Kayn and Jude were finally granted entry to the territory.


    They already have a clear objective in vising the Sea Spring Vige, so they immediately went to ask the soldier guarding the gate for directions to the market as they then made their way toward the location.


    Along the way, Kayn carefully observes the surroundings in order to get a better understanding of the Sea Spring Vige.


    "Isn''t it strange? They use shells, corals, and other materials found in the ocean to construct their houses and buildings," Jude muttered after noticing Kayn looking around.


    "That''s to be expected for a territory constructed near the ocean,"


    "There are plenty of woods around them, caves to gather stones and ores, yet they still decided to use such unreliable and fragile materials,"


    "It adds to their tourism value,"


    Jude narrowed his eyes together. "I agree. But shouldn''t the first thing they make sure to pay attention to is whether their houses and buildings are resistant and sturdy enough? After all, rebuilding a territory would cost a lot of coins, not to mention manpower,"


    "I understand your point. Just the same, you also have to pay attention that this is merely a Vige and not a Town," Looking around at the considerable influx of people visiting the Sea Spring Vige, Kayn continued, "As long as the amount of people visiting this territory remains like this, they should have more than enough funds to construct two or more Sea Spring Vige if they want,"


    "I see," Jude realized his mistake. He suddenly realized something, "Howe you''re so familiar with this?"


    "Once we leave ''The Bridge'', you''d be able to understand why," He obviously ns to use his status of being the son-inw of Mayor Sebastian to exin his knowledge. Though honestly, he has simply experienced far too many things in the past that''s why he could easily rify and enlighten Jude of his narrow thinking.


    "I can''t wait to see that,"


    Kayn and Jude continued talking about some random topics and after some time, they eventually reached the market.


    "You go buy all food we need while I go take care of other matters," Jude informs Kayn.


    "Wait!" Kayn called out.


    "Why?"


    "I don''t have any money¡­"


    "What?!" Jude eximed in disbelief.


    "I lost it during the fight,"


    "You didn''t store it inside your Storage Ring?"


    "I don''t like putting my money inside my Storage Ring. It takes up space, and I also tend to forget that I''ve stored them inside," In truth, he already spent all coins he had in his possession in the Canyonside Town, buying all sorts of materials he would be needing in his journey ¡ª a journey alone to be exact.


    Heaving a sigh of helplessness, Jude threw Kayn a pouch full of coins amounting to 500, "Make sure to spend it wisely,"


    "I will," Kayn nodded. This time, he ns to save as much coin as possible so that he can keep the rest to himself.


    After bidding a temporary farewell to Jude, Kayn immediately proceeded to buy different consumables that canst the three of them for a month regardless of what condition. And because they have dozens of Springwater Source Bonsai, they don''t need to worry about drinkable water anymore.


    As Kayn was buying different consumables from various stores, Natas suddenly informs him that some thieves are secretly following him.


    "That was my goal," Kayn muttered.


    "Why?"


    "You''ll see," Kayn smirks before handing a merchant three coins in exchange for his purchase.


    "How many are there?"


    "About five,"


    "Should be good enough,"


    "Even if there are five times their number, they''d still not be able to defeat you,"


    "Put that aside. Can you go and find me an empty alley?"


    "I''ve already found one," Natas was intending to remind Kayn to watch out for the alleys, especially the empty alleys, so that he won''t get himself into trouble. Unexpectedly, it seems like Kayn intends to get into trouble instead.


    Natas pointed to an alley not far from their front.


    Following the direction, Kayn soon got inside the alley.


    As expected, the five thieves immediately followed after him.


    Soon after, Kayn heard one of the thieves talking to him.


    "My, my, my, I didn''t expect that our prey would send himself to us,"


    Kayn immediately turned around. In front of him, he saw the five thieves each carrying an iron sword in their hands.


    "If you don''t want to die, kindly hand all the consumables you''ve bought and hand us the rest of your coins,"


    "Before I do that, can I ask for your name?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "People in our line of work call me Fast Hand,"


    "Fast Hand? Is it because your hand moves fast?"


    "That''s right,"


    "No wonder you choose to be a thief,"


    "Enough about that! Hand me what I asked! Otherwise, you will die!"


    "Last question," Kayn didn''t wait for Fast Hand''s response as he continued, "How many coins have you earned today?"


    With a proud look on his face, Fast Hand''s responded, "I earn enough to keep me alive for a week,"


    "That''s good,"


    As soon as Kayn finished talking, he instantly arrived in front of Fast Hand with a dagger pointing at thetter''s neck. "I also want to keep myself alive for a week. So, why don''t you hand me your coins instead?"


    Seeing Kayn in front of their leader, the other members can''t help stepping back.


    "That includes the four of you as well," Kayn pointed another dagger in their direction.


    Despite giving them a warning, the four still continued retreating away from him.


    With a wave of his hand, the dagger hit the shoulder of one of the retreating thieves which instantly cut it away from his shoulder.


    The unlucky thief couldn''t help himself kneeling on the ground in pain. Nevertheless, he didn''t scream in fear that it would alert the soldiers patrolling the market. Even though he is the one who got injured, it still isn''t that difficult to conclude that they are trying to rob Kayn.


    "That''s my second warning. If you don''t return to your ce this instant, I assure you that the second dagger would no longer hit your arm,"


    Upon seeing the unlucky thief, the three other thieves hastily returned to their initial position. The former also tried his best to return.


    "Now, hand me all your coins,"


    ¡­..


    After a few minutes, Kayn walked out of the alley with five leather pouches full of coins. He didn''t count how much exactly was inside, but he is certain that it is more than a thousand coins.


    "Did you n that from the start?" Natas can''t help asking.


    "This is something I''ve learned back in the days of being an assassin,"


    In the past, whenever he runs out of funds, he would immediately go to a public market and start buying as many random materials. Such action would instantly attract thieves nearby because they would instantly assume that he has a lot of money within him.


    "Sure is helpful,"


    Natas immediately remembered the meme he had seen back on Earth about a guy muttering ''Stonks'' with a blue background and an arrow going high behind him.


    He couldn''t help imagining Kayn recing that person in the image.


    With more funds in his possession, Kayn could now buy even more materials to prepare for their journey.


    However, there''s still more to his n than just stealing the money from those thieves.


    "Just wait a bit more,"


    Instead of going away, Kayn stayed right beside the alley.


    After half an hour of waiting, sure enough, those five thieves returned. This time, they brought someone slightly older than them.


    "He''s the one!" The leader of the thieves pointed at Kayn.


    "How dare¡­"


    Without waiting for that slightly older person to finish speaking, Kayn approaches him before starting to beat him up. Of course, he also beat up once again the five thieves.


    Kayn walked out of the alley once again with three more leather pouches full of coins.


    "There''s probably more than two thousand coins in these three,"


    Instead of walking away, Kayn stayed at the entrance of the alley again.


    Simr to thest time, the six thieves returned, bringing with them an even older person.


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Kayn repeated such a method a few more times, earning him tens of thousands of coins in the process before it finally came to an end.


    Evidently, the fives thieves, and probably their small group of thieves, have now realized that they cannot defeat Kayn no matter how many of theme and fight against him. Instead, it seemed like they were only bringing Kayn more and more money.


    "I guess it''s time for us to leave," Kayn said with a wave of his hand, immediately storing all pouches full of coins inside a separate Storage Ring.


    With that being said, Kayn left to find Jude.

 Chapter 126 The Village Auction

    ?Chapter 126: The Vige Auction


    After leaving, Kayn soon found Jude waiting for him in a coffee shop nearby.


    Kayn can''t help remembering the time he was in a coffee shop with Gilbert a few days ago.


    "Time sure does fly very fast," It felt like it was just yesterday that he was in the Green Horn Vige, yet now he is somece far away.


    Kayn sighs before approaching Jude.


    "Took you long enough," Jude put down the cup in his hand. "What did you get?"


    Kayn tosses out the Storage Ring which contains all the consumables he had brought to Jude.


    Jude caught the Storage Ring and swiftly made a quick scan of the content.


    "This should be enough. If it''s not, we can always just go and visit some other territories near the ocean to restock some more," Jude beckoned for Kayn toe to sit with him.


    Kayn sat on the chair opposite Jude, and immediately a waiter came forward to hand him a cup of coffee.


    "I simply ordered the same as mine,"


    He didn''t see any problem with it after smelling the smoke being emitted by the cup briefly. He sipped a bit of the coffee and instantly savored the bitter taste of the caffeine.


    "Anyways," Jude interrupted Kayn straight away after he finished sipping the coffee. "As I was walking around, I heard a piece of interesting information about an event that''s about to take ce in the Sea Spring Vige tonight,"


    Kayn looks at Jude with curiosity evident in his eyes.


    "An auction,"


    "Are you nning on attending?" Kayn promptly understood where this conversation is going.


    "I have some funds here, but I don''t know if it''s enough for us to get something. I heard that a lot of people normally attend this auction, so I expect thepetition to be fierce,"


    "Here," Kayn tosses Jude ten leather pouches that contain a total of 5,000 coins or more. He made sure to keep the other half so that he can use it for himself.


    "What?!" Jude was shocked. "Did you steal this?"


    "Something like that,"


    Jude narrowed his eyes together in doubt.


    "I stole it from some thieves,"


    "Fair enough," Jude nodded. "Let''s meet up with Charles first and dress ourselves to fit the asion, then let''s go back at dusk,"


    "Alright," Kayn immediately gulped down the remaining coffee in his cup.


    After that, both Kayn and Jude returned to the shore where they have left Charles with the Guardian Turtle.


    ¡­..


    As soon as dusk hit, Kayn and Jude, and this time with Charlesing along with them as well, came to the venue of the supposed auction.


    Unlike what Kayn was initially expecting, the venue of the auction was just an open field with a podium and some other temporary structures to amodate the people. Regardless, the security was very tight.


    A three kilometers diameter with the podium as the center was made as a perimeter to protect the venue.


    There are also dozens of Marksman and Mage''s towers to overlook the center.


    Moreover, tens of Guardians and Knights surround the podium and the audience stands.


    "Shabby, but tight enough," Jude can''t help muttering.


    With the additional 5,000 coins funds, Jude was able to secure a supposedly VIP private room for their group which cost them 500 coins.


    A male receptionist patiently guided them to an underground tunnel that leads to their VIP private room, which is a small room that can probably amodate ten people inside. There''s a one-way mirror at the very front that gives a view to the podium and at the same time prevents anyone from finding out who are the people inside the room.


    "I''ll be outside your private room, so if ever you need anything, you can simply knock on the door and I will offer you my service," The male receptionist informs them.


    "Are there any extra services?" Charles suddenly asked.


    "We do offer some female escorts to liven up the mood, but I am afraid they are only meant to apany you and nothing more than that,"


    "It will be boring if it''s only us guys,"


    With a smile, the receptionist waves his hand and handed Charles a menu that is usually used in restaurants. "Here is the list of our female escorts and their prices,"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Charles epted the supposed menu and started browsing.


    Seeing that, both Kayn and Jude no longer paid any attention to Charles as they directed their attention to the podium in front.


    The auction has already started when they finally arrived at the venue. But fortunately, the items that are being announced are still the first batch of materials.


    Unlike Charles, Jude is browsing a menu of the list of materials that are going to be auctioned.


    "Is there anything that has caught your eye?" Kayn asked.


    "There are few," Jude responded. "I am done. Here,"


    Kayn epted the list and started browsing the contents.


    There were no items on the front pages that are noteworthy and there was also nothing that caught his eyes on the middle pages. So, he quickly jumped to thest pages, which are the items for the final of this auction.


    On the top of the first page of thest pages was a note that informed him that there are only five items for the final. The first and second items are pieces of equipment, the third item is a monster egg, the fourth item is a title fornd in the Sea Spring Vige, and the fifth item is a map that says in the description it''s a Monster Lair.


    What instantly caught Kayn''s attention was the fifth item. He could immediately recognize the map as one of the locations he has to visit to gather another piece of material that''s necessary in order to get what he came here in ''The Bridge''.


    It''s quite timely since it''s the next location he ns to visit after the Canyonside Town and getting the Springwater Source Bonsai.


    "Mountain Monkey''s Lair," Kayn uttered.


    "Are you interested in the map?" Jude can''t help asking. But he quickly remembered Kayn mentioning the Monkey Mountain, which is the location of the Mountain Monkey''s Lair. "Considering the distance of the Monkey Mountain, I don''t think there would be a lot ofpetition,"


    "That''s not my problem. What I am worried about is if this is the only copy of the map," After all, if there are multiple copies that exist, he has to bid wisely, otherwise he''d be spending more than the value of the map.


    As if hearing Kayn''s worry, the male receptionist muttered, "That''s the only copy,"


    "Are you certain?"


    "Our appraiser has already confirmed that it is impossible to make copies of the map. That is why it''s thest item on the list,"


    "Thank you,"


    "The starting bid seems to be fair to me," Jude expresses.


    "I know,"


    The starting bid for the map of the Mountain Monkey''s Lair is 300 coins. As long as everyone is reasonable enough, the final price should be around 1,500 to 2,000 coins.


    In his mind, he has two methods to win thest item.


    The first method is to y it safe ¡ª just bid every now and then, and be thest person that remains.


    The second method is to go with a bang ¡ª immediately offer 1,000 coins to discourage people from buying the map and continue ying until he is the only person that remains.


    Regardless of what choice he makes, he has to make sure that he isn''t paying more than the map''s worth.


    "I suggest that you offer the lowest possible price first, which is 300 coins and then outbid the next bidder in the next second by just a little. Continue doing so for a few more, and if luck is by your side, you should be able to get that map for a very cheap price," Natas'' proposed after understanding what Kayn is currently thinking.


    Kayn nodded his head to express his agreement with Natas'' n.


    The auction soon reached the middle pages of the list.


    Jude has won a few useful items, like a rope made out of the tendons of Kangaroo Rats, which are known to be exceptionally strong and tough.


    On the other hand, Charles didn''t participate in bidding for anything as he simply enjoys himself in thepany of two female escorts he had paid at the corner of the room.


    Meanwhile, Kayn only asionally bid on some items with no real intention of winning them. Of course, he has a reason for doing so.


    "How experienced," Natas muttered after noticing that Kayn onlypeted with those individuals in the VIP rooms.


    It''s very apparent that Kayn''s true intention is to simply bring down the funds of his potentialpetitors.


    Some people would think that whoever has the most funds could win in the auction. The truth, however, is that participating in an auction is like ying a game of chess against multiple yers on a single board, something like four-yer chess, except the number of yers would entirely depend on how many people one deems as their potentialpetitors.


    Each bidder has an equal number of chess pieces in their possession. But every single time they buy something, those chess pieces would decrease equal to how much they spent. Hence, giving leverage for the other yers on the board to take advantage.


    However, in this game, everyone can make a move any time they wanted to. At the same time, they also can just choose not to make a move.


    In the end, whoever has the most chess pieces left would win.


    At the moment, Kayn chooses not to move, but at the same time, he is also making the rest of the yers move, thus decreasing the number of chess pieces in their possession.

 Chapter 127 Meeting Some Friends

    ?Chapter 127: Meeting some friends


    After some time, the items in the first pages and mid pages of the list werepleted, and it is now time for thest and final pages.


    The first item was a staff called Loki''s Staff.


    "An adventurer luckily found this powerful staff when he and his party cleared a Monster Lair. His reason for selling it is because their party doesn''t have any Mages and he also doesn''t want to recruit a Mage just for it lest thetter runs away with such an expensive and powerful weapon,"


    "Instead, he wants to exchange it for some coins so that he can get his party some equipment that they could really use,"


    "Let me present, the Loki''s Staff!"


    Whoosh!


    The Auctioneer pulled out a red sheet, thus revealing a long wooden staff that emits a powerful magic aura all over its body.


    "The starting bid would be 10,000 coins!"


    "11,000!"


    "12,000!"


    "13,000!"


    "....."


    "That''s a fake," Natas uttered as he watches a bunch of ignorant people making a fool out of themselves. "Ikol would never sell any of his weapons, let alone a staff, which is one of his main weapons,"


    "Thought so," Kayn already guessed that to be the case. After all, such a powerful item shouldn''t be making its appearance in such a shabby ce. If he takes Ikol''s character into consideration, he would only do so in a very grand and shocking manner.


    "What do you mean?" Jude can''t help asking as he heard Kayn''s words.


    "That item is a fake. So, don''t bother bidding for it,"


    "How''d you know?"


    "If you read the word ''Loki'' backward, it would spell ''Ikol'', one of the Gods in the ''Tower'' and is infamous for being called the God of Mischief. Considering what sort of character he is, there''s no way he would give away one of his prize possession as easily as just clearing a Monster Lair,"


    "Fair enough," Jude understood. He knows about the information that ''The Bridge'' is being overlooked by Ikol, the God of Mischief. That''s honestly the main reason why everyone is still trapped in this ce and the exnation behind theplexity of the mechanics of the ''Keys''.


    In the end, Loki''s Staff was won by a person in the VIP room who bids 20,000 coins.


    The next item was a kris sword called Apki''s Sword.


    "The starting bid is also going to be 10,000 coins for Apki''s Sword!"


    "....."


    Apki is actually one of the Four Gods of Wars in the ''Tower known to be the God of Sun and War and a kris sword is his signature weapon. Needless to say, the so-called Apki''s Sword in front of them is another counterfeit made by Ikol.


    "Another ploy of Ikol," Natas can''t help shaking his head in helplessness and embarrassment at the way Ikol is acting.


    Kayn felt pity for the narrowmindedness of Ikol. Just what sort of satisfaction could he possibly get from tricking a bunch of people trapped in a cage?


    "He probably intents on making the people who are trapped in ''The Bride'' stay forever and create various different legends using mere fake weapons and imitations from real Gods of the ''Tower''," Natas could easily understand what Ikol wants to achieve with this act.


    Now that Kayn thinks about it, that''s indeed quite satisfying. Imagine a group of people believing the weapon they hold are real, but it turns out they are nothing more than fake goods and mere replicas of the original. Their expression and the emotion they would feel could definitely be something that Ikol would consider desiring to see.


    Just like with the Loki''s Staff. Apki''s Sword also fetched a high price, going as far as 25,000 coins, because of the fact that there are a lot of Knightspared to Mages. In addition to that, being a Mage is very expensive with all the materials needed for their training, so they could barely save up any money.


    "The third item is something that our Guild''s adventurer team went so much trouble in order to steal one precious Monster Egg from a very ferocious monster that most of us dwellers near the ocean are familiar with ¡ª Sea Drake!"


    "Its starting bid would be 50,000 coins!"


    "....."


    Kayn no longer paid any attention during the third and fourth items. The third item is going to be something verymon once one enters the ''Tower'', whereas thend title isn''t useful for him as he doesn''t n on staying permanently in the Sea Spring Vige let alone ''The Bridge''.


    After close to half an hour of patiently waiting and getting fed up with Charles flirting with the two female escorts to the point that he is already considering killing them if only it wasn''t for Jude distracting him with his small talk, it was finally time for thest and final item of the night ¡ª the map of the Mountain Monkey''s Lair.


    "This isn''t supposedly going to be auctioned in the Sea Spring Vige but on a territory in a town level because of the still indeterminate value of the map due to thecking of the level of our appraiser. But because of unforeseen circumstances, we don''t have any other choice but to ept our loss and auction it here,"


    Amotion immediately interrupted the auctioneer from continuing with his speech.


    "This is not good,"


    "Should we bid for it?"


    "I don''t see any value with this item. I suggest that we approach it carefully,"


    "We should concede this time,"


    "I guess this is the end of the auction,"


    One thing wasmon in everyone''s conversation ¡ª they don''t want to take on the risk.


    For the reason the map wasn''t properly appraised, the potential of the map drastically went down. Hence, it nowes with quite a big risk that the map wouldn''t bring more than what they would be spending in acquiring the item.


    Meanwhile, Kayn can''t help smiling in delight as he listens to the conversation of the masses.


    Contrary to them, the face of the auctioneer has now turned very ugly as he understood the situation with the map has now turned very bad for them. He expected such development though. However, their master doesn''t want to risk ruining the image of their auction house, which is why he specifically reminded him to reveal the truth regardless of the consequences it would bring about. There''s no definite value on the map anyways, so their master is probably not afraid of getting reprimanded by the headquarters of their guild.


    "I understand all of your concerns," The auctioneer finally decided to disrupt themotion. "That is why the starting bidding price for the map is merely 300 coins with the subsequent bid to only increase by 10 coins,"


    Hearing that, the audience immediately started to bid.


    "300!"


    ¡­..


    "320!"


    ¡­..


    "330!"


    ¡­..


    "370!"<novelnext></novelnext>


    ¡­..


    "400!"


    ¡­..


    "..."


    The duration for each bid was a lot longerpared to the earlier items ¡ª it takes half a minute before another bid would follow after.


    Seeing that, Kayn decided to pretend to y safely as well.


    "410!"


    "450!"


    "460!"


    "500!"


    "510!"


    Just when Kayn thought that hispetitor would stop, thetter instantly threw another bid.


    "550!"


    Kayn can''t help narrowing his eyes as he looks at the VIP room not far from them.


    "560!" He abruptly blurted out.


    As expected, the other person quickly bid higher.


    "600!"


    "700!"


    This time, Kayn opted to increase his bid to 100 coins.


    "800!"


    "What''s wrong with that guy?!" Jude stood up as he felt slightly pissed.


    "I think he''s openly challenging us," Charles muttered with a serious look on his face. He was no longer interested in flirting as he turned his attention to the fiercepetition between Kayn and the person in the other VIP room.


    "Here''s 500 coins," Charles quickly threw Kayn a leather pouch. "Win for me,"


    "1,000!" Kayn directly bid.


    Bang!


    Kayn and the others inside the room could immediately hear a loud bang on the ss of theirpetitor''s window.


    "It seems like we''re close to the price they are willing to risk," Jude licks his lips since he could already taste their victory.


    "1,100!"


    "1,300!"


    Unlike the previous time, what followed was total silence.


    "Did they give up?"


    "I hope so,"


    "That''s for certain," Charles was sure that theirpetitor has already given up.


    All of a sudden, a loud banging sound echoed behind them.


    "Sir, you can''t do that here!"


    "Stay away! I want to see who dares to challenge the authority of the Green Horn Knights!"


    "Green Horn Knights¡­"


    It was very apparent that the male receptionist was taken aback after hearing their identity.


    "Is that person who I am thinking he is?" Natas uttered behind Kayn.


    "I didn''t expect that we''d be meeting again this soon," Kayn smiled.


    "Are you familiar with those people outside?" Jude looks at Kayn.


    "You two can rest assured,"


    Bang!


    The door was sted open by a powerful force.


    "Now then, who in ''The Bridge'' dares to¡­ wait what?!"


    "Gilbert," Kayn called out.


    "Kayn!" Gilbert was stunned at the sight of Kayn in front of him.


    "Did you just say Kayn?" Friedrich hurriedly walked inside while being followed by Roshan, Cedric, and Kimberly behind him.


    "You''re alive?" Roshan asked in surprise.


    "I told you that it''s impossible for him to die!" Cedric felt overjoyed.


    "You''re truly different!" Kimberly can''t help pping her hand.


    "We thought you died back then¡­" Gilbert still couldn''t believe it.


    "You''re overestimating a bunch of spiders," Kayn nodded his head to greet his friends.

 Chapter 128 Cheers To A New Adventure

    ?Chapter 128 Cheers to a New Adventure


    Because theirpetitor turned out to be Gilbert and the first squad of the Green Horn Knights, Kayn automatically won the map of the Mountain Monkey''s Lair for a price of 1,300 coins.


    Although their bidding war was very fierce, thus driving the cost of the map quite high in only a matter of a few minutes, it was at the very least still below what Kayn had initially expected.


    Kayn let out a sigh. "So your intention of buying the map was because you guys knew that if ever I was still alive I would definitely go to the Mountain Monkey''s Lair?"


    Gilbert nodded his head. "After we left the cave and returned to the Green Horn Vige to inform Old Chief George that you are currently trapped in the Hanging Vines Cave, he immediately sent two squads of Green Horn Knights, our squad and Natasha''s squad, to find you,"


    "Regardless of how hard we look though, we didn''t find any traces of you. But just as when we thought that you were dead, we soon found some of your footsteps that lead to a tunnel that goes to Hills Valley,"


    "I instantly remembered the time you told me about your n of visiting the Canyonside Town, Mountain Monkey''s Lair, and two other locations before going to your final destination,"


    "You visited Canyonside Town?"


    "We actually stayed for three days in Canyonside Town. But because we didn''t find you, we started journeying to the Mountain Monkey''s Lair,"


    That''s to be expected since he stayed for a week in the Springwater Canyon with Jude''s party.


    "Along the way, we heard the news that there''s a map of the Mountain Monkey''s Lair going to be auctioned in the Sea Spring Vige, that''s why we came here to buy it,"


    Kayn smiled. "Good thing you guys did,"


    "Yeah," Friedrich nodded. "It seems like you''ve grown slightly stronger in the past few days we''ve left you,"


    "I stayed with these guys," Kayn pointed at Jude and Charles by slightly moving his head. "There were initially six of us, but our party got ambushed when we made our way back to Canyonside town leading to two of ourrades getting killed and the other one revealing himself to be a traitor,"


    "We escaped narrowly and soon found our way close to Sea Spring Vige,"


    "It seems like our effort wasn''t in vain," Friedrich briefly chuckled.


    Cedrick looks at Kayn with a relieved look on his face. "We''re very d to find out your still alive, Kayn,"


    "Likewise,"


    "Since we''ve already found you, it''s time for you to go back to Green Horn Vige. Old Chief George has been worried a lot when he learns that you are trapped in the Hanging Vines Cave," Roshan muttered.


    "I am afraid I can''t do that,"


    Gilbert and the others narrowed their eyes in confusion.


    "Is it because you want to go to the Mountain Monkey''s Lair?"


    "That''s just one of the reasons," Kayn turns to look at Jude. "Can I tell them about it?"


    "Since they''re members of the Green Horn Knights, then I don''t see any reason why we shouldn''t inform them," Jude agreed. "They could definitely help us in achieving our goal,"


    Moreover, the Green Horn Knights are famously known to be a group of people that aims to find a method to escape ''The Bridge''. So, allowing them to learn about the existence of the ''Keys'' would definitely help a lot inpleting their quest.


    "If this was before, I would have definitely followed you back to Green Horn Vige without any question. However, there''s a bigger reason why I can''t do that anymore," Kayn coughed before continuing. "At the present moment, me, Jude, and Charles have discovered the way to leave ''The Bridge'',"


    "Seriously?!" Gilbert eximed loudly.


    "I can''t exin it here for various different reasons, but if you are willing to follow me, I''ll exin it once we arrive at our camp,"


    "Alright," Friedrich nodded his head.


    After paying for the cost of the map of the Mountain Monkey''s Lair, Kayn and the others immediately left the Sea Spring Vige and went to the nearby shore where they have set up a temporary camp.


    Along the way, Friedrich meets up with Natasha''s group who were acting as their eyes to give them early warnings in case something bad happened, albeit it was only Natasha and Jackson that revealed themselves while the other three choose to remain hidden in the dark.


    Natasha and Jackson briefly made some conversation with Kayn before they continued on their way. Behind them were three other individuals that silently protects them in the dark.


    ¡­..


    "Keys¡­" Friedrich now slightly understood why until now they still haven''t been able to find a way out of ''The Bridge''. It turns out that they were only missing the ''Keys''. And right this instant, one of those keys is standing in front of him.


    Friedrich and the others belonging to the Green Horn Knights turn their focus on Jude.


    "You''re the key to get us out of here," Gilbert stared solemnly at Jude.


    "Roshan, from now on, you will focus on protecting Jude," Cedrick pats Roshan''s back.


    "I am already on it," Roshan moves closer to Jude.


    He knows it feels weird, but Jude strangely feels secure and safe being by Roshan''s side. It should be because thetter is huge and would definitely be dependable during danger.


    "Wait," Kimberly immediately constructed a barrier to act as their protection.


    Meanwhile, Natasha and Jackson swiftly meet up with the rest of their squadmates to inform them of the gravity of what Kayn had just told them about.


    Soon, a series of rustling sounds was heard behind them. Evidently, Natasha and her squadmates have now positioned themselves to effectively give protection to Jude.


    Kayn can''t help hitting his face with his palm as he watches everything y out. "You guys are overreacting,"


    "We''re just making sure that nothing bad happens to Jude," Friedrich exins.


    "Even if all of youbine together, you would still not be able to get through Jude''s security measure,"


    Hearing that, Friedrich and the others look at Charles and started observing thetter from head to toe.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Gilbert pointed at Charles and said, "I think I can defeat five of him,"


    "Wow¡­" Charles slightly felt pain at Gilbert''s tant assessment of his strength.


    "No offense, you just don''t look strong enough to defeat one of the members of the Green Horn Knights," Gilbert waves his hand.


    "I am not talking about Charles," Kayn shook his head. "I am talking about¡­"


    Before Kayn could finish his line, an enormous shadow suddenly covered their surrounding.


    As Friedrich and the others looked up, they were soon rendered shocked at seeing a huge turtle head looking at them.


    "That''s what I meant,"


    "Monster¡­"


    "That''s right!"


    "How?"


    "A privilege of being one of the keys," That''s the only exnation Kayn could think of to exin why a Guardian Turtle is protecting Jude other than the reason that Raphael is thetter''s friend.


    "You should have told us about it earlier,"


    "I was about it, but you interrupted me,"


    "My bad," Friedrich realized his mistake.


    Knowing that a Guardian Turtle is protecting Jude, Friedrich immediately sent a signal to everyone to lower their guard. Not entirely, just minimize it to some degree.


    "Back to the main topic," Friedrich turned serious while still asionally glimpsing at the Guardian Turtle behind Jude. "Are you perhaps telling us that you want to look for the other keys so that we can finally leave ''The Bridge''?"


    "That''s half of the reason,"


    "The other half should because you want to find the item you came to find in ''The Bridge''," Gilbert remembers what Kayn told him in the past.


    "Yes," Kayn confirms.


    "If it''s okay to ask, what exactly is that item that you want that you rate as equally important as getting out of ''The Bridge''?" Gilbert felt very curious. In the past, he was only intrigued by Kayn''s n. But now he is dying to know about it.


    "You''ll find out about it in the future,"


    "Damn you!" Gilbert walks away. He ns to calm himself because his curiosity is getting to his head.


    Kayn didn''t pay any more attention to Gilbert as he turns his focus to Friedrich again. "I have a proposition,"


    Along the way, he has been thinking about something important after he unexpectedly got reunited with Gilbert and the others.


    And just now, he finally came to a conclusion.


    "What is it?"


    "Are you and the other members of the Green Horn Knights interested in joining anding with us toplete this quest?" Kayn asked.


    Aplete silence.


    That was the response that Kayn received from Friedrich after he asked the question.


    Needless to say, it wasn''t that Friedrich isn''t interested. It''s just that thetter is now considering his proposition.


    After a few minutes passed, Gilbert returned with a calm look on his face.


    "What''s with all of you being silent?"


    "Be silent," Kayn made a signal with his hand.


    "Is it important?" Gilbert silently whispers.


    "Yes. I just asked Friedrich if he wants toe with us andplete this quest,"


    "Huh?! Of course, we should!" Gilbert eximed in delight.


    Friedrich stared furiously at Gilbert.


    "What''s with the hold-up? This is something we''ve been very much looking for all this time!"


    Friedrich grimace. "I know. I was just building up some suspense,"


    "You ruined it, idiot!" Cedric smacked Gilbert''s head.


    "At least pretend like you''re not interested so that Kayn would get nervous," Roshan sighs.


    "....." Kimberly stares at Friedrich, Cedric, and Roshan strangely like Gilbert. She seriously thought that they were considering deeply about it.


    With a smile hanging on his face, Kayn raised his hand and muttered, "Cheers to a new adventure!"


    "Cheers to a new adventure!" Everyone immediately followed suit.

 Chapter 129 Mountain Heart Flower

    ?Chapter 129: Mountain Heart Flower


    Two days passed as Kayn and the others traveled through the ocean to get to the Mountain Monkey''s Lair.


    The Mountain Monkey''s Lair is located on Monkey Mountain which is considerably far from the Sea Spring Vige. Jude already mentioned it the previous time, and that was one of the main reasons why barely anyone bothered to bid on the map during the auction.


    Although Monkey Mountain is far, it is fortunately located near the coastal coast. So, traveling through the ocean is the best idea.


    "As if there was any better idea, to begin with," Jude mutters.


    Friedrich shook his head. "The entrance to the Monkey Mountain is on top of the mountain. It basically looks like a volcano,"


    "Is it not a volcano?" Gilbert felt confused as he stares at Monkey Mountain.


    At the moment, they have already arrived at the shore closest to Monkey Mountain. The mountain is literally just a few hundred meters in front of them, towering over them.


    "It is not," Natasha muttered.


    "It seems like it to me,"


    Kayn also agrees with Gilbert. The form of Monkey Mountain is like a perfect upside-down cone and with the addition of a hole on top, it now looks very identical to volcanos. Regardless, it is just a mountain, not a volcano. The reason why the entrance is on the top is simply that the Mountain Monkeys purposely made it that way so that it would be difficult for anyone preying on them to reach their nest.


    The Monkey Mountain is tall and huge, so anyone that arrives in their nest would be extremely tired and exhausted to fight against them. In the end, those supposedly predators or hunters be their prey instead.


    That''s what they are arguing about right now.


    "There''s no better ce to set up camp other than the inside of Monkey Mountain. It might be the most dangerous, but it can also serve as the safest choice for us," Jude exins.


    "I suggest that we set up camp once we are halfway to the top," Friedrich still disagrees with Jude. What thetter is proposing is a gamble as there''s no certainty whether they can really achieve it or not.


    "You set up over here," Jude pointed at the halfway point of a rough sketch of the Monkey Mountain that Cedric drew. "Then we make our way up to the top to begin our raid. Naturally, we won''t be able to finish the raid in a single day despite our numbers. So, will have to find a ce to rest. The problem is, we have to get out of the Mountain Monkey''s Lair once again and travel a few hundred meters down before we could reach our camp,"


    "We are already exhausted and tired during the raid, and yet you still expect us to travel that long? We''d bepletely out of energy and stamina once we get to camp, and because of that we''d most likely have to use a day to get ourselves well rested,"


    "Fair enough," Friedrich agrees.


    "We should probably think of a way tobine the two ideas," Chastine, a Priest and also the leader of the second squad which Natasha and Jackson are a part of, proposes.


    "I agree with you boss," Carter, their squad''s Guardian, nodded his head.


    "How?" Cyril, their Mage, muttered with a helpless look on his face.


    Chastine, Carter, Cyril, Natasha, and Jackson make up the entirety of the second squad of the Green Horn Knights.


    Finally having enough of their argument, Kayn stood up between Jude and Friedrich. "We could just rest halfway to the top and continue once we are rested enough so that we won''t be exhausted when we fight against them at the top. As for where we should set up our camp, we set it up exactly at where we stop,"


    "In here?" Jude and Friedrich asked at the same time.


    "ording to the map, there are three floors in the Mountain Monkey''s Lair. If we finish clearing the first floor today, then we make the camp on the first floor, and so on and so forth. You''re wasting a lot of time with all these arguments. Pack all of your things, finish what you have to do, and we will start the journey!"


    He chose to remain quiet all this time because he was studying the map of the Mountain Monkey''s Lair. Of course, he wasn''t trying to memorize everything, he simply wants to get the generalyout of the inside.


    With that being said, everyone quickly finished panicking everything.


    Meanwhile, Jude reminded the Guardian Turtle to stay hidden and keep himself safe from any danger and harm.


    Once that was all done, they immediately began the journey to reach the entrance of the Mountain Monkey''s Lair.


    The journey to the top of Monkey Mountain was bound with a lot of difficulties.


    Even though the members of the Green Horn Knights are powerful individuals, they still face a lot of challenges in fighting against a swarm of Mountain Monkeys that found them as they make their way up to their nest.<novelnext></novelnext>


    They continuously fought their way to reach the halfway mark to the top before finally having the chance to rest.


    Roughly an hourter, they continued with their journey to reach the top.


    Finally, after a long-fought battle, they reached the entrance of the Mountain Monkey''s Lair.


    Kayn sat in a corner and started cleaning his sword and daggers as the others started talking about all the events that took ce along the way.


    Jude sighs. "That was so tiring!"


    "Are we also going to face something like that inside?" Gilbert cried out.


    Cedric replied. "Definitely,"


    Cyril added. "Even worst,"


    "Come on, cheer up everyone! At least some of you have earned plenty of experiences from all of that, right?" Friedrich tried to liven up the atmosphere.


    Friedrich''s n seems to have worked as everyone soon started talking about their status window and other topics rted to such matters.


    Seeing that, Friedrich and Chastine approach Kayn.


    "What''s the next n?" Friedrich asked.


    "We''ll follow your lead from now on¡­ at least temporarily," Chastine added.


    "My n is to actually just let the two of your take charge of the entire raid. So ¡ª" Kayn stood up and immediately patted both Friedrich and Chastine''s shoulders, "Good luck!"


    Friedrich and Chastine were rendered surprised and disbelieving at Kayn''s response. They both turn to look at thetter, but his back simply got farther and farther away.


    It''s quite evident now that Kayn is not interested in leading the raid. Honestly, it is better this way.


    Friedrich and Chastine stares at each other and nodded as they made a tacit understanding of what to do next.


    The assumption of the duo was on point. Kayn truly wasn''t interested in bing the raid leader of this raid.


    His mind is currently preupied with something else, the next item he needed to get ¡ª the Mountain Heart Flower.


    The name Mountain Heart Flower doesn''t literally mean the heart of the mountain. It''s just a term used to describe a flower that pumps out earth element mana which enriches the soil, rock, and other earth-rted elements nearby. Its form though is a flower with a shape of a heart, and its entire body seems to be a rocky and soil flower that has been petrified by Medusa''s eyes.


    ording to the map of the Mountain Monkey''s Lair, the Mountain Heart Flower is most likely located on the third floor, which is the bottom floor.


    He already expected it though because that''s always has been the case with almost every single Monster Lairs; the best and most important item is found on thest floor. It''s very simr to the logic and rules behindputer games.


    In that case, the Mountain Heart Flower should most probably be protected by the boss monster of the Mountain Monkey''s Lair, the Mountain Gori.


    The Mountain Gori is just like the me Gori he had fought against in the past. Instead of fire, its Gift is rted to earth. Hence, he is expecting it to be a defensive monster.


    However, defeating the Mountain Gori isn''t his goal. As long as he could steal the Mountain Heart Flower, they could immediately leave the Mountain Monkey''s Lair.


    That''s the main reason why he doesn''t want to be the raid leader, it''s so that he can focus on sneaking past the Mountain Gori and get the Mountain Heart Flower. If he is the raid leader, he''d have to constantly monitor the fight, suggest battle strategies, and make sure that they can defeat the Mountain Gori.


    However, the name Mountain Gori is leagues above the me Gori. Just the title ''Mountain'' and ''me'' alone already have nothingparable with each other. The word ''me'' only describes what element the Gori is, while the word ''Mountain'' implies the Gori''s toughness, resilience, and strength. In other words, the Mountain Gori is a very powerful boss.


    Unlike thest time at the Hanging Vines Cave, Kayn entered the Mountain Monkey''s Lair first to scout out the area personally and find out if ever something has changed from the map.


    Meanwhile, Friedrich and Chastine are currently discussing anding up with numerous battle strategies with Jude, Charles, Gilbert, Cedric, Roshan, Kimberly, Natasha, Jackson, Cyril, and Carter on how they should deal with the first floor of the Mountain Monkey''s Lair.


    They are already expecting the battle to turn out exactly like what they have just experienced along the way ¡ª a zerg attack. So, they are putting more emphasis on AOE and defense.

 Chapter 130 Raiding The Mountain Monkey’s Lair Part 1

    ?Chapter 130: Raiding the Mountain Monkey''s Lair part 1


    After scouting around the Mountain Monkey''s Lair for quite some time, Kayn concluded that the map and the actual ce isn''t that far apart. There were still some changes, but it wasn''t as drastic as the Hanging Vines Cave, thus any strategies that Friedrich and Chastine woulde up with wouldn''t be affected.


    During his scouting, he had in a few Mountain Monkeys, which finally allowed him to increase his level to 23.


    [


    <<Kayn>>


    Race: Human


    Noble Rank: Baron


    Level: 23


    Main ss: Nobility


    Temporary Subss: Knight


    Currency: 11,000 coins


    Fame: 0


    Avable SP: 15


    Stats -


    Strength: 20


    Endurance: 15


    uracy: 15


    Agility: 20


    Vitality: 15


    Mana Capacity: 15


    Power Score: 100


    Passive Skills: None


    Active Skills: None


    ]


    The additional 5 Stats Points he received instantly made him feel ecstatic.


    Honestly, Stats Points received in each level up would vary from one person to another depending on how they have gained their experiences. If they faced difficult and stronger enemies, then they would be receiving more Stats Pointspared to those individuals who simply fought against more but weak enemies.


    In his previous level-up, he had simply received 1 or 2 Stats Points, which was why he was barely able to increase his Stats despite the fact that he took advantage of the Bonus Stats.


    That was one of the reasons why he decided to save up some of his Stats Points so that he would be able to use them in case of emergency.


    "Let''s allocate 5 SP each to my strength and agility, then save up the remaining five for the future," Kayn muttered to himself.


    In the next moment, his Status Window was updated.


    [


    <<Kayn>>


    Race: Human


    Noble Rank: Baron


    Level: 23


    Main ss: Nobility


    Temporary Subss: Knight


    Currency: 11,000 coins


    Fame: 0


    Avable SP: 5


    Stats -


    Strength: 25


    Endurance: 15


    uracy: 15


    Agility: 25


    Vitality: 15


    Mana Capacity: 15


    Power Score: 100


    Passive Skills: None


    Active Skills: Outburst


    ]


    All of a sudden, Kayn heard a familiar voice inside his mind. It wasn''t the same robotic voice he once heard when he entered ''The Bridge'' for the first time and picked his main ss. Instead, it was the voice he had heard the first time he entered the ''Tower''.


    [Congrattions! Because both your Strength stat and Agility stat have reached 25 points, you''ve earned the Active Skill <<Outburst>>!]


    [Outburst: Once activated, you will be able to exert 50% more than your original strength for as long as you want. In exchange, you will have 50% of your original strength temporarily taken away from you in the same length of time the skill was taking effect.]


    This was the main reason why he allocated 5 SP to both his Strength stat and Agility stat.


    <<Outburst>> would definitely be helpful for him if ever he faces situations simr to the event that took ce in the Hanging Vines Cave where he had to make a sacrifice in order for Friedrich and the others to escape. Although he was still able to escape alive, things would have definitely yed out differently if he had <<Outburst>> back then.


    Moreover, if hebines <<Outburst>> and <<Sword Dance>> together, his ultimate attack would no doubt cause even more devastating effects.


    Thebination of those two would certainly y a huge role in the uing raid.


    After strolling around the entrance for a few minutes, Friedrich and Chastine along with the others finally entered the Mountain Monkey''s Lair.


    "All of you finally decided to show up," Kayn uttered.


    Friedrich scratched his head. "It took some time to finalize our n,"


    "Let''s begin!"


    Unlike the Hanging Vines Cave where there are countless vines hanging from the ceiling to the floor, the Mountain Monkey''s Lair is an open field with some stctites and stgmites spread in certain specific ces all over the cave.


    All of a sudden.


    "Fire!"


    Whoosh!<novelnext></novelnext>


    Whoosh!


    Whoosh!


    Jude, Kimberly, and Cyril simultaneously shot fireballs at the ceiling.


    Boom!


    Boom!


    Boom!


    In an instant, the nearby surrounding began shaking before a rain of stctites started falling from the top.


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Over the distance, countless Mountain Monkeys started running for their lives while doing their best to avoid the deadly stctites falling in their direction.


    Unfortunately, numerous Mountain Monkeys were still impaled by the stctites, some were injured, while only a few were able to run away to a corner for safety.


    Kayn smiled and asked. "Was this your n all along?"


    Friedrich puffed out his chest and replied. "That''s right,"


    "Very bright,"


    It was a good idea to take advantage of the stctites hanging up on the ceilings.


    However, every action is bound with its own set of consequences.


    As soon as the rain of stctites ended, those Mountain Monkeys that were able to luckily get themselves far from any stgmites instantly turned to look at Kayn and his party.


    Without waiting for any signal, they charged in their direction, evidently wanting to shred them to pieces and avenge their fallenrades.


    "What''s next?"


    After witnessing the first method, Kayn now felt very intrigued about what Friedrich and Chastine had nned to do next.


    "Guardians!"


    Roshan and Carter swiftly came in front of everyone.


    "Charge!"


    <<Shield Dash>>


    Whoosh!


    Every Mountain Monkeys that blocked the way of Roshan and Carter were instantly sent flying to the side.


    What followed soon after were a series of loud cries of pain echoing throughout the surroundings from a bunch of unlucky Mountain Monkeys that got impaled by the stgmites that stood erected from the ground.


    It wasn''t over though.


    Whoooosh!


    Charles and Friedrich merged their sword wave together to create a long and wide-range attack to clear out a path for them to move forward.


    As soon as a clear path was created, Friedrich immediately ordered everyone to quickly follow after him.


    Roshan and Carter were thest two to follow behind the party as they had to make a small detour to catch up to them. It wasn''t a problem though since the two of them are Guardians, thus mere Mountain Monkeys could barely deal any damage to them.


    And to make sure that they are safe, Chastine and Cedrick immediately cast healing spells to heal their wounds.


    "Buy us some time!" Friedrich quickly followed up.


    Immediately, Gilbert, Natasha, and Jackson separated from the party and went to face off against the iing group of Mountain Monkeys.


    It was quite strange since Assassins most of the time go for a sneak attack and not for a frontal assault.


    "Agility," Kayn quickly understood. The Agility stat of Assassins could certainly go toe to toe with the Mountain Monkeys.


    Now he finally understood the n that Friedrich and Chastine hade up with.


    The Mages are responsible for AOE attacks. But because they have a limited mana capacity, they couldn''t always rely on powerful magic spells, thus they decided to take advantage of the surrounding area and only use those spells with less mana consumption.


    Instead of being in charge of protecting the party, the Guardians reced the position of the Knights. And because of their high Endurance plus extremely high defense, the party doesn''t have to worry about their safety. Moreover, they have two Priests who are capable enough to instantly get them right back to full shape.


    On the other hand, the Knights have reced the position of the Guardians as they became in charge of finding a way to save the party from danger.


    Lastly, the Assassins are responsible for buying time for the Active Skills they have just used. Also, they can dy and slowly dwindle down the number of Mountain Monkeys.


    It was a perfect allocation of each of the different sses.


    "It''s about time,"


    Just like what Kayn expected.


    "Get back!" Friedrich gestures with his hand to Gilbert, Natasha, and Jackson to quickly get back to the formation.


    Speed isn''t a problem for Assassins. Hence, in just a single second, they arrived right in the center of their formation.


    In the next moment.


    Whoosh!


    Whoosh!


    Whoosh!


    Jude, Kimberly, and Cyril started shooting fireballs once again.


    Only now did Kayn notice that the path Friedrich and Charles picked actually had stctites hanging on the ceiling.


    Another repetition of the previous attempt took ce once more.


    "Follow me!" Friedrich called out to everyone after he and Charles opened up another path to retreat.


    Time continues to pass very quickly as Kayn and the others repeated the same n over and over again, seeding in each moment.


    There were some idents, but because Kayn doesn''t have a proper position in Friedrich and Chastine''s n, he took charge of preventing any disruption to their n. Simply put, he is the troubleshooter that cleans up every single variable and factor that might affect their party''s momentum and rhythm.


    Every time they retreated, they slowly got closer and closer to the entrance of the second floor. At the same time, they are clearing the entirety of the first floor with any Mountain Monkeys.


    Eventually, the entrance of the second floor was finally on sight.


    "Just a few more of our ''clean up'' strategy and we''d finally be able to rest!" Friedrich encourages everyone.


    With the anticipation of resting just around the corner, everyone instantly became full of energy and continued with their battle tactic.


    Their eyes were no longer showing exhaustion but were instantly reced with a burning desire and thirst for victory and the potential profit to be earned from clearing the entire first floor of the Mountain Monkey''s Lair.


    Brandishing his sword, Kayn yed thest remaining Mountain Monkey. He then waves his arm to clean up the blood that drenched his Molten Ice Sword.

 Chapter 131 Raiding The Mountain Monkey’s Lair Part 2

    ?Chapter 131: Raiding the Mountain Monkey''s Lair part 2


    With the first floor all cleared, Kayn and the others swiftly set up their camp so that they can rest and call it a day.


    As they sat in their respective resting ces, each of them let out a sigh of relief.


    "What do we do with all the loot?" Gilbert suddenly asked.


    Looking behind them, they instantly saw countless loot just lying on the ground, untouched and shining brightly as if to attract them to pick them up.


    "Now that you''ve mentioned it," Friedrich looks at Kayn.


    Although he and Chastine are the leaders, they are aware that they wouldn''t have such an opportunity if it wasn''t for Kayn voluntarily giving up on it.


    Moreover, they don''t want to offend Kayn knowing about his background, especially now that they''ve already found out the method to get out of ''The Bridge''. Once they return back to Earth, the influence they hold here would no longer have simr value and effect as it was. It would be the likes of Kayn''s status that would matter.


    In that case, if they offend Kayn, thetter would have every reason to make their lives difficult back on Earth.


    The others also turned to look at Kayn as well, evidently being aware of the same reason. That includes Jude and Charles as they got to learn of Kayn''s identity during the journey.


    "You can divide it amongst yourselves and just leave the useless items to me. But, I hope no one willpete with me to get the Mountain Heart Flower on the third floor," Kayn replied.


    Even though there are countless loots, he honestly doesn''t see any value in keeping any of them. As a matter of fact, they''ll just waste some storage space inside his Storage Rings as he doesn''t need such low-value and useless items.


    This is probably the result of knowing about the future. He literally knows every location of almost each and every powerful and useful item inside the ''Tower''. It''s pretty much just a matter of whether he wants or needs them because if ever he does, he would simply go and get them.


    "So you''re telling us that you''ll just be keeping the flower and the useless items while the rest will belong to us?" Chastine wanted to confirm.


    "I barely did anything," Kayn used it as an excuse to end the conversation quickly.


    "Alright,"


    As soon as they received Kayn''s signal, their exhausted body seems to fire up once again as they instantly stood up and started racing with each other to get whatever items they could get their hands on.


    "It seems like they have a tacit understanding with one another that whoevery their hands on the item first gets to automatically keep them," Natas said as a remark.


    "Not necessarily," Kayn muttered after noticing Friedrich and Chastine utteringmands to their respective squad members. "Its most likely a battle between the two squads on who could touch more items,"


    "I pity Jude and Charles,"


    Since there are only two of them, Jude and Charles could only helplessly go for those items that were ignored by Friedrich and Chastine''s squad.


    asionally, Jude and Charles would turn to look at Kayn, evidently wanting to ask for his help as they used to be part of the same party. Too bad though because Kayn doesn''t want to waste any energy and stamina to perform such a mundane task. Instead, he stood up and went to the entrance of the second floor of the Mountain Monkey''s Lair.


    Honestly, he is still not feeling tired. Well, it was true that he barely did anything, but it was also because he is very experienced at fighting.


    Unlike the others, he only does things precisely and with no waste of movements. Like for example, when he wants to stab his target, he''d only be using the muscles that are required to perform such an action. If he wants to add more strength to it, he would also just simply use the required parts of the body for the job. Contrary to him, Friedrich and the others move based on the motion to perform a stabbing action.


    He can''t me them though since he was also like that when he was still an amateur. He''ll just leave it to fate for the day they''ll finally learn such a useful technique.


    "ording to the map, we would not only be facing Mountain Monkeys on the second floor. We will also be facing Earth Gori," Kayn said as he took out the map from his Storage Ring to confirm.


    Earth Goris are the exact same kind as ming Goris. The only difference is their element.


    "I''ve already killed a ming Gori when I was still a mere Superhuman, so it shouldn''t be that difficult anymore for me to defeat an Earth Gori with my current strength,"


    After a few dozen of steps, he finally reached the other side of the entrance.


    Unlike the first floor, the second floor is apletely open space. There were no stgmites or stctites to be seen, only rocks of various sizes.


    However, there are countless holes in the ground and up in the ceiling, and tunnels on the side of the cave.


    "It seems like the second floor is where the monsters take residence,"


    As he observes a few tens of meters of distance in front of him, he spotted signs of greenery, such as trees and grasses.


    "There''s an underground river nearby,"<novelnext></novelnext>


    That''s the only exnation why nt life could still exist deep underground.


    Looking at the map, he soon confirmed the existence of an underground river somewhere nearby that area.


    "We should probably set up camp over there instead of the entrance to the second floor," Kayn expressed his thoughts.


    "Unlike the first floor, I could barely see any monsters around," Natas informs Kayn. "It could be safe, but we can''t be certain yet,"


    "Should I scout deeper?"


    "If you''re confident in keeping your presence undetected, then why not?"


    That was the only concern.


    Kayn replied. "I can try,"


    Without wasting any time, Kayn started making his way to the area with greenery.


    Along the way, he would asionally let Natas check on the holes in order to get a clear understanding and confirm what is inside.


    As expected, they were houses where Mountain Monkeys and Earth Goris take a rest.


    "I suggest that we light them up on fire and block their exit," Natas suddenly suggested.


    "That''s one method," Kayn nodded his head before continuing to move.


    As he got closer to his destination, he soon saw some rough wooden huts constructed on top of the big trees.


    "Are monsters capable of building houses?" Kayn wonders. He might have witnessed a lot of things in the ''Tower'', but he would never im that he has seen everything.


    "Unless they could turn into a humanoid form, then I don''t think so," Natas shook his head.


    "I''ll hold here for the meantime while you go and scout those wooden huts," Kayn halted his steps.


    Natas immediately flew to the wooden huts to see who are living inside of them.


    Not long after, Natas returned with a look of total disbelief on his face.


    "What''s the matter?"


    "Goblins¡­"


    "What?!" Kayn eximed in shock before quickly covering his mouth. Fortunately, there weren''t any holes or tunnels nearby him right now. Otherwise, that shout alone would have woken up the sleeping monsters inside.


    "How?"


    "I don''t know¡­" Natas was also surprised.


    The Races that inhabit the ''Tower'' couldn''t be found anywhere else other than the ''Tower'' unless a Dungeon Outbreak happened which allowed them to enter Earth. Although ''The Bridge'' is still part of the ''Tower'', it isn''t technically inside the ''Tower'', thus the only living beings that can exist here are monsters.


    In addition to that, every single time the ''Tower'' goes to another, they actually create another ''The Bridge'' as this ce functions as a pathway that connects the to the ''Tower'', thus it''s impossible for any living creatures, especially other Races, to remain in ''The Bridge''.


    Last and the most important reason of all, there''s no way for the inhabitants of the ''Tower'' to enter ''The Bridge'' because the Entry Crystal can only be used by the inhabitants of the.


    "There''s only one exnation for this. Ikol secretly brought them here¡­"


    The only method to bring an inhabitant of the ''Tower'' to ''The Bridge'' would be through the assistance of the Gods.


    "He''s definitely scheming something," Kayn immediately thought.


    What else would the God of Mischief do by bringing other Races to the kind of ce like the ''The Bridge''? Furthermore, this ce is basically the perfect ce to scheme something as it barely attracts any attention. Even Natas already admitted that he doesn''t pay that much attention to the events that took ce in ''The Bridge''.


    "Let''s continue investigating," Kayn wants to know what exactly Ikol is scheming about. If it''s just one of his many tricks and schemes in ''The Bridge'' or he is experimenting with something that he wants to apply in the ''Tower'', then it would be fine. However, if it has to do with affecting his goal of destroying the ''Tower'', then it would be apletely different story.

 Chapter 132 Raiding The Mountain Monkey’s Lair Part 3

    ?Chapter 132: Raiding the Mountain Monkey''s Lair part 3


    To tell the truth, the only God he trusts is Natas. He doesn''t trust thetter''s brothers and sisters even the slightest yet until he finally confirms their stand with his very own eyes.


    Even he was betrayed by the woman he once loved and his own guild and allies, let alone the brothers and sisters of Natas.


    Although they have expressed their support during the second life, there''s no certainty that they would do so again in the third life as well. After all, once he destroys the ''Tower'' they would also disappear along with it. Natas might not mind it, but there''s no telling if the others also have the same opinion as him too.


    Needless to say, he has his own reason for having such thoughts.


    Previously, Natas had mentioned that there was a time when the ancient Gods fought against the new Gods. Natas had imed that the battle have already ended after so many years of infighting with one another and they came to an agreement to find a way to stop everything. But he personally doubts that to be really the case.


    There''s the possibility that the other Gods simply supported Natas'' n because it coincides with their goal. Once the n is achieved, then that would be the moment when they would be revealing their real intention.


    Until he personally confirms which of Natas'' brothers and sisters have the same intention as thetter, then he would continue being suspicious of all of them.


    Now that he knew who he is up against, Kayn no longer felt worried as he approaches the tree with the hut.


    Not long after, he could finally see some Goblins moving around the hut. Not only from a single hut, but onto the other huts constructed on the nearby trees as well.


    "You can continue moving," Natas informs Kayn after he made a quick scan of the area to see whether there are any Goblins scouting nearby.


    Kayn continued to approach the trees closer and closer.


    After reaching the side of the tree, he stopped and checked his surroundings. After about a minute, he started to climb the tree.


    He wasn''t scared of the Goblin, and he is confident that he can kill them without letting the other Goblins at the different nearby huts notice. Albeit that wasn''t what he intended on doing.


    Soon, Kayn reaches the bottom of the hut. Using his dagger, he hang himself as Natas went to see if the area is clear for him.


    "Clear!"


    In the next moment, Kayn propelled himself above the hut using his dagger. As he flew mid-air, he started observing how many Goblins are living in the hut.


    "Three," He muttered before immediately locking his first target to a Goblin nearby him.


    Whoosh!


    St!


    The unlucky Goblin instantly dropped dead onto the ground as a dagger prated his head. There was no sound made, so the other two Goblins didn''t realize that one of them is now dead.


    Kayn soundlesslynded on the wooden nk of the hut and he then swiftly hid in a corner. He pulled the body of the dead Goblin before storing it inside his Storage Ring and using the water produced by the Springwater Source Bonsai to wash off some of the green blood stains.


    Since he can''tpletely clean all blood, he decided to scatter some green and healthy leaves on top of them.


    "That''s a first," Natas felt amazed at Kayn''s quick thinking. Because the green blood of the Goblin is the same color as the leaves, thus it covered the blood quite perfectly.


    While hiding in a corner, Kayn listens to the footstep made by the two Goblins to determine their exact location.


    He only needs one of them, so he is looking for another chance to kill another Goblin.


    That chance came not long after as another Goblin approached his location.


    The Goblin was suddenly pulled toward Kayn and had his throat slit open. Before he could make a sound, another dagger stabbed into his lungs to prevent him from producing any more noise.


    With a wave of his hand, Kayn stored the Goblin''s body inside his Storage Ring.


    As he had already achieved his goal, he then sneaked behind thest remaining Goblin.


    Coincidentally, the Goblin was making his way inside the hut. So, he promptly followed after.


    The moment he got inside the hut, he didn''t hesitate to tackle the Goblin and push him to the ground. He covered thetter''s mouth with a piece of cloth he had just taken out from his Storage Ring and briskly tied the Goblin''s hands and feet to prevent him from running away. He then kicked the stomach of the Goblin to push it to the side.


    Kayn started talking to the Goblin. "Since you''re an inhabitant of the ''Tower'', you would definitely not have any trouble understanding what I am saying,"


    "As long as you answer my question, you will be able to die peacefully. Otherwise, I''ll make sure that you will beg for me to kill you," He made a cutting motion in the air with his dagger.


    The Goblin gulped down a mouthful of saliva as he hastily nodded his head. He is fully aware that he will be dying regardless of what. The only difference is whether he would go down in a painless way or die after suffering. The answer is already obvious.


    Kayn''s felt it strange that the Goblin immediatelyplied. Thetter didn''t even bother to beg for his life even for the slightest moment.


    Staring at the eyes of the Goblin, Kayn realizes that it looked empty as if thetter had already given up on his life a long time ago.


    "Let me guess, you are prisoners here?"


    The Goblin nodded his head.


    Kayn finally understood.


    No wonder the Goblins were able to live on top of the trees despite the fact that they are surrounded by countless Mountain Monkeys and Earth Goris.


    Normally, monsters and inhabitants of the ''Tower'' don''t get along well with each other. That''s because the former are beasts while thetter possesses an intellectual capability. It''s like the rtionship between Humans and wild animals on Earth.


    Just because monsters and inhabitants of the ''Tower'' both live in the same ce doesn''t necessarily mean that they are allies. Albeit there are some inhabitants of the ''Tower'' that get along well with monsters. But the majority treats them the same as how the Humans treat them ¡ª beasts.


    Kayn slowly removes the cloth covering the Goblin''s mouth.


    He wasn''t worried that the Goblin would shout for help. In fact, he is even assuming that thetter would beg him to get him out of this ce instead.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "How long have you been trapped here?"


    "I don''t know¡­ There''s no way for us to determine the time since we are deep underground and we cannot see the surface. We also haven''t interacted with any other Goblins other than those that are imprisoned here as well,"


    "Have there been no Humans that came here in the past?"


    "We asionally hear somemotion on the first floor every now and then, but it never reaches the second floor,"


    That''s understandable. It is very easy to defeat Mountain Monkeys even if there are countless of them. As long as one uses the right strategy and executes them sessfully, one would be able to defeat a bunch of Mountain Monkeys.


    However, it would be apletely different story in the case of Earth Gori, let alone facing a lot of them.


    One or two Earth Goris should be okay, but once there are three or more, it would make the fight very difficult as they would be able to use different Gifts above their inborn ability to manipte earth elements.


    Fighting against Earth Goris is more or less the same as fighting against individuals who possess the subss of Battle Mages, which is a subss that grants one the physical attributes of melee sses and the unique ability to use magic that only Mages and other Magic sses possess.


    "You haven''t tried escaping?"


    "Hah¡­" The Goblin sighs heavily. "Some of us did, but it was only proven futile in the end because even if we can sessfully sneak past the second floor, it is next to impossible to escape the eyes of the countless Mountain Monkeys on the first floor,"


    "Are there other Goblins on the surface?"


    "I am sorry, but I can''t reveal that information even if you kill me,"


    "I take it that there are," It''s very obvious from the response of the Goblin. If there wasn''t any, he would have just said there''s no more Goblin in ''The Bridge'' other than us here. "Where are they hiding?"


    "I don''t know,"


    "Up on trees?"


    "Underwater?"


    "Under¡­?"


    "Oh, underground!"


    "How?!"


    "Your reaction,"


    "Seriously?!" The Goblin was in disbelief.


    "Not really. I simply guessed it based on your reaction. It was your response that basically confirmed it,"


    "That¡­" The Goblin is renderedpletely speechless.


    He simply took advantage of his experience and the ignorance of the Goblin.


    "Anyways, enough about that," Kayn finally changed the topic. "How did you get inside ''The Bridge''?"


    It''s finally time to know the truth.


    "I am not quite sure¡­"


    "Not sure?"


    "All I remember is a bright light covering my entire body and the next thing I knew, I was transported to an unfamiliar location along with hundreds of other Goblins. It was only through you Humans that we found out that we are currently in ''The Bridge'',"


    "Were there any other races along with you?"


    "I am not sure. All I spotted were other Goblins like me. Though I''ve heard some rumors that there are Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs, too,


    "Hmmm¡­" Kayn looks at Natas to ask for an answer.


    Natas replied. "It seems like Ikol had hidden this secret quite well,"


    "Ummm¡­ Can I ask a question?" The Goblin was curious about something.


    "Go on," Kayn gestures with his hand.


    "Have you eliminated all Mountain Monkeys on the first floor?"


    "Are you seeing hope of finally escaping from this ce?"


    "I do¡­ But¡­" The Goblin looks at the dagger that Kayn is currently holding. "It will depend entirely on you¡­"


    Kayn covered the mouth of the Goblin with the cloth once again before muttering, "Stay here, and don''t do anything stupid. After we clear the entire second floor and you adhered to my words, then I will let you leave and you can be free,"


    The Goblin hastily nodded his head in fear that Kayn would change his mind. Now that there''s the hope of escaping, he doesn''t want to die anymore.


    Since he already got what he wanted, he immediately left the hut and made his way back to meet up with the others to inform them of his discovery. He isn''t nning on keeping such an important piece of information within him.


    "Are you perhaps thinking that there''s a chance for the other keys to be part of the other races?" Natas understood what Kayn is thinking.


    Kayn simply nodded his head in response.

 Chapter 133 Raiding The Mountain Monkey’s Lair Part 4

    ?Chapter 133: Raiding the Mountain Monkey''s Lair part 4


    The next day.


    "Is that where the Goblins are imprisoned?" Friedrich pointed to the huts on top of the trees.


    Kayn replied. "Yes,"


    "They do look like someone lives in them. But I didn''t expect that it would be a bunch of Goblins,"


    "It''s even more surprising to find out that there are actually other races in ''The Bridge''," Chastine added.


    "That''s right," Friedrich nodded. "We''ve been living in ''The Bridge'' for nearly ten years now, yet we still haven''t found any races other than Humans,"


    "To tell you honestly," He looks at Kayn. "If it wasn''t you who told us about this, we would never have believed it," After all, they''ve pretty much searched the entire ''The Bridge'' ever since they came here.


    But on second thought, considering that they haven''t discovered the presence of the Guardian Turtle all this time in the Springwater Canyon, it might very much be possible that they haven''t seen everything yet.


    "What do you n to do with the Goblins?" Friedrich can''t help asking.


    "Until we confirm whether they''re hostile or not, we will continue to focus on the main matter," Kayn doesn''t want to do anything with the Goblins yet because he hasn''t gotten the information that he wanted.


    He already understood yesterday that he had asked the wrong Goblin for the information he wanted as it''s very clear that thetter barely knows anything.


    There should be someone among them that has the information he requires, and he is nning on using the Goblin he had tied yesterday to help him build a rtionship with the rest of the imprisoned Goblins.


    Kayn expresses his n. "After we cleaned up all the Mountain Monkeys and Earth Goris in this ce, I n to proceed with meeting up with the Goblin''s leader to discuss the third floor of the Mountain Monkey''s Lair,"


    He had changed his mind yesterday after understanding from Friedrich and Chastine that it would be very difficult to fight against the Mountain Gori with their current numbers. Forget about sneaking past it, he might not even be able to afford to get distracted and pull a quick steal on the Mountain Heart Flower.


    However, there might be a chance with the help of the Goblins.


    "Are you sure that we can trust them?" Friedrich is still doubtful of the usibility of Kayn''s n. Even though there are cases where inhabitants of the ''Tower'' cooperated with Humans and went as far as establishing an alliance with them, he had heard that it was very difficult to achieve it. So difficult that they could only get a certain group to be their ally and not the entirety of their race. Moreover, eight out of ten of them would still betray the Human race.


    "That''s the reason why I want to have a conversation with them first," Kayn can''t help rolling his eyes at Friedrich.


    "I am just suspicious," Friedrich smiled helplessly.


    "Anyways, let''s proceed with your strategy," Kayn changed the topic.


    "Understand," Friedrich started allocating each member their assigned task. "Just like what we discussed yesterday,"


    Countlesss that they''ve tied yesterday using vines that Jude, Kimberly, and Cyril had created using magic spells piled on the corner beside them.


    Since it was still early in the morning and moreover there are no more Mountain Monkeys to cause any noise on the first floor, the rest of the monsters on the second floor continued soundly sleeping in their respective holes.


    Grabbing one each, Kayn and the others immediately started covering each hole on the ground withs to block the way out for the Mountain Monkeys and Earth Goris.


    Meanwhile, Jude, Kimberly, and Cyril started locking them to the ground using various kinds of magic spells. At the same time, they constructed some walls around the holes that weren''t covered withs forter on.


    As there were so many holes in the ground and not enoughs, they could only cover around half of the holes around the second floor. It was more than enough though.


    "All done," Gilbert reported.


    "Let''s proceed to the next part," Friedrich nodded at Kayn, Jude, and Charles.


    The trio immediately waves their hands, instantly taking out dozens of Springwater Source Bonsai.


    "So, these were the source of springwater in the Springwater Canyon," Gilbert felt amazed.


    "They''re beautiful," Chastine and Kimberly said at the same time.


    It is indeed true that the Springwater Source Bonsai are beautiful nts. However, they are dangerous if one uses them correctly.


    That''s exactly what''s about to happen right now.


    The instant the dozens of Springwater Source Bonsai were nted on the ground, water started to be produced from their respective bodies. And because there are a lot of them, the water soon flowed toward the direction of holes in the ground.


    All the Mountain Monkeys and Earth Goris werepletely oblivious to the current event. Even though some drops of water started dropping onto their body, they didn''t mind it as they don''t want to be disturbed in their slumber.


    Without them realizing it, the water begins to flood their homes. As they continued to sleep, the water simrly continued to rise higher and higher.


    When they finally started noticing the strange situation around them, some of the Mountain Monkeys already drowned to death in their sleep.


    As expected, the surviving monsters immediately tried to escape. But because the water flowed all around the hole, it made the surroundings slippery and difficult to grip onto the wall, thus they have trouble trying to climb their way out.


    Moreover, the vines also hinder those that have already reached the top from getting out of their holes.


    "You may begin," Friedrich muttered.


    Kayn and the others are hovering mid-air with the help of Jude, Kimberly, and Cyril, as they watch how the situation is going to y out. But as soon as Friedrich sent out his order, Kayn and the others immediately started dropping to the ground one by one.


    Uponnding on the ground, they didn''t hesitate and quickly started cutting the fingers of the Mountain Monkeys and Earth Goris hanging on the vines so that they would fall back.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Cries of pain and agony echoed as they fall to the water in their holes.


    Unfortunately, no matter how loud they shout, no one would be able to hear them because Jude, Kimberly, and Cyril had covered their holes with an instion spell that prevents any sound from escaping.


    Because the Mountain Monkeys and Earth Goris specifically received a cut on their fingers, it further added more difficulty in climbing out from the holes.


    With no other choice left, some of the Earth Goris finally decided to use their Gifts and ability.


    Whoosh!


    Whoosh!


    Whoosh!


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Regretfully for them, thes were infused with mana. So, it was impossible to easily cut through them. And the flowing water also lessens the strength of their Gifts and abilities because water mana could neutralize to some degree most earth-rted magic spells.


    Sometimeter, the nearby area around the Springwater Source Bosai finally started to flood. As a result, the flow of water going through the holes became stronger and stronger.


    With no possibility of escaping, all Mountain Monkeys and Earth Goris eventually drowned to their deaths.


    "You can open the walls,"


    The next target was those holes that were covered by walls to prevent any water from getting into them.


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Bang!


    A series of explosions sounded as all walls exploded at the same time.


    Whashhhhh!


    Strong water current directly flushed to all the remaining holes.


    Because of the sudden creation of holes, small whirlpools were slowly being created. The whirlpools started merging with the other nearby whirlpools to create a much bigger size as the water continued to rise higher and higher.


    "Fire!"


    Whoosh!


    Whoosh!


    Whoosh!


    A series of fireballs shot toward the inside of the holes around the wall and on the ceiling.


    In the next moment, countless of Mountain Monkeys and Earth Goris started falling into the water and instantly got swooped away by the current of the whirlpools.


    They screamed to ask for help, but it was futile and instead it only caused them to drown a lot quicker as water easily got through their mouths.


    Those Mountain Monkeys and Earth Goris that lived in the holes around the walls were quite lucky though because they don''t have to fall into the water and could just remain in their holes and watch as the others slowly drown.


    However, it wouldn''t be for long...


    There are three sides, the left, right, and back. As for the center, that''s the entrance to the third floor of the Mountain Monkey''s Lair, so there are no holes over that side.


    Coincidentally, there are three squads as well. The first squad and the second squad of the Green Horn Knights, and Jude''s party.


    "We''ll take care of the right," Friedrich volunteered.


    "Our squad will go left," Chastine followed.


    "I guess we''ll take care of the back side," Jude muttered.


    There were more holes in both the left and the right side, so it was honestly reasonable why Friedrich and Chastine left the back side to Jude''s party which only has four members, Gilbert volunteered to join them as he is still tasked to protect Kayn.


    "Do you seriously not need a healer?" Chastine felt worried.


    "We have a lot of healing potions in our Storage Rings," Jude assured. They have gone shopping thest time in Sea Spring Vige, so they have a lot of materials in their Storage Rings to spare. "And besides, it''s not like we are too far away from one another. If we really need your help, we''d just run to your side immediately,"


    "Alright," Chastine could only trust them.


    With that being said, thest n to clear the second floor began.

 Chapter 134 Raiding The Mountain Monkey’s Lair Part 5

    ?Chapter 134: Raiding the Mountain Monkey''s Lair part 5


    Kayn, Gilbert, Jude, and Charlesnded on the side assigned to them. Water instantly reached close to their knee.


    In the next moment, dozens of Mountain Monkeys and Earth Goris jumped to confront them.


    Kayn looks from left to right and asked. "Are you guys ready?"


    "I''ve always been," Jude smiled.


    "You know that this kind of thing excites me the most," Gilbert grabbed a dagger in both of his hands.


    "Let''s just get on with it!" Charles is feeling very excited.


    Whoosh!


    Kayn initiated the fight by throwing a dagger at a nearby Mountain Monkey.


    St!


    The Mountain Monkey died instantly as Kayn instantaneously arrived to pick the dagger back up and went for another target.


    Jude stayed at the back line to provide firepower, while Gilbert and Charles started clearing both sides from Kayn.


    With a wave of his hand, Kayn took out the Molten Ice Sword from his Storage Ring. He instantly brandished his sword to cut the bodies of a group of Mountaing Monkeys charging towards his direction.


    Just like cutting tofu, he sliced the bodies of the Mountain Monkeys very easily.


    The Mountain Monkeys dropped to the ground one after another and dyed the rocky surface of the floor blood red.


    Bang!


    Kayn was suddenly sent flying away.


    Luckily, he was swift enough to block to the side with his sword, so he didn''t get hurt. He only retreated and eventually came to a stop after the force of what hit him disappeared.


    Looking at where he was initially standing, he saw three Earth Goris fiercely staring at him. The one at the center was smiling.


    Kayn felt slightly annoyed.


    "You won''t be smiling for long," Kayn threw one of his daggers to the smiling Earth Gori.


    ng!


    The Earth Gori easily parried the attack with its arm covered in rocks.


    As if to express how proud it was, the Earth Gori started thumping its chest.


    All of a sudden¡­


    BOOOM!


    A loud explosion erupted from the dagger that Kayn had thrown as me covered the three Earth Goris.


    Whoosh!


    The three Earth Goris were immediately sent flying away while burning and hitting multiple unlucky Mountain Monkeys in the process. Some Mountain Monkeys died, while others got injured. None were spared from suffering.


    This time, Kayn lift his lips to form a smile.


    Enraged by Kayn''s action, the three Earth Goris hastily and recklessly charge at him after picking themselves up.


    As they made their way to Kayn, they caused even more casualties to the Mountain Monkeys blocking their path.


    Witnessing such a sight, Kayn instantly thought of a bright idea in his mind.


    Without wasting any time, he started running away from the three Earth Goris. While doing so, he made sure to run toward the direction where there are plenty of Mountain Monkeys gathering.


    At the same time, he started attracting even more Earth Goris from the surrounding. This time though he used ordinary daggers as he cannot afford to waste his special daggers that have undergone the merging process. After all, he only has a limited number of them.


    At the side, Gilbert and Charles notice Kayn''s strange method.


    "What are you doing?!" Gilbert eximed.


    "Go and start to aggro the Earth Goris and run around the surroundings. You''ll understand why after doing it!" Kayn can''t be bothered to exin because he is in the midst of avoiding the Earth Goris while also making sure that the Mountain Monkeys won''t ruin his strategy.


    Gilbert and Charles looked at each other for a few seconds before proceeding to do the same as Kayn is doing.


    At first, the two didn''t understand the reason why Kayn was luring Earth Goris everywhere. But after some time, they finally realized that the recklessness and unbothered trait of the Earth Goris made it a lot easy for them to clear all the Mountain Monkeys because they would go around rampaging everywhere without any care for whoever and whatever they attack. They would literally swoop, punch, and kick all over the ce despite the fact that there are Mountain Monkeys in those locations.


    Both Gilbert and Charles smiled in delight and immediately exerted even more effort in aggroing as many Earth Goris as possible.


    Standing in the backlines, Jude abruptly decided to stop throwing magic spells. He quickly understood what Kayn and the others are currently doing and in fear of disrupting or causing any factors that might affect their strategy, he opted to wait and see how the situation would turn out. Needless to say, he still took care of the Mountain Monkeys and Earth Goris that tried to attack him.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Meanwhile, Friedrich and Chastine can''t help themselves turning to look in the direction of Jude''s party as they started hearing strange noises from their side.


    To the surprise of the two, they found out that their side seems to be enjoying instead of feeling despair at the seemingly never-ending stream of Mountain Monkeys and Earth Gorising out of the holes in the walls.


    "What''s happening?"


    "It seems like they''re just running around¡­"


    "I don''t think that''s the case," Friedrich shook his head.


    "That!" Chastine pointed at the Earth Goris chasing after Kayn. "It seems like they''re making the Earth Goris eliminate the Mountain Monkeys,"


    "Oh," Friedrich finally understood why Jude''s party aren''t experiencing any trouble.


    "Let''s follow them,"


    "Alright!"


    With the new knowledge they got from Kayn, Friedrich, and Chastine immediately informed their respective squad to start doing the same as the former as well.


    As soon as everyone started adapting Kayn''s strategy, the problem with the Mountain Monkeys and Earth Goris significantly decreased.


    They basically don''t have to worry about the Mountain Monkeys anymore and just have to make sure that the Earth Goris don''t catch them identally.


    With their current capability, it''s quite easy to guarantee such a result.


    In no time, the Mountain Monkeys started dropping like flies as a result of the Earth Goris attacking them without any care and recklessly.


    "What do we do now with the Earth Goris?!" Jude can''t help asking Kayn as he notices that there are barely any Mountain Monkeys left on their side.


    "Do you have any suggestions?!" Kayn only thought of dealing with the Mountain Monkeys. And because he was preupied with them, he had no time to think of a strategy to deal with the Earth Goris afterward.


    Jude stayed quiet as he thinks about how they can deal with the Earth Goris.


    Unlike the Mountain Monkeys, the Earth Goris aren''t easy opponents, especially now that they''ve gathered them together.


    Because of Kayn''s strategy, it pretty much made it next to impossible to fight against the Earth Goris a few at a time. They have no other choice now but to deal with each of the gathered groups of Earth Goris at the same time. Otherwise, they''ll be facing a lot of danger.


    Looking around his surroundings, Jude immediately notices that Friedrich and Chastine''s squad has adapted Kayn''s strategy as well. In addition to that, because of their capability, they were able to quickly catch up to the pace of the progress of their side.


    "This is good," Jude immediately thought of something. "Hold on for a moment, Kayn!"


    "Take your time," There were still a considerable number of Mountain Monkeys left, so there should still be enough time for Jude to think of how to deal with their next problem.


    Jude approached Kimberly and Cyril and starts discussing a proposition with the two.


    "That''s a good idea!"


    "It seems like it won''t only be them that will be having fun!"


    "Yep! Now it''s our turn to enjoy as well!"


    After a few minutes, Jude returned to his party and immediately informs Kayn what he, Kimberly, and Cyril nned to do.


    "That''s perfect!" Kayn expresses his support without asking any questions.


    It didn''t take long for all Mountain Monkeys to be killed. Jude, Kimberly, and Cyril had to lend a hand to finish all of them because the Earth Goris couldn''t harm the remaining Mountain Monkeys when there were only a few of them left as thetter decided to stay as far away as possible from the Earth Goris in fear of dying by their own hands.


    At that moment, Kayn and the rest who were luring the Earth Goris simultaneously run toward one certain location, which is where the whirlpools are taking ce.


    Needless to say, that wasn''t what they were aiming for.


    In the midst of running, Kayn, Jude, and Charles quickly stored all the Springwater Source Bonsai in their respective Storage Rings so that it won''t be destroyed by the Earth Goris following after them.


    The instant the Springwater Source Bonsai were taken away, the whirlpools slowly settled down until eventually, they all disappeared.


    That was the intention because clearly, the Earth Gori won''t continue to follow them if the whirlpools still exist.


    There is no problem or anything to worry about with removing the whirlpools. That''s because all Mountain Monkeys and Earth Goris that lived inside the holes up in the ceiling of the second floor either have drowned to death already due to the whirlpools or have died at the hands of the Earth Goris while thetter has joined the group that''s currently chasing after Kayn and the others.


    Time continues to pass as Kayn and the rest slowly got close to each other.


    "I''ll go on ahead first," Jude muttered as he flew in front of Kayn and the others.


    "We will catch up to you soon," Kayn reminded.


    "I understand,"


    Over at the other squad, Kimberly and Cyril also left their respective squad to meet with one another.

 Chapter 135 Raiding The Mountain Monkey’s Lair Part 6

    ?Chapter 135: Raiding the Mountain Monkey''s Lair part 6


    All of a sudden, the mana in the surroundings started behaving strangely. It was as if a strong force was trying to pull a dense amount of mana to a single location.


    At the location where the mana is being gathered, Jude, Kimberly, and Cyril could be seen hovering mid-air with their respective hands raised above their heads while chanting something under their breaths.


    Every time they chant, a spark would appear inside the mana storm, bing bigger and bigger over time.


    "Rush forward!" Kayn eximed loudly.


    Gilbert and Charles nodded their heads in response.


    Looking at the direction of Friedrich and Chastine''s squad, the two squads also hasten their speed to get to the center quickly.


    Whoosh!


    Without notice, a strong heat wave was felt all throughout the second floor of the Mountain Monkey''s Lair.


    The second floor is considerably huge in size, so for the heat to cover the entire floor only means that a huge source of heat is nearby.


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Turning their heads up, they could see a huge ball of mes hovering close to the ceiling of the cave.


    The ball of mes would asionally spew a tongue of me to the ground nearby, evaporating arge portion of the floodwater in an instant.


    Just that alone could exin just how hot the me was.


    "I didn''t expect to be seeing such a beautiful sight today," Kayn said in a remark.


    "<<ze spell>>," Natas muttered.


    <<ze spell>>, a special type of fire element magic spell. The reason why it is special is that it''s one of the few magic spells that doesn''t have a set limit in strength and power. Depending on who the caster is, the <<ze spell>> could be very powerful. In addition to that, it can actually be conjured by multiple Mages as well.


    What has appeared in front of everyone is a <<ze spell>> that''s been conjured by three powerful Mages, as such just imagine how much mana has been infused into creating it.


    The way the <<ze spell>> works is it''s like an ammo of a gun or some sort. Mages would grab a handful of the me out from the ball of mes and shoot it out like a bullet until it runs out of all mana infused into it.


    "This is insane¡­" Gilbert is feeling amazed at the sight.


    Charles can''t help asking. "Would it really be safe for us to get close to that?"


    "Just trust them," Kayn is confident that they would be safe as he could already imagine how this entire thing would develop. He''ll just leave the exnation to Jude, Kimberly, and Cyril.


    Whoosh!


    Kayn and the others were suddenly struck by some sort of magic spell and started levitating mid-air.


    <<Levitation spell>>


    "Get close to Jude!" Kayn flew straight in the direction of Jude as Gilbert and Charles closely followed behind.


    Underneath, the Earth Goris continued to follow closely.


    "Fly up!" Jude shouted as he stopped infusing mana to the <<ze spell>> and flew to the ceiling.


    The others also quickly followed suit.


    As soon as the infusion of mana stopped, the huge ball of me started falling down to the ground.


    "Eh?" Kayn felt slightly surprised. "Weren''t you supposed to use its mes to shoot the Earth Goris?"


    "No, we n on making it into a bomb,"


    "Smart,"


    Shooting out mes would be tedious. So, in some cases, Mages would just throw or drop the entire <<ze spell>> and turn it into a bomb.


    "Fly to the other side," Kayn motioned his hand as he changed direction to where they have run from.


    Since the <<ze spell>> is going to explode like a bomb, it would be best to get as far away as possible from it.


    The others didn''t ask any questions and simply followed after Kayn.


    In the next moment¡­


    BOOOM!


    A loud explosion that shock the entire save erupted, sending a powerful shockwave throughout the entire surrounding, and a bright red lightly covered shone through the cave for a few seconds.


    Looking back, a huge dense amount of smoke is being emitted from a huge hole in the previous location of the whirlpools.


    The floodwater slowly gets drained by the hole creating an annoying sizzling noise.


    Whoosh!


    Kayn and the others were suddenly pushed some meters away mid-air as the shockwave reached their location.


    "Oh no!"


    "Try to stabilize your footing!" Kayn eximed.


    "I am trying!"


    "How?!"


    "I haven''t done any flight traininggg!"


    Because of how strong the shockwave was, they experienced trouble stabilizing themselves in mid-air. Even Jude, Kimberly, and Cyril who are veteran Mages and have spent countless hours training their flight magic spell couldn''t bnce themselves.


    The only people that didn''t experience any of that were Kayn, Friedrich, and Chastine.


    "This is bad," Kayn muttered. If this continues, they''d fall to the ground really hard. He absolutely can''t let that happen since they''d be falling from a high ce.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Let''s quickly help them!" Friedrich dived down toward Kimberly.


    "I''ll take care of Cyril!" Chastine followed after.


    "I guess I''ll save Jude," Kayn also did the same.


    The reason why they are saving the Mages first is simply that they are the ones providing the <<Levitation spell>>. If they don''t save them, forget about saving the others, because they would have to worry about saving themselves first.


    "Kayn? But how?" Jude felt surprised at seeing Kayn levitating finely.


    "No time to exin!" Kayn grabbed Jude''s waist from both sides and tilted it in a straight pose so that he can find his bnce.


    "Seriously?" Jude felt disbelief after finally being able to get his bnce back.


    "Although you''re a Mage, you still have to work on your physical attributes sometimes," Kayn said in advice before diving down to save the others.


    Since Jude is now safe, he doesn''t have to worry about his <<Levitation spell>> anymore.


    Whoosh!


    Kayn saved Gilbert and set his bnce straight just like what he did with Jude.


    "Thank you," Gilbert appreciated the help.


    "Although you were close to getting your bnce, we don''t have any time to spare,"


    "I understand,"


    "Can you go and save the others?"


    "I should be able to,"


    "Then go," Kayn pushed Gilbert to the side as he dives again in order to save Charles.


    "Helppp!" Charles kept on shouting while twisting his body side to side.


    "Stop moving!"


    "How else am I supposed to find my bnce,"


    "Idiot¡­" Kayn shook his head.


    He grabbed Charle''s head to propel himself in a straight posture from a diving posture. After doing so, he slowly climbed down to thetter''s waist and finally straightened it up in order to help Charles get his bnce.


    "You''re walking in the path of bing a swordsman yet you don''t even know how to bnce your body," Kayn doubts Charles'' future in bing a good swordsman.


    "What does bnce even have to do with bing a swordsman?"


    "Everything," Kayn rolled his eyes. Without wasting any more time, he kicked Charles to the side in order to propel himself to Roshan.


    But before he could reach Roshan, Cedric bet him to it and he helped thetter find his bnce.


    Kayn gave a thumbs-up before looking for another person to help.


    "It seems like everyone has found their bnce," Kayn felt relief.


    Not long after, everyonended on the ground safely.


    Looking around their surroundings, they didn''t find a single Earth Gori left.


    "It''s clear!" Gilbert confirms as he, Natasha, and Jackson returned after going for a quick search on the crater.


    "But¡­" Gilbert turns around and pointed to the Goblins not far away from them. "We got another problem to worry about,"


    At the moment, the Goblins havee down from their huts and carried different weapons in their hands.


    "What do we do now? It doesn''t look like they intend on having a friendly conversation with us," Friedrich asked Kayn for advice.


    "Just wait," Kayn gestures his hand. "We''ve made a wall to keep them safe from everything. So, if they return our kindness with bloodshed, then there''s no way anything would have worked to get them to cooperate with us,"


    Although the Goblins pointed their weapons in their direction, they don''t seem to have any intention to move forward and approach them, at least not yet.


    As they continued to observe, they noticed a group of Goblins suddenly separating from the main group and went to scout out the crater nearby them.


    After some time, the group returns and informs a Goblin who seems to be their leader about their findings.


    The Goblin leader nodded his head before turning his head to look in their direction. With a gesture of his hand, the rest of the Goblins lowered their weapons.


    "See," Kayn stares at Friedrich with an ''I-told-you'' look on his face.


    "How would I know," Friedrich responded.


    "That''s the exact reason why you have to wait and see. You don''t understand something yet you choose to believe the worst oue, that''s one of the main causes for war," Kayn shook his head. After saying that, he started approaching the Goblin Leader.


    "How should I address you,"


    "I am Gnak, the Chieftain of this small group of Goblins,"


    "Nice to meet you Gnak, I am Kayn, the representative of this raiding party,"


    "It''s an honor to meet you Kayn and the rest of the brave warriors at the back," Gnak lowered his head to express. Raising his head again, he asks. "I won''t beat around the bush. My people want to know if you mean harm to them or not. I believe that you don''t, but they want to hear the answer from you and the other warriors,"


    "Our intention ining to this Mountain Monkey''s Lair was only to kill the Mountain Monkeys, Earth Goris, and their boss. Although we didn''t expect to be meeting some people from other races, it still doesn''t change our goal. However, that is subject to changes depending on whether you are a foe or a friend,"


    "We are of course a friend," Gnak immediately stated their position.


    "I am afraid that your words won''t be enough to prove that,"


    "Please enlighten me on how you want us to prove that we can be your friends and possibly even allies,"


    "Shall we go in and have a chat over there?" Kayn pointed at the hut where he had tied one of the Goblins inside.


    "Of course," Gnak nodded his head.


    With that being said, Kayn and Gnak both quickly went up to the hut.

 Chapter 136 Raiding The Mountain Monkey’s Lair Part 7

    ?Chapter 136: Raiding the Mountain Monkey''s Lair part 7


    "What do you mean by this?" Gnak pointed at one of his kins tied with a rope inside the hut.


    Kayn replied embarrassingly. "Don''t worry, I didn''t harm him. Though I did threaten him a bit,"


    He approached the Goblin and quickly removed the rope that tied his body.


    The instant the Goblin was untied, he immediately ran to the back of the Gnak.


    Kayn sat on the chair at the table and invited Gnak toe to sit with him. He then beckoned the other Goblin to guard the door which thetter followed after seeing Gnak giving him a signal that everything is fine.


    "How familiar are you with the Mountain Monkey''s Lair?" Kayn initiated their discussion.


    "I''ve basically lived my whole life in here. Although some things have changed over the years, I am still confident in my familiarity with this ce,"


    "That''s good. So, are you familiar with the boss of this Monster Lair?"


    Gnak slightly shivered. "Mountain Gori,"


    "Exactly!"


    "Wait¡­ are you telling me that you want us to fight against that beast? That would be¡­ impossible¡­"


    "You and you people will fight that beast. But it would be alongside us,"


    "Even so¡­ I still don''t think it is possible to defeat the Mountain Gori,"


    "We don''t have to defeat it. We only need enough manpower to distract it so that I can steal an item that I need,"


    "If you put it that way, I believe it''s possible. But, I just have some concerns, if it''s okay?" Gnak slightly hesitated.


    "You can freely state your conditions and concern, and we''ll discuss them," Kayn gestures with his hand.


    "You could probably guess it already, there are women and children amongst my people. If it''s okay with you, I don''t want them to participate in this fight,"


    "They''ll just be liabilities, so I agree. What else,"


    "I want to assign five men with them as an escort, and while the rest of use with you, I want them to get out of this mountain first,"


    "I am afraid that can''t be possible,"


    "Why?"


    "The only reason why you even bothered to have this discussion with me is that you want to protect your people. Once they get to safety, I highly doubt that you''d still stick with your words,"


    This isn''t the first that he had discussed establishing alliances with people from other races. So, he could easily understand the underlying meaning and the hidden agenda behind their lines.


    "Then what do you propose?"


    "You can assign five guards, but we will be putting all of them under protection," In other words, imprisoning them.


    "Do you mean just like the wall you''ve constructed to protect us from the fight?" Gnak glimpses at the remnants of the wall. "Then how can we be certain that you will truly set them free and not use them to threaten us once weplete what you''ve asked us to do?"


    "I guess all you can do is trust us," Kayn smirks. His side obviously has the upper hand in this discussion from the very start, so he ns to have it remain that way till the very end.


    "That would be¡­"


    "Look, I don''t know if you''re underestimating me because I am young or perhaps you still don''t understand your current situation clearly. But let me put it bluntly for you; you don''t have any other choice but to ept," Kayn said solemnly.


    "Our side is already being generous and merciful enough that we even bothered to have this conversation with you. If it was any other people, they would have immediately eliminated all of you right off the bat and be done with it,"


    "The only leverage you hold here is that we need your assistance in distracting the Mountain Gori. If you can''t do it, then there''s no use in keeping all of you alive,"


    "Do you understand now?"


    "I do¡­" Gnak finally decided to abandon what he was nning deep inside. He initially ns to betray and abandon Kayn and the others in the fight against the Mountain Gori if thetter had epted his condition of letting his people escape first. But it''s very evident right now that Kayn is not to be underestimated. This young man is not foolish and ignorant as he thought.


    "If you want to keep your people alive, just put your faith in us, and as long as you perform ordingly, we will not kill you. If you don''t believe me, take that kin of yours," Kayn pointed at the Goblin standing at the door. "As an example. I told him that as long as he doesn''t do anything stupid when I get back, I will let him live. See, he is well, fine, and most importantly, still breathing,"


    "Can I talk with my people?"


    "You have until the end of the day. If you still can''t give me an answer by then, we will do what he intended to do from the start,"


    Gulp!


    Kayn suddenly hears a gulping sound outside the door.


    With a smile, he added. "I think someone doesn''t want that either,"


    After saying that, Kayn stood up and left first to meet up with Friedrich and the others.


    Friedrich immediately asks. "How did it go?"


    Gilbert said in concern. "Did they try to do anything stupid?"


    "Was he able to understand you?" Chastine wonders.


    "Of course he can," Jude felt stupefied.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I was just asking," Chastine coldly harrumph.


    Kayn exins. "Everything is fine. I gave them until the end of the day to give me an answer. If they still don''t, you all know what to do,"


    "I kinda prefer that to happen," Natasha licks her lips.


    "Me too," Jackson muttered.


    "Okay, that''s enough. Let''s start setting up our camp so we can take a rest," Friedrich interrupted.


    ¡­..


    Not sure if it is really evening or morning because they are deep underground, but after a few hours of patiently waiting, Gnak came to find Kayn in their campsite.


    Gnak was blocked by Charles before he was let inside just to make sure that he isn''t carrying any harmful objects that could endanger Kayn''s life and safety.


    Inside the tent were Gilbert and Jude, the former being Kayn''s personal bodyguard and thetter the party leader.


    "You can sit first," Kayn pointed at a pillow opposite from him.


    Gnak did as he was asked.


    "So, have youe to a decision?"


    "Yes, but I have¡­ no, the children and women want me to inform you of their request,"


    "Let me hear it,"


    "They agree to be temporarily imprisoned while the rest of the men fight alongside your warriors. But, they want you to give them weapons,"


    "Why?"


    "No matter how hard I persuade them, they are still suspicious of you and your people. They don''t believe yet that you would really let them out once everything is done. So, in case something bad happens and you don''t stick with your promise, they want to at the very least be able to fight for their lives,"


    "That''s truly admirable," Kayn pped his hands a few times. "What do you two think?"


    "I don''t have any problem with that," Gilbert smiled.


    "Regardless, we intend on keeping our word once we are done with everything," Jude nodded his head.


    "You heard them. We will begin distributing the weapons they need before we begin making our way for the boss fight. In the meantime, go and prepare your men and tell them to rest well because they will be going through a hard battle tomorrow,"


    "Thank you," Gnak expressed his appreciation before leaving the tent.


    As soon as Gnak left, Friedrich and Chastine got inside the tent. They sat on a chair with solemn looks on their faces.


    "What do you two think?"


    "You''ve handled it quite well," Friedrich still can''t believe that Kayn was able to make the Goblins cooperate with them.


    "You truly deserve the recognition of Old Chief George!" Chastine expressed his amazement.


    "Enough with yourpliments. So, is it alright for the two of you?"


    "Giving them a weapon or not giving them a weapon doesn''t matter much for us. All we need is their assistance in dealing with the boos. Once that is over, they can go wherever they want to go and whatever they please,"


    Chastine agrees. "That''s right. It would even be better if we can defeat the Mountain Gori with their help,"


    "I doubt that," Kayn isn''t confident in that part.


    He had seen and even experienced fighting against Mountain Goris in the past.


    Although their side has the numerical advantage, the Mountain Gori is not the same as Earth Goris.


    Unlike Earth Goris who aren''t still proficient in the use of their Gifts and natural ability, the Mountain Gori is talented in both. Not to mention, it possesses intelligenceparable to theirs, or higher depending on their life experiences.


    If they were fighting against a Mountain Gori just now, all of those strategies they''ve used would barely affect it.


    Flooding using the Springwater Source Bonsai? It would simply create a wall around it so that the water won''t be able to reach it.


    Whirlpools? It would cover the holes so the whirlpools would stop.


    Kiting? It would chase, but not to the extent of falling into a trap.


    <<ze spell>>? It would definitely run away just like them and not receive the attack directly.


    The best way to deal with the Mountain Gori is none other than to sh with it directly.


    Find its weakness and take advantage of it.


    Slowly chip away at its health.


    And fight head-on.


    They can use strategies, but they should expect the Mountain Gori would do something to counter it.


    "We''ll see about that tomorrow,"

 Chapter 137 Raiding The Mountain Monkey’s Lair Part 8

    ?Chapter 137: Raiding the Mountain Monkey''s Lair part 8


    The next day came.


    Kayn and the others along with over fifty Goblins travel on a slope leading down to the third floor of the Mountain Monkey''s Lair.


    The ground was wet, muddy, and asionally slippery. It''s very evident that the reason for this was the flood they have created yesterday. Because there was no wall to block the water from reaching the entrance of the third floor, it also flowed inside.


    Fortunately for them, there were many patches of stgmites around that they can hold onto and use as something like a handlebar to assist them as they walk down. Otherwise, there''s a huge chance they will slide down below.


    Needless to say, not everyone was lucky enough to walk safely. Along the way, Chastine and Cedric had already healed quite a few Goblins that suffered from falls.


    It can''t be helped because unlike Humans that have five toes, Goblins only have three to four, thus significantly lowering their gripping power down in their feet. Topensate for that though, they are nimble and very skillful in climbing, so they were at least able to minimize the damage they would have likely received in their fall.


    As they reached the end of the slope, they were immediately greeted by a huge puddle of water from the flood. Some patches of puddle could also be seen surrounding it.


    They made plenty of sttering noises as they walked in the puddles, making them careful every time they make another step as they still haven''t found the Mountain Gori yet and they are afraid that the noise would bring them any dangers.


    Contrary to what they have expected, the third floor was considerably huge in size. Until now, they still couldn''t see the other side of the wall.


    "Should we split up?" Friedrich can''t help suggesting.


    "I don''t think that''s a good idea," Chastine express her concern.


    "Chastine''s right," Kayn agreed with Chastine. "We don''t have a clue where the Mountain Gori is, and we are not even certain whether it''s awake or resting right now. If it''s thetter and it''s just observing our actions as we speak, then splitting up would spell danger for all of us,"


    To make it short, they are not going to do something else until they have gathered enough information.


    As for how?


    At this moment, Natas has gone ahead to scout for where the Mountain Gori is. At the same time, he also wants to find the Mountain Heart Flower.


    Kayn ns to wait until Natas returns before suggesting doing something else.


    "In the meantime, why don''t we light up some certain areas?" Kayn pointed at a patch of stgmites right in front of them. "Just put some light spell in there so that we can see a bit more and also prevent walking in the same ce we''ve already looked,"


    Jude, Kimberly, and Cyril nodded their heads and began putting lights in patches of stgmites as they continued to walk.


    Gilbert suddenly expressed. "I just realize now. This area is freaking huge. I thought boss rooms would be smallerpared to the other floors,"


    "That''s also what I thought," Cedric nodded his head.


    "That''s normally the case. But there''s always going to be exceptions every now and then," Jude exined. As someone that raids Monster Lairs for a living, he has experienced situations simr to this many times.


    Whoosh!


    All of a sudden, a loud noise was heard behind them and a light orb that the Mages have cast a while ago suddenly disappeared.


    "As expected," Kayn immediately unsheathed his Molten Ice Sword.


    Monsters like the Mountain Gori could detect if ever another monster or a person gets close to them. And depending on how strong they are, the diameter of their perimeter would vary ordingly.


    "Men, get into formation," Gnak immediately issued an order to the Goblins.


    In a quick manner, all Guardians came into the front, the Knights behind them, and the Marksmens farther behind the line.


    Swiftly, Kayn and the rest covered the noticeable weakness of the Goblins'' formation ¡ª their side and rear.


    Roshan and Carter positioned themselves on either side. Friedrich, Charles, Kayn, Gilbert, Natasha, and Jackson are at the rear. While the rest are at the center of the Goblin formation.


    Gnak positioned himself in front, facing the direction of where the light have just gone off.


    In the next moment, a huge rock was thrown at the Guardians.


    Whoosh!


    Boom!


    Despite the strong defense, a few of the Goblins still got sted away from the formation.


    "Quickly get back!" Gnak shouted.


    Picking themselves up quickly, the Guardians run to return to the formation.


    "Ah!"


    A shadow suddenly pulled one of the Guardians into the dark.


    "AHHH!"


    A loud cry of pain shook everybody''s eardrum as that Guardian started shouting in the dark.


    After a few seconds, the noise died down and the surroundings turned quiet once more.


    "He''s dead," Kayn uttered.


    There was no need to say it. Everyone understood that the moment the Guardian stopped shouting in pain.


    It was exactly like what Kayn had said before. The Mountain Gori is totally unlike the Earth Gori.


    "Its Gift is probably rted to the shadow element considering that it likes to take advantage of the darkness," Friedrich immediately realized.


    "I see," Kayn also agrees with Friedrich now that he thinks about it. He has experienced fighting against Earth Goris in the past. In all of those experiences, he fought with them head-on. This is his first time experiencing fighting against an Earth Gori that takes advantage of the darkness.


    "Light the cave up!" Friedrich eximed.


    Whoosh!


    Three tongues of mes were shoot out from the center of the formation, instantly lighting up the nearby surroundings.


    Whoosh!<novelnext></novelnext>


    Whoosh!


    Whoosh!


    This time, they can finally see silhouettes of the Mountain Gori moving swiftly in a circle around them.


    "It''s looking for another chance to attack," Friedrich realized. He nodded his head at Gnak and said. "Let''s try to disrupt its movement,"


    "Marksmen, start shooting everywhere!" Gnak issued anothermand.


    Whoosh!


    A series of arrows started raining from farther from the mes.


    Friedrich''s n is proven sessful as the silhouette suddenly disappeared.


    "Prepare for another attack," Gnak sent a warning.


    This time, all the Guardians put a lot more force in their arms and feet.


    As expected¡­


    Whoosh!


    Another huge rock was thrown in their direction.


    However, this time, it came from the side.


    Bang!


    Roshan blocked the rock with his shield quite easily.


    "Not on my watch!"


    Contrary to thest time though¡­


    Whoosh!


    Bang!


    Carter blocked the attack.


    Whoosh!


    Bang!


    Charles sent a Sword Wave to destroy the rock.


    "We''re getting yed," Kayn muttered.


    "What do you mean?" Friedrich looked at Kayn.


    "The Mountain Gori is trying to understand our formation. It already knew that there are Guardians in front, and through those three attacks, it was able to understand that there are two powerful Guardians at both sides, and one Knight at the rear," Kayn exins. "If my guess is correct, it''s going to attack in the center next,"


    Just like what Kayn had guessed.


    Whoosh!


    "Don''t let the Mages attack!" Kayn eximed.


    "On it!"


    Whoosh!


    Whoosh!


    Natasha and Jackson used their <<Cleaving Cut>> skill to cut the rock.


    A barrier was immediately created to protect the formation from the falling small debris.


    "Are you intending to confuse it?" Friedrich wonders.


    "As if that would work. I am just preventing the Mages from using their skills and having them in cooldowns,"


    The Mountain Gori isn''t stupid even though it is a monster. It obviously knows that there are Mages, especially after what transpired with the mes just now.


    That is why he doesn''t want the Mages to use any skills because the Mountain Gori would definitely take advantage of their cooldowns.


    "I didn''t think of that,"


    "Make sure to only use your skills when it is necessary. If not, just rely on your natural strength,"


    "Noted," Friedrich nodded in understanding.


    The others also responded positively.


    Honestly, they''ve experienced a lot of Monster Lair raids in the past. But this is the first time they''ve experienced fighting against an intelligent monster, not to mention an intelligent boss monster.


    In most cases, the boss monster would proudly disy its strength and recklessly sh with them. It would only start showing intelligence once its health is low and its situation is dangerous.


    "Never ever underestimate primates. They might be monsters, but their intellectual capacity could sometimes be equal to ours," That''s the exact reason why the Mountain Gori is a very difficult monster to deal with. Taking out the fact that they are monsters, they would be no different from them.


    "Take these," Kayn started handing out Luminescent Stones to everyone. Jude bought these from the Sea Spring Vige thest time, and he had bought close to a thousand of them because they are sold in kilograms due to howmon and easily found they are and very cheap as well.


    "Throw them everywhere,"


    Using Luminescent Stones to brighten up the ce is much betterpared to using magic spells. In addition to that, it saves mana and the only way to turn off the lights they are providing is to destroy them, which is barely going to help because he has plenty of them.


    "This should slightly prevent it from using its Gift,"

 Chapter 138 Raiding The Mountain Monkey’s Lair Part 9

    ?Chapter 138: Raiding the Mountain Monkey''s Lair part 9


    The Mountain Gori was no longer able to continue hiding in the dark the moment everyone started throwing Luminescent Stones everywhere.


    Standing in front of everyone is a ten feet tall Gori that''s covered by hardened rocks in some parts of its body and a mossy substance. Its body is not hugepared to the Earth Gori''s, which exins why it was able to move fast and nimble in the dark.


    However, unlike other Mountain Goris, the one in front of them has dark-colored hair that covers its skin, clearly because of its Gift.


    "We would have only seen its silhouette if we had let it continue moving in the darkness," Friedrich said in a remark.


    Not wanting its presence to be revealed, the Mountain Gori started trying to destroy the Luminescent Stones. But it soon realized its effort is useless because there are just too many of them, and moreover, every time it destroys one, its enemies simply threw more.


    With a loud bellow, the Mountain Gori went for a frontal assault.


    Bang!


    A loud sound echoes as the Mountain Gori smashed its body into the shield of the Guardians.


    "This is what I was talking about!"


    The Guardians were more than prepared to take on a frontal assault from the Mountain Gori, so they barely took a step back after receiving its body smash.


    "Marksmen! Fire!"


    Whoosh!


    A barrage of arrows rains toward the Mountain Gori.


    In an attempt to block the arrows, the Mountain Gori waves its hand mid-air, parrying most of the arrows while letting some hit its non-vital parts.


    "I told you so," Kayn muttered. It was exactly like what he had previously said; barely any strategies would work on the Mountain Gori.


    "Mages, shoot it with fireballs!" Kayn ordered.


    Whoosh!


    Jude, Kimberly, and Cyril each fired a fireball at the currently preupied Mountain Gori.


    Boom!


    A series of explosions sounded as the Mountain Gori received a direct attack. As a result to it, a few of its rock armor fall out from its body.


    The moment the rock armor fell from its body, a patchless skin was revealed.


    Kayn is already well-versed in dealing with Mountain Goris, so he advises, "Focus your attack on its armor!"


    "Understood!" Everyone replied.


    Whoosh!


    As the Mountain Gori stands its ground, dozens of attacks are aimed at its rock armor, relentlessly assaulting the beast.


    This causes the Mountain Gori to bellow loudly in pain.


    "It''s effective! Continue!" Gilbert felt delighted.


    All of a sudden¡­


    <<Cleaving Shadow>>


    Three cleaving ws simr to those of a sword wave travel through the formation of the Guardians.


    Whoosh!


    Many of the Guardians were instantly flung to the side as a result of it.


    Immediately, the barrage stopped in fear that they will hit theirrades.


    Taking advantage of that result, the Mountain Gori smashed its body once again directly through the open pathway.


    Boom!


    In the end, the Knights were sent flying away, hitting some of the Marksmen in the process.


    As simple as that, half of the formation was broken by the Moutain Gori.


    However, this was what Kayn nned on doing.


    Although he didn''t expect a <<Cleaving Shadow>>, he has been looking for an opportunity to surround the Mountain Gori on all sides.


    "Surround it!" Kayn ordered.


    Without wasting any time, Roshan and Carter came to the front and started tanking the Mountain Gori.


    Boom!


    The Mountain Gori smashed its hands at Roshan''s shield.


    Bang!


    Roshan easily held his ce after receiving the full force of the attack.


    <<Shield Bash>>


    Carter attacked the Mountain Gori to get its aggro away from Roshan.


    Boom!


    This time, Carter received the attack.


    Bang!


    But just like Roshan, he was able to easily handle the attack.


    <<Shield Bash>>


    Another <<Shield Bash>> to the rear from Roshan instantly made the Mountain Gori turn its body around once more.


    In both <<Shield Bash>>, Roshan and Carter specifically targeted the areas with the rock armor on them in order to weaken it orpletely remove it.


    Between those two attacks, the Knights and Marksmen continuedunching their attacks, this includes Kayn, Friedrich, and Charles.


    Gilbert, Natasha, and Jackson also asionally sent an attack from different angles.


    As time continues to pass, the rock armor was slowly being chipped outpletely from the body of the Mountain Gori. At the same time, it became more and more aggressive.


    Whoosh!


    The entire Goblin formation was finally broken off.


    This time, the fight is up to Kayn and the others.


    ng!


    Sword wave!


    Sword Dance!


    Sword wave!


    Sword wave!<novelnext></novelnext>


    Sword wave!


    Kayn, Friedrich, and Charlesbined their skills together to form a very huge and powerful sword wave attack.


    Boom!


    The Mountain Gori directly received the attack, creating a huge horizontal mark on its chest where blood oozed out.


    Bang!


    Boom!


    St!


    After some time, all rock armor around the Mountain Gori was finally removed.


    Contrary to what everyone was expecting though, the Mountain Gori suddenly busted out in rage.


    AHHH!


    The Mountain Gori issued a loud human-like cry as its body turned red.


    This marks that the Mountain Gori is close to dying.


    <<Cleaving Shadow>>


    Unlike thest time, the <<Cleaving Shadow>> released by the Mountain Gori was even bigger and more powerful.


    Boom!


    "Where the heck is Natas!" Kayn can''t help shouting inwardly.


    This was the exact reason why Kayn never believed even the slightest bit that they can defeat the Mountain Gori.


    They might have been able to fight the Mountain Gori equally when it was still in its natural and original state. But at this point in time, it has be impossible to defeat the Mountain Gori. With thetter in full rage, it has caused both its defense and attack to increase significantly to the point that they have to constantly dodge its attack. Even Roshan and Carter could barely block one of its attacks.


    As if hearing Kayn summon, Natas finally revealed himself.


    "I''ve found it!" Natas eximed while pointing in a specific direction. "The Mountain Heart Flower is at the center of the cave!"


    Landing beside Natas, Kayn whispers. "In that case, why did it take you so long to find it?"


    "I thought that it would be somewhere else. So, I left the center and started to look at the areas that are hidden and hard to find,"


    Knowing about that, Kayn truly can''t me Natas anymore. Even if he was in the shoes of thetter, he would also do the same thing. After all, no one would put a valuable object right at the very center of the map where not only is it open, but it could easily be found as well.


    "Everyone, let''s start kiting it to the center of the cave!" Kayn eximed. He looks at Natas and added. "Lead the way!"


    Immediately, Kayn started directing everyone to the center of the cave. No one understood the reason why, and he also can''t be bothered to exin the reason. Otherwise, he won''t be able to give a satisfying answer as to how exactly he knows the location of the Mountain Heart Flower.


    Boom!


    A series of explosions sounded as they continued to run.


    Looking back, they could see the Mountain Gori sting each and every patch of stgmites that blocks its way.


    "Why did I think that we can even defeat that?" Gilbert started losing hope of defeating the Mountain Gori.


    "That was never our goal in the first ce," Kayn muttered.


    "We''ll have to find the Mountain Heart Flower as fast as possible. Or else, we would have to leave this ce without it," Friedrich reminded everyone that they will leave as soon as things be worst for them.


    "Gnak, start evacuating your men to safety. In that way, we won''t have to worry about your men anymore," Kayn orders. He already witnessed the sort of character Gnak is. In his opinion, thetter won''t do something to betray them.


    "Are you sure?" Gnak starts hesitating. Deep inside of him, he wants to continue fighting so that his allies won''t die. He doesn''t even care if some of his men would have to be sacrificed for it.


    "Just go!"


    "But¡­"


    "The more you hesitate, the less likely you and your men would be able to get to safety,"


    "But how about all of you?"


    "Change of ns,"


    "What''s the new n? Maybe we can help!"


    "The new n doesn''t involve any of you. So, just go and leave!"


    "I¡­"


    "Go!" Friedrich eximed.


    "You and the rest of your men are nothing more than liabilities right now. If you stay, we would have to constantly protect all of you,"


    "That¡­" Gnak finally realized. "Just be safe, all of you!"


    With that being said, Gnak immediately led his men to the exit of the third floor.


    As soon as Gnak and his men disappeared, the burden on their shoulders lightened a bit. They could finally focus on running away and dodging the attacks of the Mountain Gori.


    "Do you have a clue to where the Mountain Heart Flower is?" Friedrich can''t help asking after he noticed Kayn moving in a certain direction.


    "Not sure. But if there''s any ce anyone of us would suspect first, it would be at the very center of this cave,"


    "Who would even do something as stupid and ignorant as that?!" Gilbert instantly rejected Kayn''s thoughts.


    "Just be silent and follow me," Kayn can''t be bothered arguing with Gilbert.


    The disappearance of Gnak and his men made it very easy to kite the Mountain Gori. Right now, they could even pause for a bit tounch a few attacks before continuing to run away.


    "Maybe if we repeat this over and over again, we will be able to defeat the Mountain Gori," Gilbert expressed his thoughts.


    "Stop spouting nonsense," Jude rebutted. All that they are doing is just buying time to find the Mountain Heart Flower.


    "What''s that over there?!" Chastine pointed at a glittering object not far from them.


    "What the heck!" Gilbert was instantly rendered in disbelief.


    "Next time, just trust Kayn," Charles patted Gilbert''s shoulder.


    "Let''s move, quick!"


    As soon as they reached the glistering object, Kayn didn''t waste a single second as he grabbed the Mountain Heart Flower and stored it inside his Storage Ring.


    "It''s time to get out of this ce!" Kayn right away ordered everyone to escape.


    Friedrich''s face looked worried. "Hopefully Gnak and the others didn''t stop to wait for us,"


    Chastine shook her head in denial. "I doubt that. With the look on Gnak''s face earlier, he would definitely wait for us at the exit,"


    "Until now, I still can''t believe that we were able to make those Goblins our allies," Friedrich expresses amazement as he glimpses at Kayn.


    "Just trust Kayn," Charles interrupted.


    Friedrich chuckles. "I am starting to,"


    In the next moment, everyone changed their direction toward the exit of the third floor.

 Chapter 139 Raiding The Mountain Monkey’s Lair Part 10

    ?Chapter 139: Raiding the Mountain Monkey''s Lair part 10


    The Mountain Gori didn''t notice that Kayn already stole the Mountain Heart Flower because of how fast he moved. It was also not in the clear mind to think clearly.


    "Gilbert, you can go on ahead to check if Gnak and his men are really waiting at the entrance," Kayn issued an order. He also believes Chastine''s im.


    Even though Goblins are known to be greedy and cunning creatures, they are also extremely loyal and brave in a positive way when ites to their allies and friends. That''s the main reason why he changed his mind and thought of forming an alliance with the Goblins instead of killing all of them.


    "Alright," Gilbert easily understood what Kayn meant as he heard Friedrich and Chastine''s conversation just now.


    As soon as Gilbert disappeared, Kayn and the rest momentarily stopped to buy him some time.


    "Just like what we always did!" Kayn reminded.


    Bang!


    Roshan and Carter sent abo <<Shield Bash>> to the Mountain Gori.


    Boom!


    With two <<Shield Bash>>, the Mountain Gori was instantly shoved to the ground.


    "Hold it tight!" Kayn muttered as he passed by Roshan and Carter.


    "Come on!" Friedrich and the other meleebatants followed closely behind.


    ng!


    Slit!


    St!


    A series of attacks were sent on the helplessly struggling Mountain Gori.


    Boom!


    The Mountain Gori finally broke free.


    "ROOOARRR!"


    "Retreat!" Kayn and the others immediately jumped backward to distance themselves from the Mountain Gori.


    Whaash!


    Three tongues of me were sent sting down at the face of the Moutain Gori which subsequently made it quiet down. Its already dark skin darkened even more, and there were no longer any patches of hair around its face, evidently showing just how many times it has been burned.


    Around the huge body of the Mountain Gori, simr burn marks and effects could also be seen. Those were the results of the previous attempt to slow it down earlier ago.


    Kayn and the others immediately used that opportunity to go behind Roshan and Carter.


    Sword wave!


    Kayn, Friedrich, and Charles merged their sword waves.


    Booom!


    The Mountain Gori retreated by a few steps.


    "Run!"


    Without wasting any time, Kayn and the others immediately run away.


    "ROOOARRR!"


    The Mountain Gori could only bellow loudly as if to express its helplessness. It punched both of its hands on the ground, sending some tremors in the surroundings, before lunging itself to chase after them.


    Friedrich knitted its brows. "If I reckon correctly, we''ve probably repeated this attack nearly ten times now. Yet, the Mountain Gori still looks like it has a lot of strength left,"


    Chastine heaves a sigh. "We simply don''t stand any chance in defeating it,"


    Gritting his teeth, Jude added, "Let''s just get out of here. Staying any longer only makes it even more nerve-wracking,"


    "Yeah. It almost feels like if we make one wrong move, we''d be instantly endangering the entire party," Roshan clenched his shield and sword tightly.


    Kayn silently listens as he agrees with all theirments.


    "I believe it''s actually possible for your party to defeat the Mountain Gori," Natas expresses his thoughts. "If you, Friedrich, and Charles use <<Outburst>> at the same time, you''d be able to equally contest against it in strength,"


    "Not defeat it," Kayn narrowed his eyes.


    "Hear me out. If that''s not enough, Roshan, Carter, Natasha, and Jackson could also activate their <<Outburst>> skill,"


    "That''s very risky," Kayn shook his head in rejection.


    "Why?"


    "Even if we could defeat the Mountain Gori, our entire party would weaken as a result. Even though I trust Gnak and his men, I don''t trust their females and children. Fate knows what those Goblins would do once they see us in a weak state,"


    "Fair enough," Natas understood. He had nearly forgotten the other Goblins that stayed on the second floor.


    After running for quite some time, Kayn and the others finally see the exit of the third floor.


    To their horror, they instantly notice Gilbert still persuading Gnak and his men who choose to stubbornly stay and wait.


    Kayn could hear Gilbert saying. "Now that they''re here, can we finally start evacuating?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    In the next moment, the army of Goblins started running up the slope.


    "Those idiots!" Friedrich can''t help swearing.


    Kayn could only helplessly smile. Now that things have turned out like this. "I''ll give you the free will to choose whether to trouble yourselves saving them or just disregard thempletely,"


    Since Gnak disregarded his kind intention, the former couldn''t me him and the others anymore if they choose to abandon them.


    .....


    One at a time, Kayn and the others started passing by the other Goblins who are slow at running up the slope.


    "I hope you realize the risk of your choice," Kayn kindly reminded Gnak onest time after reaching thetter.


    It''s quite evident already that the choice Kayn and the others have made is to abandon Gnak''s men.


    "We are fully aware of it," Gnak responded with a calm look on his face.


    "Why?" Friedrich couldn''t understand it.


    "We are simply returning the favor,"


    "Favor? I don''t believe you owe us enough favor to the point that you''re putting your kins at risk of dying," Chastine wonders.


    Gnak immediately understood something. "I guess you haven''t realized yet,"


    "What you''ve bestowed to my kins is not just a chance to escape the Mountain Monkey''s Lair, but also a better life for them and for our future generation,"


    "If you hadn''te and save us, our next generation would most likely still continue to live in this god-forsaken ce and be at the mercy of the hands of the Mountain Monkeys and Earth Goris,"


    "Such a life is no different from being abandoned, or perhaps worst. And none of us clearly wants to continue living under that condition,"


    "In order to repay you for what you''ve given us, we collectively agreed yesterday to sacrifice our lives if ever it''s necessary. I might not be as smart as the rest of you, but I could still easily understand that this is that moment,"


    "So, all of you don''t have to worry about us," Gnak smiles in reassurance.


    Kayn understood. "How about the remaining Goblins? What should we tell them?"


    "We''ve already informed them. That was the main reason why we asked you to give them weapons. If all goes ording to n, they should have probably escaped already and reached the first floor,"


    "I understand that such an action is considered a deal breaker for you. But I hope you won''t harm them in exchange for our sacrifice," Gnak slightly lowered his head to beg Kayn.


    After hearing Gnak''s words, Kayn and the others can''t help looking at each other.


    Although they are speechless to say anything, their eyes weremunicating with each other on how they should respond.


    After some time, each one of them simultaneously releases a heavy sigh.


    This instantly causes Gnak to be surprised.


    "Did I do something wrong?"


    "Quite the opposite actually," Kayn tapped Gnak''s shoulder. "Congrattions, you''ve moved us with your sincerity!"


    Looking back at the others, he asked. "Are you certain about your decision?"


    "Do we even have a choice?" Friedrich chuckled.


    "Don''t misunderstand, it''s only because our situation right now is favorable. That is the only reason why we are willing to do this," Chastine pridefully exins.


    "Enough with the excuse. Let''s just get this on with and go rest!" Jude waves his hand, quickly taking out a wand from his Storage Ring. "We might as well go all out for it,"


    "I guess you''re right," Friedrich took out his main sword.


    Chastine and the others also did the same.


    "I might as well do it too," Kayn finally decided to take Natas'' previous suggestion seriously. "All of you, please hear me out,"


    Friedrich and the others turn to look at Kayn.


    "I believe that all of us possess the <<Outburst>> skill, am I right?"


    Friedrich, Roshan, Gilbert, Charles, Carter, Natasha, and Jackson nodded.


    "I''ll say this upfront. I want all of us to activate the <<Outburst>> skill during this fight. I understand fully well the consequences of doing so, and that is why I want all of you to trust mepletely,"


    "The more of us use the <<Outburst>> skill, the quicker we could finish the fight, thus the amount of time for our weakened state would be minimized to the barest minimum,"


    "As long as you all follow me, we will be able to finish this fight quickly. If you have any concern, I suggest that you be fast about it," Kayn glimpses down below where the Mountain Gori is currently fighting against a group of injured Goblins that choose to stay in order to buy the others some time to increase their distance from them.


    "How about you just stop talking and focus on doing what you have to do?" Jude rolled his eyes as he started walking down.


    "Jude''s right," Friedrich quickly followed suit.


    Chastine added. "As much as I want to continue with this conversation, I just don''t have any time to stay and listen,"


    "In other words, we know," Gilbert muttered as he walked past Kayn.


    "..."


    The rest also said their own piece as they walked down one after the other.


    "In that case, let''s begin!"

 Chapter 140 Raiding The Mountain Monkeys Lair Part 11

    ?Chapter 140 Raiding the Mountain Monkey''s Lair part 11


    Bang!


    Roshan and Carter shoot forward like a rocket toward the Mountain Gori with their shield in front.


    Boom!


    Following a loud noise, the Mountain Gori retreated a few steps away. It raised its head soon after and saw the group that caused it to be in this state running to it.


    ROOOARRR!


    The Mountain Gori bellowed angrily as it then smashed the ground and lunged itself forward for its counterattack.


    Whooosh!


    Boom!


    Bang!


    As it makes its way forward, all nearby Goblins were powerlessly sent flying to the side.


    Seeing the iing Mountain Gori, Kayn and the others braced themselves.


    Boom!


    Roshan and Carter suddenly appeared in front of them and blocked the Mountain Gori with great difficulty.


    Four long streaks could be seen on the ground, marking the distance it took before the duo was eventually able to hold the force of the Mountain Gori''s body smash.


    Looking at their arms, one could easily notice that it has now be crimson red and is slightly trembling from the pain.


    "This won''t do!" Roshan eximed.


    "We''ll be activating it first!" Carter looks at Kayn.


    Kayn nodded in response. "Alright!"


    << Outburst >>


    In the next moment, both Roshan and Carter release a powerful aura from their bodies. Their muscles started bulging in size followed by their height increasing significantly.


    Smoke could be seen being released from their bodies as the color of their skin turnedpletely crimson which shone from the light reflected on it.


    << Shield Bash >>


    Unlike thest time, the Mountain Gori not only retreated but a deep mark caused by the end of the shield was also left on its body.


    This clearly implies that they are now able to cause a noticeable degree of damage to the Mountain Gori.


    With their swords in their hands, Roshan and Carter made turns attacking the Mountain Gori and forcing it to retreat away from Kayn and the others.


    Kayn and the others didn''t waste the opportunity as they split up and went for both sides of the Mountain Gori.


    St!


    Whoosh!


    Bang!


    The Mountain Gori releases a painful cry as it bears the stinging feeling from the series of attacks it received.


    Whoosh!


    Soon after, the Mountain Gori swings both of its arms around to disrupt Kayn and the others'' assault.


    In response, they swiftly jumped backward to dodge the attack.


    <<me Burst!>>


    Whoosh!


    Boom!


    Exploding breaths of fire instantaneously barrage the Mountain Gori in front.


    Seeing another opportunity, Kayn and the others lunge forward for another assault.


    Waving his hand, Kayn took out a dagger from his Storage Ring. With the Molten Ice Sword in his right hand and a dagger in his left hand, he waves both of his arms together with great efficiency and rhythm.


    Jumping to another side, heunches another series of attacks on a vital spot in the knee of the Mountain Gori.


    Grrr!


    As if something had snapped, the Mountain Gori''s knee bend forward and its body right after loses bnce. It experienced such excruciating pain that it bellowed loudly which echoed throughout the entire cave.


    ROOOAAARRR!


    "Go!"


    With the state of the Mountain Gori, Kayn and the others continued with their assault.


    Rolling its body around, the Mountain Gori sent a kick.


    Kayn quickly raised his sword.


    ? Boom!


    He retreated a few meters away before eventually being able to find his bnce.


    Although its knee has been injured, the Mountain Gori was still able to slowly get up.


    Before the Mountain Gori could get back up, Friedrich and the others swiftly distanced themselves.


    Roshan and Carter stepped forward to start tanking once more.


    However, this time, the Mountain Goripletely ignored the two. It turned its attention toward Kayn as its eyes turned into rage.


    "It seems like it has smelled the Mountain Heart Flower from you," Natas said in a remark.


    "This came a lotter than I expected," Kayn was already prepared for that.


    Without hesitation, Kayn moved at an angle where he could use Roshan as a blockage. He isn''t worried about thetter since he is a tank. In addition to that, by doing so he is diverting the Mountain Gori''s attention back to the tank.


    "Good work!" Roshanplimented.


    <<Shield Bash>>


    Boom!


    The Mountain Gori started feeling dizzy as the shield directly hit its head. It wasn''t paying much attention to Roshan, that''s why he was able to get a critical hit.


    Regardless, the Mountain Gori shoved Roshan to the side as it lunged toward Kayn.


    "As expected," Kayn muttered.


    Instead of running away, Kayn didn''t shy away as he runs forward to face the Mountain Gori.


    "What are you doing?!" Natas slightly panicked.


    Kayn didn''t bother to reply.


    As the distance between Kayn and the Mountain Gori closes, he suddenly waves his sword to release a sword wave.


    Whoosh!<novelnext></novelnext>


    Because of the small distance, the Mountain Gori didn''t have enough time to defend itself.


    Boom!


    The Mountain Gori retreated a few meters.


    While the Mountain Gori was distracted, Kayn slid under its feet. He quickly stood straight and continued running in order to reach Roshan.


    Kayn immediately hid behind Roshan.


    "I thought you were intending to have a face-off against the Mountain Gori," Roshan can''t help chuckling.


    "I am not foolish enough to believe that I can take it on," Kayn didn''t feel embarrassed.


    "You''ve definitely angered it with what you did earlier," Carter spoke behind.


    "No," Kayn shook his head. "It seemed to have smelled that I have stolen the Mountain Heart Flower,"


    "How?" Carter felt surprised. "You didn''t even touch it,"


    He had witnessed quite clearly that Kayn used mana to pick the Mountain Heart Flower and store it inside his Storage Ring.


    "If it wasn''t from my hands, then I guess it''s from my Storage Ring,"


    "Maybe the Mountain Heart Flower had left some fragrance," Carter realized.


    "Stop talking! We got a probleming at us right now!" Roshan warned.


    Boom!


    Roshan and Carter immediately blocked the Mountain Gori.


    "I have to use it now," Kayn uttered.


    <<Outburst>>


    Kayn finally activated his skill.


    With <<Outburst>> activated, all of Kayn''s stats increased by 50%.


    "Now let''s try the limit of my full strength," Kayn jumped on the back of Roshan beforeunching himself up above the head of the Mountain Gori.


    <<Sword Dance>>


    Kayn immediately waves his sword.


    ng!


    A sizeable wound was left on the body of the Mountain Gori.


    "Finally,"


    After the Mountain Gori got enraged, he was unable to inflict any noticeable damage to it. So it made him feel motivated and his confidence was boosted again after seeing his attack having some effect.


    <<Outburst>>


    Friedrich and Charles simrly activated their <<Outburst>> skill as well.


    They bothunch an offensive attack following closely after Kayn.


    A gaping wound in a form of a cross was left on the chest of the Mountain Gori.


    The Mountain Gori waves its hand.


    Bang!


    Charles was sent flying away while stumbling a few times beforeing to a halt.


    "Watch out!" Kayn eximed.


    Cling!


    Friedrich was luckily able to raise his sword in time to parry the Mountain Gori''s second strike.


    Just when he thought that was all, he immediately sees another fisting in front of him.


    ng!


    Kayn blocked the attack.


    The Mountain Gori quickly retracted both of its arms after it failed tond even a single hit.


    "What''s your n?" Friedrich looked at Kayn.


    "Can you buy me some time?"


    "How long?"


    "Around two minutes,"


    "I should be able to," Friedrich looks at Gilbert, Natasha, and Jackson. "You heard him, let''s buy him some time,"


    "Understood!"


    "Alright!"


    "I''ll do my best!"


    With that being said, Friedrich and the others went to distract the Mountain Gori.


    "What are you nning?" Natas felt curious.


    "Just like what I said just now; I want to test the limit of my full strength,"


    "Are you crazy?! What if you fail?"


    "Then we will escape,"


    "How about you just leave this to Friedrich and the others? They should have something hidden under their sleeves,"


    "You should be aware that they are bound to a contract by Old Chief Geroge. Unless thetter orders it, they can''t show their full potential,"


    "How unreasonable,"


    "Honestly, if they have the <<Temperature Reset>> skill, I would have definitely suggested that they do this instead,"


    "Wait¡­ Don''t tell me¡­" Natas immediately realized what Kayn is nning on doing. "Your body won''t be able to handle it!"


    "It''s the only way I could think of to defeat the Mountain Gori,"


    Natas briefly paused as he observes the Mountain Gori. "If everything goes well, I believe it would work,"


    "Even you think it would work," Kayn smiles in confidence.


    "I am not ignorant to not see the result," Natas smiled as well.


    After receiving positive feedback from Natas, Kayn readied himself to execute his full force.


    Friedrich continued distracting the Mountain Gori with Charles joining them again after recovering with the help of Chastine and Cedric.


    Jude, Kimberly, and Cyril didn''t stop their barrage of magic spells as it was the most effective attack they have as of this moment.

 Chapter 141 Raiding The Mountain Monkeys Lair Part 12

    ?Chapter 141 Raiding the Mountain Monkey''s Lair part 12


    Kayn looks at the cooldown of his Molten Ice sh.


    60 seconds¡­


    "There''s still less than a minute left," Kayn turns his attention back to Friedrich and the others.


    "How much longer?" Friedrich asked.


    Kayn responded. "Just buy me a minute more,"


    "Alright!"


    In the meantime, Kayn started running around the Mountain Gori to look for the best opportunity tounch his attack.


    However, he soon notices that despite the fact that the Mountain Gori is currently engaging against Friedrich and the others, it still actually continued to pay attention to him. Simultaneously, it adjusted its position every single time to face him.


    "This is bad," Kayn muttered. As long as the Mountain Gori keeps on paying attention to him, even if he could execute his attack, he might not be able to kill it.


    "Try to get its attention off of me!" Kayn eximed.


    Hearing Kayn''s words, Friedrich immediately looks up. He soon understood the reason why. "It seems like it''s ignoring us!"


    Looking at Gilbert, Natasha, and Jackson, Friedrich utters. "Activate your <<Outburst>>!"


    "Understood!"


    <Outburst>>


    A powerful aura instantly envelops the body of Gilbert, Natasha, and Jackson.


    <<Shadow Strike>>


    <<Shadow Daggers>>


    <<Vital Shot>>


    Gilbert, Natasha, and Jackson respectivelyunch their attacks at the same time.


    Bang!


    Whoosh!


    St!


    Because it wasn''t paying close attention to Gilbert, Natasha, and Jackson, the Mountain Gori directly receives the series of attacks and wasn''t able to raise any defense.


    Boom!


    With its currently injured knee, the Mountain Gori kneeled once more.


    This time, Friedrich and the others finally got the attention of the Mountain Gori.


    Without any hesitation, the Mountain Gori waves its arm to try and hit its attackers.


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Boom!


    Gilbert and Jackson flew away as their daggers weren''t strong enough to receive or parry the attack.


    Meanwhile, Friedrich came in front of Natasha to receive the attack with his sword.


    "My turn!" Friedrich gathers strength in his sword before waving it.


    Whoosh!


    The sword releases a sword wave that directly hit the other knee of the Mountain Gori. Because of how powerful and close the distance of the attack was, its knee snapped like the other, instantly causing both of its knees to kneel on the ground.


    "You shouldn''t have ignored us," Friedrich focuses his strength on his sword once more. He pulled the sword to his side and used another skill.


    <<Focus Strike>>


    Whoosh!


    A sword light shoots out from the tip of Friedrich''s sword.


    Seeing the iing attack, the Mountain Gori quickly raised both of its arms in front to defend itself.


    Boom!


    The Mountain Gori fell to its back right away after receiving the attack. Looking at its forearms, the hair that once covered it has now disappeared.


    Quickly, the Mountain Gori picked itself together with the intent ofunching its counterattack.


    "Good work everyone!" Kayn smiles.


    <<Sword Dance>>


    Whoosh!


    A much stronger force than the previous times he used <<Sword Dance>> envelopes his entire body.


    <<Temperature Reset>>


    The cooldown of all Active Skills immediately reset.


    <<Sword Dance>>


    Another powerful force envelops Kayn''s body.


    "That¡­"


    Friedrich and the others felt dumbfounded.


    "300% increase in damage from the two <<Sword Dance>> plus 50% from the <<Outburst>>¡­" Friedrich said after doing the math in his head.


    "That means three and a half times the original damage," Gilbert couldn''t believe it.


    "Wouldn''t that mean that his attack is the same as those level 50 monsters?" Roshan wonders.


    "Somewhere close," Friedrich corrected.


    "Here I go!" Kayn eximed. "Have a taste of my most powerful attack!"


    <<Molten Ice sh>>


    WHOOOSH!


    The surrounding turned hot and cold as a mix of ice and fire appeared in the wake of the traveling sword wave.


    Bang!<novelnext></novelnext>


    The ice exploded and turned into spikes and the me spit out tongues of mes.


    As the sword wave continues to travel, the strong and powerful wind pressure soon came sting the surrounding, cutting the rocks, and pushing the others a few distances away.


    "This is insane!" Gilbert can''t help swearing in amazement.


    Both of the Mountain Gori''s arms are still aching from the pain of receiving Friedrich''s previous <<Focus Strike>>. Hence, it wasn''t able to raise its guard on time.


    BOOOM!


    St!


    A circr object was suddenly thrown mid-air.


    As everyone looks up, they immediately saw the head of the Mountain Gori falling to the ground.


    Looking down, the headless corpse of the Mountain Gori had half of its body covered in freezing cold ice while the other half is currently burning in hot zing me.


    Bang!


    A muffled noise sounded.


    However, it didn''te from the direction of the Mountain Gori, but from the opposite corner of it.


    As they turned their heads around, they instantly saw Kayn lying on the ground with his eyes closed.


    In a single bit of the moment, Friedrich and the others run to approach Kayn.


    Chastine and Cedrick also quickly run forward to get to Kayn. While running, they started showering thetter with dozens of healing magic spells, thus covering him with gold and green-colored lights.


    "Is he alright?"


    "Luckily we were able to provide healing magic spells on time,"


    "That''s a relief¡­"


    ¡­..


    As Kayn opens his eyes, he was immediately greeted by the bright lighting from a small hole in the ceiling.


    He slowly got up from the bed and almost instantly he felt pain all over his body, causing him to moan and tremble slightly.


    "You''re finally awake," Natas greeted.


    "How long was I sleeping?"


    "Less than three days,"


    Kayn felt surprised. "That long?!"


    "Your body was exhausted from pulling out that risky stunt. And because you activated your <<Outburst>> skill, your body weakened to the point that it was unable to start self-recovery," Natas exined.


    "Chastine and Cedric went on turns to keep on casting healing magic spells on you all this time until your body finally returned to normal and activated its natural self-recovery,"


    "It seems like my body can''t quite handle that power yet," Kayn shook his head regretfully. He was honestly nning on adding that newfoundbination skill to his arsenal so that he''ll finally have a very powerful attack to use. Unfortunately, with how he ended up after using it, he most likely has to wait longer in order to be able to finally take advantage of it.


    Regardless, it isn''t that big of a deal. After all, a time would stille when he''d be able to eventually use it. He''d just have to wait patiently and continue increasing his body stats.


    Standing up, Kayn suddenly experienced a brief headache and dizziness, causing him to fall right to the ground.


    Bang!


    A loud enough noise echoed which was more than enough to get the attention of the Goblin who is assigned to guard the entrance of Kayn''s tent.


    "He is awake!" The Goblin felt delighted. So delighted that he forgot to assist Kayn in getting up as he went running away to inform the others.


    Kayn didn''t mind it as he simply uses the bed to push himself back up. This time, he didn''t stand up anymore but simply sat on the bed.


    Evidently, his body is still very weak that it couldn''t handle standing up yet.


    He wasn''t feeling worried though as he understood clearly well that this is the consequence of executing abination of skills that his body can''t handle.


    This was what he was worried about in the past. And this event just confirms his assumption.


    Not long after, a series of loud footsteps approaching the tent was heard outside.


    Soon, Friedrich and the others came rushing inside the tent one after the other.


    "Kayn!" Gilbert called out. "Are you okay? Is there any part of your body that still hurts? Tell me, I''ll make sure to do everything to help you recover,"


    "Heck, you sounded more like a mother," Jude rolled his eyes.


    "That''s because I am responsible for protecting him!"


    "Then you should have done a better job so that he wouldn''t turn out like this,"


    "You¡­"


    "Enough, both of you," Friedrich stares solemnly at Gilbert and Jude, immediately causing the two to shut up. He approaches Kayn and sat beside him before asking. "How are you feeling?"


    "I am alright now. It''s just that my body is still weak enough that I can''t stand up yet,"


    "That''s to be expected,"


    "Yeah¡­"


    "Is there anything you need?"


    "Maybe a few more days of rest should suffice,"


    "No rush. There''s still a long way to go before we reached our next destination,"


    "Have you already begun with the journey?"


    "You were sleeping for two days. And since you already got the Mountain Heart Flower, we all decided to begin the journey to the next destination,"


    "That''s good to hear," Kayn smiles. This means that while he is resting, things are still on schedule. "I noticed a Goblin just now. Does that mean Gnak and the others choose toe with us?"


    "Yeah. Gnak and his people volunteered to be our temporary workers so that they could at the very least do something as a form of payment for the favor we gave to them,"


    "I guess I can rest without worry,"


    "That''s right!" Friedrich stood up. "I believe you still need to continue resting. So, we will be leaving you here with Cedric to watch over you and monitor the state of your body,"


    "I want to be alone for the moment,"


    "If that''s what you wish," Friedrich bid farewell as he encourages everyone to leave the tent so that Kayn can continue resting. Before finally leaving, he reminded. "There''s a Goblin stationed outside. Just ring the bell beside your bed and he''ll get inside to amodate your needs,"


    "Okay," Kayn nodded his head.


    With that being said, Friedrich and the others left.

 Chapter 142 Molten Magma Core, Kayn’s Worry, And Skill Books

    Chapter 142: Molten Magma Core, Kayn''s worry, and Skill Books


    As the others left and silence returned inside the tent, Kayn turns to look at Natas and said. "Now that we have the Springwater Source Bonsai and Mountain Heart Flower, we only have two other more items to collect,"


    Natas nodded his head. "The Molten Magma Core and the Spring Blossom Leaf,"


    "Do you know which direction we are going right now?"


    "If I am not mistaken, I think we are approaching the Peaceful Volcano,"


    "Peaceful Volcano¡­" It''s the location of the next item, the Molten Magma Core.


    The reason why the ce is called the Peaceful Volcano is that the volcano in question has beenying dormant for a very long time.


    Until this present moment, the Peaceful Volcano has only ever erupted once, and ever since then it has erupted anymore or even shown any signs of erupting any time sooner.


    There''s actually a reason for that, and that''s because the volcano has long been dormant after its Molten Magma Core was put out of ce after its previous eruption.


    As long as the Molten Magma Core is misced, the Peaecful Volcano will continue to remain dormant for the rest of its existence.


    Natas knows where exactly the Molten Magma Core is situated, and he will guide Kayn to it. And unlike the other items, thetter doesn''t have to fight any Monsters in order to get the Molten Magma Core.


    The only thing that''s possibly going to hinder their way is the chance that there are other Heroes or Viins that are also looking for the Molten Magma Core inside the Peaceful Volcano.


    After all, following the unexpected event that took ce during the time they were looking for the Springwater Source Bonsai, they can never eliminate anymore the likelihood that someone else is on the same mission as them to look for those items.


    Moreover, there''s also another unknown variable that has been causing them to worry ¡ª Chief Kylo.


    "The closer we are to our goal, the more I am starting to feel that something bad is about to happen to us," Kayn expresses his concern.


    "Is it because there''s an impending war currently going on?"


    "The Assembly of Freedom," Kayn corrected. "I always feel anxious whenever there is a matter rted to the Circus,"


    "That''s understandable," After all, there''s no way of telling what exactly they are nning on doing. And because of their nature, bad things alwayse about wherever they go.


    Kayn added. "There''s also the matter regarding the Kingmaker,"


    "And there''s also that¡­" Natas heaves a heavy sigh to express his worry. Now he is starting to feel the same as Kayn. "Assembly of Freedom¡­ War¡­ Chief Kylo¡­ and the Kingmaker¡­"


    "This would have been a lot easier if we were only faced with one problem,"


    "I am afraid that''s going to be impossible since although this war is not rted to our goal, we''ve been unexpectedly pulled into this mess when we decided to assist Old Chief George,"


    "Well, we had the choice back then to stay out of this matter¡­ If only we did¡­"


    "There''s no use regretting it now. You only did what you thought was right," Natas patted Kayn''s shoulder tofort him. "I understand that you have bad blood with the Circus. Who wouldn''t? That''s why you decided to help Old Chief George. Anyways, what''s done is done. And since there''s no way for us to predict what''s about to happen next, let''s just hope for the best and proceed cautiously and carefully with our next goal,"


    "I understand,"


    Despite the fact that he reincarnated back in time, possesses a lot of knowledge about the future, and has a lot of experiences, that doesn''t necessarily guarantee that everything would be easy for him. Furthermore, he is currently not traversing a path that he had previously experienced, so he is only able to take advantage of some of the advantages of being a reincarnator.


    "How about you take out the Mountain Heart Flower and the Springwater Source Bonsai?" Natas changed the topic.


    "Why?"


    "You need to understand how the two items work individually and together,"


    "I guess that would temporarily take my mind off my worries," Kayn waves his hand to take out the Springwater Source Bonsai and Mountain Heart Flower as he and Natas started experimenting and researching the two items.


    ¡­..


    Two days passed, and finally, they reached their destination ¡ª Peaceful Volcano.


    Fortunately, there''s a Town close to the Peaceful Volcano, unlike the Mountain Monkey''s Lair. So, they have less to worry about. It''s also situated very close to the Peaceful Volcano.


    Everyone quickly disembarked from the Guardian Turtle one by one as Jude ordered it to hide in the meantime in the ocean.


    Kayn also ordered the Goblins. "Gnak, tell your men to stay hidden in the forest and don''t ever reveal yourselves to anyone,"


    He threw a Storage Ring to Gnak which thetter quickly caught. "There is enough supply tost for an entire week inside. So, there''s no need for any of you to go hunting. We would also return after we finish dealing with what we need in the Town,"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Have a safe journey," Gnak and the rest of the Goblins bid a temporary farewell to Kayn and the others.


    Afterward, they began their journey to the Town nearby.


    The name of the Town is Serenity Town, which is derived from none other than the Peaceful Volcano near it.


    They soon entered Serenity Town after passing the inspection of the guards at the gate. As all of them came from reputable Viges and Towns, the process waspleted very quickly.


    "There''s finally a proper ce to rest!" Gilbert eximed as his mood lifted up.


    "After all those days, we could now start resupplying our needs," Jude expressed his thoughts. All the supplies they bought previously have been close to running out because of the newly added group of Goblins.


    "Let''s split the group into two," Friedrich immediately suggested. "One group goes around the town to gather information about the Peaceful Volcano, while the second group stocks up our supply in the market,"


    "Kimberly, Chastine, Natasha, Jude, Charles, Cyril, and Carter would be in group two,"


    "While the rest would be in group one,"


    "Anyone against it?"


    Kayn raises his hand.


    Friedrich narrowed his eyes. "What''s the matter? Do you want to be part of the second group?"


    "I want to take care of something alone if it''s okay with all of you?"


    "Absolutely not!" Gilbert refuses. "Have you forgotten? You are the number one target of Chief Kylo,"


    "I know," Of course, he wouldn''t forget that. "But there''s seriously nothing that I can do if I go with any of the group. And moreover, we are inside a Town right now. Even if Chief Kylo finds me or any of his men, they wouldn''t dare to attack me right on the spot,"


    After thinking for a bit, Gilbert responded. "I guess you''re right,"


    "All of you go do your own things. I have something to take care of, so I''ll be going first. Let''s meet up at the shore where wended once we finish taking care of our respective tasks,"


    With that being said, Kayn left the group to tour around Serenity Town alone.


    Needless to say, that was obviously going to be impossible.


    Not long after, he notices Gilbert secretly following him.


    "If this was in the past, I wouldn''t be able to do anything to you if you decide to follow me. But I am no longer the same as before," Kayn muttered under his breath.


    In the next moment, Kayn started moving around in weird and seemingly random patterns.


    He went inside the alleyways nearby but goes out once more from where he came from.


    He enters a store, but wouldter on go out from another store.


    Lastly, he entered a carriage that started traveling to another part of Serenity Town. But when the carriage arrived and the door opens, Kayn couldn''t be found inside.


    "I actually lost him¡­" Gilbert couldn''t believe it. "Damn him! I was only worried. How dare he do this to me!"


    Meanwhile, Kayn is now inside a store that sells different types of books. Needless to say, he wasn''t here to read books.


    "How may I help you?" A female receptionist asked.


    "Do you have any Skill Books for the Assassin ss and Knight ss avable?"


    "Yes we do, they''re over at the second floor and third floor. Do you want me to ask someone to be your assistant as you look for what you need?"


    "No thank you," Kayn shook his head before proceeding to the second floor.


    Skill Books. Just like what its name suggests, they are books rted to skills that are being used by the different sses that exist inside the ''Tower''.


    However, unlike other books and how they are normally used, Skill Books are consumables that allow one to automatically inherit or learn how to execute the listed skill once they used them as if such knowledge has long and always been existing in their minds. Needless to say, they won''t necessarily be a master in using the said skill and would still have to undergo proper and extensive training to increase their level of mastery and be able to properly use it.


    In other words, Skill Books is just like a key that can open a locked door for a new skill to be avable for one to use.


    And without even needing to say it himself, Kayn is obviously here right now to learn more skills and increase the number of the avable skills he could use.

 Chapter 143 New Arsenal Of Active Skills

    Chapter 143: New Arsenal of Active Skills


    Kayn steps into the second floor of the bookstore and immediately started rummaging around each shelf to look for the Skill Books that he wanted.


    All Skill Books were put inside a ss case on different shelves that has enough durability and security to prevent thieves from stealing the Skill Books.


    Moreover, there were bodyguards assigned on each shelf that acts as shop assistants to stop anyone that tries to rob the Skill Books from their shelves. In addition to that, more guards are patrolling the floor.


    Kayn said in a remark. "Their security is insane,"


    This was just a Town and yet the level of their security could almost bepared to those found in cities.


    This was honestly something he doesn''t have to worry about much since he isn''t here to steal any Skill Books but to buy them. Regardless, the look he is receiving from the guards clearly expresses that they are suspicious of him.


    Kayn can''t help looking at his attire as he then immediately understood the reason why.


    If anyone enters this ce with the same attire as him and looks seemingly poor, it wouldn''t be strange for people to look strangely at him. If it wasn''t for the fact that they respect their customers, they would have kicked him out a long time ago.


    "I guess I should have changed my clothes and fixed how I looked first before thinking ofing to this kind of ce," Kayn felt slightly embarrassed. Of course, he knows that he should dress appropriately whenever he visits certain ces. But because he is preupied with something else, such a thought never crosses his mind earlier. Regardless, that didn''t hinder him from looking around.


    He might not look the part, but he is feeling confident that he possesses enough funds to buy what he needed. And if ever he doesn''t have enough, he could just always find a den of thieves and steal from them like what he did before to get enough funds to afford the Skill Book he intends to buy.


    It took him quite some time before eventually being able to find the first Skill Book that he was looking for.


    <<Crossing Wave>>


    This was an Active Skill that''s simr to releasing a sword wave. The only difference is, it creates two sword waves in a shape of an ''X''.


    "500 coins," Kayn didn''t hesitate to call out to one of the shop assistants nearby to get him the Skill Book.


    The shop assistant looked at Kayn from head to toe before eventually reaching out for the keys located in his pants. He then opens the ss door and handed thetter the Skill Book afterward.


    Kayn didn''t mind the look of the shop assistant as he continued to look for the other Skill Books that he needed.


    <<Horizontal sh>>


    "300 coins!"


    <<Vertical sh>>


    "300 coins!"


    <<Sword Split>>


    "500 coins!"


    <


    >


    "500 coins!"


    <<Weaving String>>


    "1,000 coins!"


    Kayn started finding the Skill Books he needed one after the other.


    "If I remembered correctly, I only need one more Skill Book toplete that certain Active Skill," Kayn looks around for a bit more before eventually being able to find thest piece of Skill Book he needed.


    <<Skill Merge>>


    "2,000 coins!" Kayn felt slightly surprised. "It''s a bit more expensive than what I expected,"


    On second thought, considering that this is ''The Bridge'', the drop rate of the Skill Book <<Skill Merge>> should be lowerpared to the ''Tower''.


    "I''ll get two of these," Kayn informs the shop assistant who is now looking at him in a different light than before.


    Kayn smiled proudly.


    Earlier ago, one of the shop assistants finally burst out and did what he was long expecting that they would do ¡ª questioning his capability to buy all the Skill Books he pointed out.


    Just like what every normal and sane person would do, he responded in a calm manner and drowned the shop assistant with thousands of coins that he swiftly took out from his Storage Ring.


    Everyone who witnessed the scene was instantly dumbfounded.


    After that scene, no one bothered to underestimate his spending power anymore nor assume that he is a poor individual.


    "It''s time to go to the assassin Skill Books section," Kayn muttered to himself while walking toward the direction of a hanging sign with the word ''Assassin'' written on it.


    <<Single Dagger>>


    "100 coins!"


    <<Couple Dagger>>


    "200 coins!"


    <<Triple Dagger>>


    "300 coins!"


    <<Quadruple Dagger>>


    "400 coins!"


    <<Quintuple Dagger>>


    "500 coins!"


    <<Sextuple Dagger>>


    "600 coins!"


    <<Septuple Dagger>>


    "700 coins!"


    <<Octuple Dagger>>


    "800 coins!"


    <<Nonuple Dagger>><novelnext></novelnext>


    "900 coins!"


    <<Decuple Dagger>>


    "1,000 coins!"


    Finally, he found thest Skill Book he needed.


    With all the Skill Books found, Kayn immediately proceeded to the counter to check out.


    While he was lining, he started counting all coins he possess and soon realized that hecks 5,000 more coins.


    "Can you carry all of this for a bit?" Kayn asked the shop assistant who is currently helping him carry all of the Skill Books he had chosen to buy.


    Albeit feeling helpless, the shop assistant didn''t have any other choice but to agree to Kayn''s request as this was part of his job.


    After handing all the Skill Books to the shop assistant, Kayn suddenly disappeared from his spot to go somewhere real quick.


    "Where did he go?!" The shop assistant felt shocked after witnessing Kayn disappear.


    While Kayn was temporarily away, the line continued to move until eventually, it was the turn of the shop assistant.


    The shop assistant started to panic as he looks around in hopes of finding Kayn. He is fully aware though that thetter is currently not inside the shop at the moment, he was only pretending to look around in order to buy more time.


    All of a sudden, Kayn reappeared in front of the shop assistant.


    "There you are!" The shop assistant instantly felt delighted.


    "Sorry, it took me a bit longer," Kayn quickly apologized for his sudden action. He tossed a pouch of coins to the shop assistant before getting all of the Skill Books from thetter''s hands.


    The shop assistant caught the coin pouch as he happily walks away with it.


    "Your total is 10,600 coins!"


    After paying for everything, Kayn immediately left the shop and went to a hidden alleyway nearby.


    He had already cleared most of the alleyways nearby earlier from thieves, so he isn''t worried that someone would identally see what he is about to do.


    Taking out the Skill Book of the <<Crossing Wave>>, <<Horizontal sh>>, <<Vertical sh>>, <<Sword Split>>, <


    >, and <<Weaving String>>, Kayn then carefully spread them across the floor.


    Waving his hand, he took out the <<Skill Merge>> Skill Book from his Storage Ring.


    "Now time to merge all of these Skill Books together!" Kayn activated the <<Skill Merge>>.


    Whoosh!


    In the next moment, a powerful gravitational force started pulling all six Skill Books on the ground toward the center which is the <<Skill Merge>> Skill Book.


    Bang!


    The <<Crossing Wave>> Skill Book suddenly disappeared and went inside the <<Skill Merge>> Skill Book.


    Bang!


    Following soon were the <<Horizontal sh>> and <<Vertical sh>> Skill Books.


    Bang!


    Quickly afterward were the <<Sword Split>> and <


    > Skill Books.


    Bang!


    Lastly, as if toplete everything, the <<Weaving String>> Skill Book went inside to follow the other five Skill Books.


    As soon as all six Skill Books merged with the <<Skill Merge>> Skill Book, a bright and blinding light immediately shone on the Skill Book.


    Even though he was used to witnessing such a scene in the past, he still can''t help covering his eyes with his arm to lessen the brightness.


    Fortunately, he was deep inside an alleyway and is currently surrounded by a number of infrastructures that covered the light to a significant degree and prevented anyone from noticing it.


    Boom!


    With a muffled sound of an explosion, the <<Skill Merge>> Skill Book disappeared and was reced by a different Skill Book.


    The Skill Book slowly levitated down and soonnded on top of Kayn''s hand.


    Looking at the image shown on the Skill Book, beautiful pink petals that resemble those of the lotus petals could be seen spreading all over the book cover.


    He reads the words written below;


    <<Weaving Lotus Petals Sword Art>>


    "Complete!" Kayn felt excited.


    The <<Weaving Lotus Petals Sword Art>> was one of the sword techniques he is extremely familiar with in the past.


    He had long already mastered the use of the <<Weaving Lotus Petals Sword Art>>, and using it he was able to defeat and y countless foes thate his way.


    Just like what its name suggests, the <<Weaving Lotus Petals Sword Art>> is an AOE type Active Skill that allows its user to release countless mini version of sword waves that resembles lotus petals, thus the reason for its name.


    Although they are small, their strength isn''t something to underestimate. Moreover, with the number of lotus petals the <<Weaving Lotus Petals Sword Art>> can create, it''s bound to cause a significant amount of damage and effect to the target.


    Following the same method, Kaynbines the <<Single Dagger>>, <<Couple Dagger>>, <<Triple Dagger>>, <<Quadruple Dagger>>, <<Quadruple Dagger>>, <<Quintuple Dagger>>, <<Sextuple Dagger>>, <<Septuple Dagger>>, <<Octuple Dagger>>, <<Nonuple Dagger>>, and <<Decuple Dagger>>.


    Whoosh!


    Boom!


    After a muffled sound, another new Skill Book appeared and slowly levitated down tond on Kayn''s hand.


    The picture shown on the book cover was hundreds of daggers that threatens to attack him.


    Reading the name of the book cover;


    <<Hundred Shadow Cut>>


    Just like the <<Weaving Lotus Petals Sword Art>>, the <<Hundred Shadow Cut>> is also an AOE type Active Skill. The skill would create a total of one hundred shadows in a form of a dagger that the user could control to attack a target. And unlike the <<Weaving Lotus Petals Sword Art>>, he could freely control each of the daggers to attack anyone and whenever he wanted.

 Chapter 144 Kayn’s New Strength And Power

    Chapter 144: Kayn''s new strength and power


    [


    <<Weaving Lotus Petals Sword Art>>


    Description: When triggered, it has the ability to generate dozens of replicas of sword waves, exhibiting the same attributes as those produced by any other Active Skill that generates a simr attack.


    Cooldown: 180 seconds.


    ]


    To put it into actual use, if Kayn uses Molten Ice sh, it would multiply the sword wave that the Active Skill produces into dozens before getting released.


    [


    <<Hundred Shadow Cut>>


    Description: Upon activation, the user would generate hundreds of shadow daggers that he can control to assault a specified target as desired, although with a restricted range.


    ]


    On the other hand, the <<Hundred Shadow Cut>> doesn''t need a medium like an Active Skill to be used. The instance it is triggered, it would summon one hundred shadow daggers.


    These two Active Skills honestly couldn''t be found anywhere else other than through merging different Skill Books with the use of a <<Skill Merge>> Skill Book.


    Just like what its name suggests, a <<Skill Merge>> Skill Book is a medium that allows the merging of any Skill Books that the user wants tobine together. After using, the <<Skill Merge>> Skill Book along with the other Skill Books that werebined together would disappear and a new Skill Book with the effect of all the previous Skill Books will be created.


    Any Skill Books could be merged. But the oue for eachbination would vary depending on what type of Skill Books were used. Moreover, the oue won''t necessarily produce a positive effect, in most cases it''spletely otherwise, thus wasting the Skill Books that were merged along with the <<Skill Merge>> Skill Book.


    The <<Weaving Lotus Petals Sword Art>> and <<Hundred Shadow Cut>> are clearly oues that produce positive effects. These were only achievable though because Kayn had gone through multiple experiments with those Skill Books he had used earlier to get such results.


    Simply put, only Kayn knows the necessary Skill Books required to get the oue of the <<Weaving Lotus Petals Sword Art>> and <<Hundred Shadow Cut>> Active Skills.


    He is not worried though if anyone that works in the shop where he had bought all the Skill Books would try to replicate the <<Weaving Lotus Petals Sword Art>> and <<Hundred Shadow Cut>> because everyone that works in such shops are so used to people trying to experiment and research merging different types of Skill Books. Only when they learned that the person who bought those Skill Books achieved a positive effect would they try to look for information about what Skill Books he had used.


    Fortunately, he doesn''t n to stay in Serenity Town for a long period of time. So, they won''t have the chance to know whether he got a positive effect or not with his merging.


    With the <<Weaving Lotus Petals Sword Art>> and <<Hundred Shadow Cut>>, he now possesses two more additional Active Skills in his Status Window aside from the <<Outburst>>.


    Kayn looks at his new Status Window.


    [


    <<Kayn>>


    Race: Human


    Noble Rank: Baron


    Level: 27


    Main ss: Nobility


    Temporary Subss: Knight


    Currency: 7,000 coins


    Fame: 0


    Avable SP: 23


    Stats -


    Strength: 25


    Endurance: 15


    uracy: 15


    Agility: 25


    Vitality: 15


    Mana Capacity: 15


    Power Score: 100


    Passive Skills: None


    Active Skills: <<Outburst>>, <<Weaving Lotus Petals Sword Art>>, <<Hundred Shadow Cut>>


    ]


    "These two Active Skills should be more than enough for our next mission," Kayn muttered to himself.


    Their uing mission was the exact reason why he got these two Active Skills.


    Previously, he started feeling worried that something bad is going to happen.<novelnext></novelnext>


    In other words, these two Active Skills would be used if ever such an event truly takes ce in the future.


    "It seems like I earned four levels from our Monster Raid in the Mountain Monkey''s Lair. And would you look at that, I actually got 18 SP from leveling up four times," Kayn felt pleased with the result.


    "Now, should I start investing my avable SP or save them until they are necessary?"


    Honestly, his current stats are already higherpared to peers at the same level as him. And with all the Active Skills he can use, his strength and power could reach even greater heights.


    An example of that was the stunt he pulled off at thest moment against the Mountain Gori. The strength and power of that attack have long already broken through level 50.


    Even Friedrich and the others don''t possess anybination of Active Skills that can pull off the same result, at least as far as he knows, since they were very shocked and felt disbelief about it.


    This is clearly one of the benefits of being a reincarnator, he is able to execute something that isn''t yet known by a lot of people. And his experiences and knowledge about everything can''t bepared to anyone.


    In other words, he is already overpowered despite his low level.


    "I guess I could invest some SP in my endurance stats considering that we are going into a volcano,"


    He''d have to possess high enough endurance stats for him to handle the extreme heat and burning pain caused by being in such an environment.


    Without any hesitation, Kayn invested 10 SP to his Endurance and added 3 SP to his strength, making his endurance reach 25 points and his strength 28 points, thus increasing his power score to 113.


    However, unlike thest time with the strength and agility, Kayn didn''t receive an additional Active Skill after his endurance reached 25 points. The reason for that is that he can actually only receive such a reward for one stat that reached 25 points first. If intends to receive an additional Active Skill through increasing his stats, he''d have to reach 50 points, then after that would be 75 points, 100 points, 200 points, 300 points, 400 points, 500 points, 1,000 points, and so on and so forth. Each of those times, he''ll only be able to receive them once in his entire life.


    Previously, both his strength and agility stat reached 25 points at the same time yet the skill he earned was <<Outburst>>. The simple reason for that is that the system reads the strength stat first before the agility stat as it follows the order listed in the status window.


    The <<Outburst>> Active Skill is actually one of the most popr ones for meleebatants, which is the Active Skill received from the strength stat reaching 25 points. This exins why Gilbert, Natasha, Jackson, Roshan, and Carter also possess them despite the fact that their chosen subss should be focusing more on endurance and agility.


    Just looking at the effect provided by the <<Outburst>> Active Skill is already self-exnatory as to why it is popr among the masses.


    The other Active Skills provided by the others stats in 25 points are;


    <<Immovable>> for endurance, which is an Active Skill that grants its user a 200% increase in endurance but as a consequence of it they would have trouble moving.


    <<Scope>> for uracy. Once triggered, it would greatly enhance the eyesight of the user depending on the points of his uracy. But after using it, they would only be able to see ck and white for the same length of time they used the Active Skill.


    <<Air Step>> for agility, which allows its user to run really fast like the wind and grants them the ability to float mid-air. But as a side-effect, the user would lose their sense of bnce in the same length as they used the Active Skill.


    <<Vigor>> for vitality. It is an ability that allows one to exchange some vitality energy with another living being. But as a repercussion, if the target''s power score is much higher than the user, the effect would reverse. Otherwise, the target would have their points in vitality temporarily deducted.


    <<Extra Mana Core>> for mana capacity. Everyone possesses one mana core inside their body, and although it is small in size, the amount of mana it can gather inside differs from one person to another. And once one uses this Active Skill, they will have an extra mana core to store their mana. As a consequence after using it, however, their original mana core could only store half of the mana it normally could gather inside for the same length of time they used the Active Skill.


    Kayn returns to their meeting spot after he was done with everything.


    Along the way, he stumbled upon an alchemy store where he bought some mana and health potions, and other helpful potions before continuing on his way.


    ¡­..


    As soon as Kayn arrived, he only found Gnak and the rest of the Goblins. Looking around, he didn''t find any signs of Friedrich and the others returning yet.


    But just to confirm, he asked. "Have the others returned yet?"


    "I haven''t seen them," Gnak shook his head.


    As he walks around, Kayn started surveying the situation with the other Goblins. "Is everything fine with your kins?"


    "A little anxious because they are not familiar with the ce. But so far, everything is alright," Gnak''s face slightly turned sour.


    "Is there something bothering you?"


    "Nothing¡­" Gnak hastily denies it.


    "You can tell me,"


    Gnak scratched the back of his head. "You know, this problem is honestly something that I shouldn''t involve any outsiders about,"


    "Am I an outsider,"


    "I guess you could no longer be considered one,"


    "Since that''s the case, just tell me about it,"


    "To tell you the truth, some of my people are starting to feel afraid of something. I don''t know what exactly it is, and when I asked them about it, they describe it as something that they instinctively felt all of a sudden inside of them,"


    "Did they tell you what it was?"


    "That''s the problem, even they don''t know what''s causing them to feel that way,"


    "That is weird," Normally, people would know what''s causing them to feel afraid. Fear is just way different from other emotions. Once someone starts feeling afraid, they''ll know instantly what is causing them to feel that way.


    "And strangely enough, I am starting to feel that way too¡­" Gnak can''t help shivering. "And just like them, I don''t understand why,"


    As Kayn was thinking of something along with Natas, Friedrich and the others finally returned and interrupted him from his thoughts.


    "We''ll talkter, alright?"


    "I understand," Gnak could only helplesslyply.

 Chapter 145 Scavenger Hunt

    Chapter 145: Scavenger Hunt


    "Give me an update on everything," Kayn asked as everyone gathered inside a tent that they''d just built with the assistance of their Mages'' magic capability.


    Chastine decided to step forward first.


    "We''ve pretty much bought three months'' worth of supplies for everyone. These include food, clothes, armor, and also weapons for the Goblins that joined our party," Chastine informs everyone.


    "That''s good to hear,"


    Now their problem with insufficient supply has been solved. Moreover, the under-geared Goblins could finally equip themselves with better gears and armor, making their leader Gnak feel slightly relieved that they don''t have to worry about such matters anymore.


    Previously, they''ve been using weapons that were built using the limited materials they can find and gather in the Mountain Monkey''s Lair. Now they can increase theirbat capability and offer more fighting power to the party.


    "We''ve also bought some materials to use in construction for some temporary houses on top of the Guardian Turtle," Chastine added. As she looks at Jude. "Jude agreed with it and sees no problem with my n,"


    "I believe that there would be a high chance that someone else would discover the Goblins if they remained ind, so I suggest that we build some small houses on top of the Guardian Turtle for them to hide,"


    "I agree with that," Gnak immediately agreed without any second thoughts. With weapons and a good location to hide, it should minimize the risk of whatever is making them feel afraid, at least that is what he believes.


    "I know you would," Chastine smiles at Gnak. To tell the truth, she was only considering the trouble that the rest of the Goblins would be bringing to the party if they stay ind and identally get themselves discovered by someone else, especially once they start looking for the Molten Magma Core in the Peaceful Volcano. The only one that can hopefully protect them at that time and be responsible for making sure they won''t be discovered would be the Guardian Turtle.


    "And here," Chastine threw a Storage Ring to Gnak, which thetter easily caught. "Gather a few of your best men and wear those gears and armor so that you can disguise yourselves ande with us in the future,"


    "Thank you,"


    With that done, Kayn looks at Friedrich to ask about the information they''ve gathered about anything rted to their next mission.


    "We''ve got bad news and good news, which one do you want to hear first?" Friedrich stated.


    "Let''s go with the bad news first," Kayn decided.


    Friedrich coughed before exining. "After going through multiple hubs for information channels, we''ve discovered that the Serenity Town has long already found out of the existence of the Molten Magma Core,"


    Kayn instantly felt surprised.


    "To make matters worst, a scavenger hunt has already started a few weeks ago to encourage people in the Serenity Town to look for the Molten Magma Core inside the Peaceful Volcano with promising rewards to be given to the party that finds it,"


    "We''ve tried to look for who posted the scavenger hunt, but to our surprise, it was from the Chief of this Town,"


    "It seems like someone tip him with the information about the Molten Magma Core," Kayn immediately realized. ording to Natas, no one was actively looking for any of the materials they are looking for in the past. Though there were some that found them, no one thought of purposely looking for them.


    "That''s also what I thought. So, we tried to find information regarding the matter and to our surprise, an unknown group of individuals visited the Serenity Vige a few weeks ago and went to the Town Hall. After that, a scavenger hunt for the Molten Magma Core was issued throughout the entire Serenity Vige,"


    "Suspiciously, no one found those people again afterward.  Some rumors said that they were killed by the Chief so that no one else would know what the Molten Magma Core is for. While others say that they are hiding and would most likely appear again once the Molten Magma Core is found,"


    "Regardless, we should take note of them so that we can avoid any unwanted situations," Friedrich suggested.


    Kayn nodded his head in agreement. "How about the good news?"


    "The good news is, no one has yet to find any clue about the Molten Magma Core until now, as in no one. We thought that this was impossible since the scavenger hunt has started a few weeks already now, but we,ter on, understood that although there are no monsters inhabiting the Peaceful Volcano, theva, magma, and every single heat source surrounding it is a huge problem,"


    "Moreover, there''s been a problem with the supply of fire-resistance items ever since the scavenger hunt began. So, only a few parties involved who possess the necessary supply to get inside the Peaceful Volcano have been able to constantly make progress with their investigation,"


    "Other parties have to go visit other neighboring territories around the Serenity Town to try their chance on finding supplies, but nevertheless it is still not enough for everyone who is interested in finding the Molten Magma Core,"


    "Luckily for us, we already have the necessary resources to tackle the problem they are facing, so if things progress ording to our n, we should most likely be able to quickly catch up with the parties leading the race," Friedrich assures.


    "That offsets the bad news," Kayn felt slightly relieved. Although things have changed, it hasn''t progressed that far yet.


    "Let''s finish with the remaining task to do today and tomorrow we will join in the scavenger hunt,"<novelnext></novelnext>


    ¡­..


    The next day.


    Kayn and the rest of the party along with Gnak and a few Goblins equipped in armor that prevents their faces from getting seen reached the entrance of the Peaceful Volcano.


    Nearby the entrance of the Peaceful Volcano, they spotted dozens of different parties have set up camp. Evidently, so that they don''t have to walk far away in order to rest.


    As they start walking forward, everyone started to look at their party and they started whispering about them right after.


    "There''s more than I expected," Kayn muttered as he also observed the parties around them.


    "Yeah¡­" Friedrich can''t help doubting the information they have gathered yesterday. "With these many parties, I don''t think that there is still no progress about finding clues of the whereabouts of the Molten Magma Core,"


    "Maybe it''s exactly because there are these many parties involved with this mission that''s why there is still no progress," Jude uttered another possibility.


    "Regardless, make sure that all of you stay on guard," Kayn warns. Their party has pretty much attracted everyone''s attention already as they continued to walk to the entrance of the Peaceful Volcano.


    It wasn''t strange, because their party is made up of a bunch of individuals exuding really powerful auras around them. Moreover, the equipment they are all wearing speaks a lot about their capability and potential.


    Even without needing to confirm it, people who are sensitive to auras could easily tell that a new powerful contender has entered the race of finding the Molten Magma Core. Hence, their chances of securing the Molten Magma Core for their party have significantly lowered.


    Eventually, Kayn and the others entered the entrance of the Peaceful Volcano.


    As their silhouettes slowly disappear in the shadow of the cave, everyone started expressing their own thoughts about the unexpected appearance of their party.


    "Who are those people?"


    "I don''t know. I think they came to Serenity Town to try their luck in finding the Molten Magma Core and earning that huge reward,"


    "I don''t reckon seeing those people in the nearby territories around the Serenity Town,"


    "The only answer to that is news about the scavenger hunt here has already reached far and wide, thus attracting a lot of undesiring attention to our Town,"


    "I don''t feel that it is necessary to get people from other territories involved. Like, shouldn''t the reward be given to those that truly live in the Serenity Town so that the territory would still be able to benefit from it?"


    "That would have been the case for us a few weeks ago. But considering that until now there is still no clue about the Molten Magma Core and whether it even exists or not, it''s about time that parties from other territories try their luck,"


    "As much as I hate to admit it, I agree with you. The parties in Serenity Town have not shown any potential inpleting this mission yet. So, it isn''t wrong for our Chief to start epting external aid,"


    In the next moment, a new party appeared and made their way to the entrance of the Peaceful Volcano.


    Simr to Kayn''s party, the people around the entrance only started talking about the new party that arrived as soon as they got inside the Peaceful Volcano so that they won''t offend them.


    "Oh, another new group has arrived¡­"


    "Don''t you feel like something is off with them just now?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "The aura around them feels simr to those people who are part of the Assembly of Freedom,"


    "I also felt the same. Unlike the earlier party that was only exuding auras that deters us from approaching them, that party just now felt dangerous and deadly,"


    "You''re just overthinking,"


    "I hope we are,"


    "Anyways, let''s start preparing for another run so that we can quickly follow after them. We don''t want people from other territories to look down on the parties of the Serenity Vige, right?"

 Chapter 146 Locating The Molten Magma Core Part 1

    Chapter 146: Locating the Molten Magma Core part 1


    Kayn and the others werepletely unaware of the situation outside and the unexpected arrival of a dangerous party that closely followed them.


    The moment they walked inside the Peaceful Volcano, they were immediately greeted by the harsh and extreme terrain, and the searing pain caused by the heat of the magma flowing all over the ce.


    Although that was the case, they still didn''t hesitate to begin moving deeper inside.


    They carefully and cautiously navigated through the harsh and extreme terrain while they make sure to avoid every possible danger along the way.


    Eventually, they stumbled upon the first hurdle in the Peaceful Volcano.


    In front of them, three paths leading to each different location inside the Peaceful Volcano hindered their path.


    "ording to the information we''ve gathered yesterday, the one on the left side leads to an underground ancient settlement. A lot of treasures and relics were said to have been found over the site, but based on reports of the majority of the parties that explored the ce, there''s no way for the Molten Magma Core to be hidden at that ce as the ce slightly diverted away from the center of the Peaceful Volcano," Friedrich started informing everyone.


    Just from the name Molten Magma Core alone, it''s quite evident that it''s located at the center of the Peaceful Volcano.


    "Let''s go to the right," Kayn pointed all of a sudden.


    Friedrich narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure?"


    "If I am not mistaken, both the right and the middle lead somewhere close to the center of the Peaceful Volcano. But because of the difficulty of traversing the ce, no one has yet to confirm which one truly leads to the center of the Peaceful Volcano,"


    "You''re right,"


    It wasn''t hard to assume that since up until now no one is still able to find a single clue of the Molten Magma Core''s whereabouts. If they have, that means they''ve found the center of the Peaceful Volcano. But since they haven''t, meaning they still haven''t found the center yet.


    Needless to say, he isn''t intending on betting on the chances that the right side would lead to the center of the Peaceful Volcano. As a matter of fact, he already knows that it would lead exactly to that ce.


    That''s because Natas has already informed him when he was still injured previously of the route to get to the Molten Magma Core. And he isn''t nning on going to many ces first before eventually guiding everyone to its exact location.


    Simply put, he doesn''t want to waste any time on useless and meaningless actions.


    Regardless of what the reaction of the others would be, he doesn''t care and it doesn''t matter.


    "Then let''s just pick whatever path between the two since the only way to find out exactly where the center of the Peaceful Volcano is through looking for it ourselves,"


    "I guess you''re right," Friedrich understand. "Then let''s go to the right,"


    With that being said, everyone immediately runs on the right path.


    Not long after Kayn''s party disappeared, the party that came after them soon arrived in the same predicament.


    Unlike Kayn''s party that arrived unscathed though, their party seems to have received a considerable number of wounds and injuries around their respective bodies.


    However, the wounds and injuries don''t look like it was inflicted by the natural dangers brought by the Peaceful Volcano, but from fights against other parties along the way. And looking at the fact that they have reached here, it means that those parties were clearly defeated and perhaps evenpletely eliminated.


    Nevertheless, the expression on their faces strangely shows that they are delighted and are in a state of euphoria


    "Let''s go to the center,"


    Fortunately, they''ve chosen a different path from Kayn''s party.


    ¡­..


    "I don''t know why, but I suddenly felt a chill run down my spine just now," Gilbert expresses as he slightly shivers.


    "I think that has to do with the situation right in front of us," Friedrich uttered in response.


    In front of them, they have discovered a beautiful but at the same time extremely dangerous scene.


    It was like how it would look if heaven loses the fight against hell.


    Looking up, they could see numerous magma flowing down below in a straight line like a waterfall while tongues of mes would asionally erupt around it, thus raining drops of magma nearby.


    Following where it was leading, they could see a river of magma flowing in a specific direction far away from them.


    As they looked for a path to use to continue their travel, they soon realized that the only way to actually travel deeper is to go down below to where the waterfall is falling toward and use the small patches ofnd that have detached themselves from the main body and are now on a constant move forward as it slowly got melted away by the magma underneath it.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Are you telling me that''s our only way?!" Gilbert eximed.


    "Can you see other methods around us?" Kayn rolled his eyes as he started walking down a flight of roughly made stairs to their side.


    As he closely followed Kayn, Gilbert can''t help asking, "If we stumbled upon something like this, shouldn''t the first thought be assuming that this is a dead end?"


    "Well, it isn''t," Friedrich interrupted as he pointed at a party that has now jumped on top of a moving patch ofnd.


    Uponnding, the two Mages of their party immediately cast a protective barrier around the patch ofnd to protect it from the magma thus preventing it from melting away.


    "They are insane!" Gilbert was shocked. He might have done a lot of life-threatening actions and experienced numerous near-to-death events in the past, but never once has he actively sought after death himself like that group of Heroes.


    "Luckily for us, we have two of the most capable Mages in ''The Bridge''," Friedrich looks at Kimberly and Cyril.


    "I think you''ve forgotten me," Jude stepped forward.


    "As far as I know, there was no Jude in the list the previous time I looked," Cyril jokingly muttered.


    "Ha-ha, very funny," Jude clicked his tongue in annoyance.


    "Jokes aside. Since we have three Mages with us, one being very adept in the fire element," Friedrich nodded at Jude. "It should be a lot easier for our party to handle the problem with theva melting the tform we would be standing,"


    "Enough with the talk, let''s begin!"


    As soon as they reached the edge of the main body ofnd, instead of waiting patiently for a patch to detach from it, Jude, Kimberly, and Cyril use their magic power to carve a big but manageable tform for their entire party to stand on.


    The instant thend detached itself from the main body, Kayn''s party immediately jumped on top of it as Jude, Kimberly, and Cyril created a barrier to protect it from the magma.


    Unfortunately, because the patch ofnd was slightly bigger in sizepared to the others that they have seen so far, the speed of its travel was significantly slower.


    "I have an idea," Roshan nodded at Carter as the two of them suddenly went to both sides of the tform.


    Waving their hands, the two of them took out a shield with a high enough fire resistance stat to handle the magma around them.


    Putting the shield on a horizontal angle instead of vertically, the two right after started rowing using their respective shield.


    As a result, the speed of the tform slowly increases.


    The more Roshan and Carter rows, the faster the tform bes.


    Since there''s nothing hindering their path, and in addition to that the flow of the magma seems to be slowly going downward, thus the speed only increases and seems to not show any signs of slowing down any time soon.


    "You both can stop now," Kayn informs Roshan and Carter, instantly making the two let go of their shields that have already been badly damaged by the magma that some parts of its body have been melted away to the point that they can''t be used anymore.


    They still have a few of those shields as extras in their Storage Rings, so it wasn''t a problem to throw some away now that they have served their use.


    Because their speed has be a lot fasterpared to the others, they started catching up to those that have left before them.


    Gilbert can''t help asking. "Where do you think this would lead to?"


    Hearing that question, everyone subconsciously turns to look at Kayn for answers, as if confident that thetter would be able to provide one.


    "A waterfall," Kayn replied while staring in front of them, his eyes solemn and with caution.


    "What do you mean?"


    "Why do you think water flows downwards?"


    "That''s because thend is a slope, thus the water at the top would naturally descend down below¡­ Don''t tell me,"


    "Whatever is in your minds right now, that''s the correct answer. But rest assured, unlike water, we can easily go against the flow in the case of magma. Just look at that," Kayn pointed at a group of people who are going against the flow of the magma with the help of their Mages.


    Seeing that, everyone immediately understood that is their only way of returning from the way they came from.


    "I believe that there''s another cave somewhere in front of us. Once we see it, I guess all we have to do is to let our Mages control the direction of our tform in order to get close to it," He already knows that there''s going to be a cave.

 Chapter 147 Locating The Molten Magma Core Part 2

    Chapter 147: Locating the Molten Magma Core part 2


    After a few minutes of travel, they spotted dozens of tforms slowly melting and a few meters away from it was a huge entrance to a cave.


    "You''ve guessed it perfectly!" Friedrich muttered as he sent a sword wave behind them so that it will boost the direction of their tform toward the cave.


    Whoosh!


    Soon, their tform reached close to the cave. But because there are numerous tforms in front of it, thus preventing them from getting closer.


    With no other choice, they abandoned their tform and started jumping from one tform to another in front of them so that they could reach the entrance of the cave.


    In the process, they made sure to choose the tforms that won''t identally capsize, which will in turn cause them to fall straight to the magma around them.


    Not long after, they finally reached the entrance of the cave. They didn''t waste any time as they walked straight inside to continue with their journey.


    The instant they walked inside, they were immediately greeted by a wide ravine surrounded by rivers and waterfalls made of magma.


    Surveying briefly around the ce, they could immediately see countless people searching around for something.


    "Let''s go deeper," Kayn instructed.


    Clearly, the people closest to the entrance aren''t truly searching for the Molten Magma Core. After all, the first ce that anyone who enters this ce would look around would be the closest to the entrance. This means that it has already been confirmed that the Molten Magma Core isn''t around here.


    What these people are doing right now is mainly searching for other treasures, materials, and perhaps some valuable loot from other parties who came before them in hopes of earning something.


    This kind of action is honestly natural during scavenger hunts or even in any ces where looking for valuable items is involved. It doesn''t mean that just because there are only a few objects to look for, other people who weren''t lucky enough to find them won''t be able to earn a profit.


    There are also other sources of profit around these kinds of ces. All one has to do is be patient and look at every corner in order to find them.


    As they continue to travel deeper, the number of people around them also slowly decreases.


    Eventually, they reached a point where there were only two or three parties searching the ce.


    "We''re close," Kayn muttered.


    Seeing such a sight only means that they are close to how far everyone has traveled so far in this part of the Peaceful Volcano.


    Although, that wasn''t the real reason why he said they are close.


    The path that leads to the center of the Peaceful Volcano isn''t actually easy to find. As a matter of fact, if one simply looks at the ce with their naked eye, they would never be able to find it. That''s because one has to take note of what kind of ce the Peaceful Volcano is.


    Since this ce is a volcano, it''s naturally covered with magma almost all over the ce. And coincidentally that includes the path that leads to the center of the Peaceful Volcano.


    "So, you''re telling us that perhaps the exact reason why no one has yet to find the center of the Peaceful Volcano is that they are looking for it in the wrong way?" Friedrich can''t help asking after listening to Kayn''s opinion.


    "Imagine you are searching for a certain location under the ocean, where do you expect you will find that ce?"


    "Under the ocean¡­"


    "And where are we right now?"


    "Under a volcano,"


    All of a sudden, Kayn stopped. At the location where he stopped, no other people could be seen around him other than Friedrich and the others.


    Pointing his hand forward, he muttered, "Now, if you look closely behind that magma, you will see what we''ve been looking for,"


    Following the direction of where Kayn is pointing, everyone started observing a magma waterfall closely.


    "I think I see something¡­"


    "Is that a hole behind the waterfall?"


    "I don''t see one¡­ Wait!"


    "Oh, there is indeed a hole!"


    "Now look behind each of the magma waterfalls,"


    Instantly, Friedrich and the others started looking at each of the magma waterfalls nearby them.


    After a few minutes of observation, they were surprised to realize that they''d actually missed dozens of caves that were perfectly hidden behind the magma waterfalls. Some of the magma waterfalls don''t have caves, but the majority did.


    "Now you understand. If you are in a certain environment, you have to use methods that are rted to that environment. Otherwise, you could be looking at everything, but still in the end you won''t be able to find what you are looking for,"


    No one really bothers to look at what''s behind the magma waterfall, as it would nevere across their minds that there is going to be something important to find at such locations.


    It''s not that strange honestly, because no one would normallye inside a volcano. And ording to the information he had read about the Peaceful Volcano, there are no monsters to hunt here and one can hardly even find valuable resources at this ce, so people don''te here often.


    Only those desperate individuals who are hoping to strike gold by exploring dangerous ces would think ofing here. And he believes that there are only a few in ''The Bridge'', let alone in a single territory.


    "So, which one should we explore first?"


    The discovery of entrances behind magma waterfalls gives them a lot of options to choose from.


    "I think it would be best if we split up. Each one of us could pretty much handle a situation on our own and knows when to retreat and to engage," Friedrich suggested.


    Kayn smiles after hearing Friedrich''s suggestion. This was exactly what he wanted. Aside from getting the Molten Magma Core, he also wants to gather other resources he can find. If others are with him, he would have no other choice but to share those resources with them. Needless to say, the others clearly don''t want that as well, so they all benefit from this n.


    That''s just the nature of being a part of a party and encountering the same opportunity as them.


    As expected¡­


    "I agree!"

 Chapter 148 Being Followed

    Chapter 148: Being followed


    With that being said, Kayn and the others began picking a cave to explore.


    As soon as they were all finished and were out of sight, Kayn suddenly walks out of the magma waterfall and went to another path.


    He purposely picked another path because he felt that something is amiss. It feels as if someone is following them.


    Right now, Natas is continuing the path that leads to the Molten Magma Core. While he would try to find out what exactly is causing him to feel uneasy.


    He had given Natas a Storage Ring, which is a very tiny object that he can carry with him and he can use to store the Molten Magma Core once he finds it. He isn''t worried whether Natas could pull it off or not because as far as he could remember, thetter can interact with objects even though he is currently in his spirit form.


    Contrary to that, he is worried about someone else stealing the Molten Magma Core from him. Hence, he is going on another path in hopes of misleading anyone who is following him.


    "I wonder who they are," Kayn muttered to himself as he continued walking forward. Strangely enough, he isn''t feeling like his life is in danger.


    The longer he continues to walk, the wider the path slowly bes.


    "Strange¡­"


    The path was in a straight line, it wasn''t going down or going up as well.


    "Is this path perhaps connected to other paths?" As far as he had observed, it is most likely going to be the case.


    After a few moments, he came to a halt.


    In front of him appears a huge open space, and to his left, right, and front are three other entrances leading to different locations.


    "It seems like I got myself into trouble,"


    If he continues along this path, there''s a good chance that he will find himself in a maze. He isn''t familiar with the Peaceful Volcano, so it''s not a good n to continue.


    "This is not good. I have to get back before it''s toote¡­"


    All of a sudden, Kayn quickly hid in the closest spot as he heard some footsteps approaching his direction.


    "I truly didn''t expect that there would be caves hidden behind the magma waterfalls¡­" The man felt amazed.


    "We never thought of this possibility despite how long we''ve searched this ce,"


    "Though, are you certain that this path would lead us to the center of the Peaceful Volcano?" One of the men can''t help but ask.


    Shaking his head, their leader responded, "I am not, but that person who seems to be their leader surely knows what''s up. And if I am not mistaken, that young man definitely wants to keep the Molten Magma Core to himself since he went to another cave after the members of his party left. Quite greedy, I must say,"


    "That young man would surely be in for a surprise when he finds out that there are other people who are following him,"


    "Who told them toe here while looking very appealing to people like us," The man startedughing.


    "It''s such a shame. If it wasn''t because of the Molten Magma Core, we would have definitely gone for their women first,"


    "Exactly!"


    Laughter immediately echoed throughout the entire ce.


    Eventually, the men came to a halt just like Kayn as they looked at the three paths in front of them.


    "This is a bit problematic,"


    "Why?"


    "That''s right! There are ten of us here, let''s just split into three groups. Whoever finds that young man first, has to immediately report it to the rest of us,"


    "I agree!"


    "Alright!"


    The party immediately split into three groups with one having four members and the other two groups having three members.


    After that, they were assigned by their leader which cave they would explore through a simple lottery.


    Kayn can''t help breathing a soft sigh of relief after seeing that the group going in his direction is only made up of three people, and they also don''t seem strong as well.


    "I should be able to handle them fairly easily," Kayn muttered before slipping away to go deep.


    He is intending to look for a dark location to hide and prepare to ambush the three when they are deep enough that theirrades won''t be able to hear them anymore.


    "Do you think we''d be lucky enough to stumble upon that young man?"


    "If we do, I suggest we don''t report it,"


    "That was exactly what I was about to propose to you guys,"


    "Why?"


    "Think about it, no one knows exactly where that young man is right now, thus if one luckily finds him, that would be a perfect opportunity to keep the Molten Magma Core to themselves. And believe me, the rest of our party should be thinking the same as well,"


    "I guess so,"


    "Just trust the two of us. Anyways, the fewer people there are, the more profit we would get, right?"


    "Indeed,"


    Eventually, the three passed by where Kayn is currently hidden.


    "Quite foolish," Kayn thought inwardly. Selfishness has always been one of the major root causes of failure.


    An example of why is about to take ce right now¡­


    Without any hesitation, Kayn quickly rushed towards the closest person among the three.


    Raising both of his arms, he then waves it down with a lot of force to hit the man with the hilt of his Molten Ice Sword, which instantly causes the man to lose consciousness.


    Subsequently, he waves his sword to the left to hit away the sword of the man on the left.


    At the same time, he sent a powerful kick to the man to the right.


    ng!


    Bang!


    Boom!


    One dropped unconscious, the other became defenseless, while thest one was sent farther to the back so that he won''t be able to run away.


    In the next moment, Kayn waves his hand and threw a dagger at the man who was sent away. Albeit the hilt of the dagger was in front as he isn''t intending to kill anyone here.


    He then grabs his sword once more and waves it to the neck of the defenseless man beside him.


    Bang!


    The other man lost consciousness.


    "Don''t move if you don''t want to be the one who will lose his life,"


    "O¡­ okay¡­"


    Bang!


    Kayn hit the man with the central part of his sword to make him lose consciousness like the rest.


    In that quick and fluidbination of attacks, he sessfully knocked the three men out.

 Chapter 149 Becoming The Public Enemy Of Serenity Village Part 1

    Chapter 149: Bing the public enemy of Serenity Vige Part 1


    After knocking the three men unconscious, Kayn immediately tied them up with a rope on a stone pir considerably far away from the danger of magma.


    He wants to know the exact reason why they are following them, and who exactly these people are.


    Even though he has a rough idea of the answers to those questions, he''d rather confirm it from them personally.


    Moreover, he is also suspecting something else.


    As soon as he was finished, he grabbed a handful of water from the Springwater Source Bonsai and ssh it on the face of the man to the left.


    He ns to ask them one at a time so that they won''t cooperate with each other to tell him false information.


    "Ah!"


    The man was instantly woken up. He begins looking around his surroundings and soon notices that his body is tied by a rope. As he looked up again, he finally notices the young man they''d been looking for crouching in front of him.


    "You''re probably smart enough to understand why I woke you up,"


    "What do you want?!" The man responded loudly in hopes of waking up hisrades. But s, it was futile.


    "They won''t wake up no matter how loud you shout, I covered their ears, you see," Kayn pointed at the ears of the two unconscious men.


    "Impossible¡­" It''s impossible topletely block off the hearing of a Hero. That''s because their sense of hearing is far beyond the ordinary. Even if they don''t hear a loud noise, they should be able to hear some noise, even just a little bit.


    That was what the man was thinking inwardly.


    Unfortunately, they were deep asleep, that''s why they can''t hear anything.


    "I suggest that you stop wasting my time, and your stamina in senselessly shouting. If you don''t, then I''ll just throw you to that pit of magma over there and ask the others instead," Kayn glimpses at the magma pit not far away from them.


    The man instantly gulped down a mouthful of saliva.


    "Now you get it," Kayn smiles. "Let''s start with the first question. I have no interest in finding who you are, but I want to know what group you belong to?"


    "Bulldogs, that''s the name of our party¡­"


    "Where''s Bulldogs'' base?"


    "Here, at Serenity Town,"


    "Locals, I see¡­ Then, why are you following me?"


    "You are on to something, that''s why,"


    "Before that," Kayn doesn''t believe that. He waved his hand, instantly taking out a dagger from his Storage Ring.


    "The truth is, we can see riches on you and your party from the moment you arrived. So, we thought of trying something out to get a share of it. But we never expected that you were actually on to something, something that would definitely be helpful in finding the Molten Magma Core. That''s what we want,"


    "I see," Kayn stood up. "I thought that you were part of the Assembly of Freedom,"


    "That''s absurd! None of our members are part of the Assembly of Freedom! We hate those guys!"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I believe you,"


    In the next moment, Kayn swiftly turned around and hit the back of the man''s head, instantly making him fall unconscious once again.


    After making sure that the man is deep asleep, Kayn repeated the same thing with the man in the middle.


    He asked him a simr question, with some slight variation, and when he finally got what he needed, he sent the man unconscious once again and did the same thing to the third man.


    In the end, the information he got wasn''t too far out from what he was assuming back then.


    He felt kinda disappointed. Honestly, he was hoping to get something helpful or a piece of information that would be able to make him feel at ease. Like for example, information about the presence of members of the Assembly of Freedom in the Peaceful Volcano.


    Needless to say, he wasn''t wishing that they''d be here. If that truly happens, he would start suspecting that they knew about the treasure he is looking for in ''The Bridge''.


    Since there was nothing worth his time anymore, Kayn left the three unconscious men alone and proceeded to return from the path he came from. He intends on meeting up with Natas and looking for the Molten Magma Core together with thetter.


    Fortunately, he didn''t meet any of thepanions of the three men along the way.


    He went to the side of the magma waterfall and sneak right into another one as quickly as possible so that no one can spot him this time.


    In the process of looking for Natas, he made sure to clean his tracks so that those people following after him won''t be able to locate where exactly he is after they find those three unconscious men.


    As time goes by and the deeper Kayn walked, he started to feel an increase in the temperature level in his surrounding. The heat steadily became unbearable for his body to handle.


    Luckily for him, his Molten Ice Sword has an Active Skill called <<Hot and Cold>> which surrounds the user with a hot and cold barrier that resists 50% of both ice and fire element attacks. Although it doesn''tst very long and the cooldown for each use is 240 seconds, a good four minutes, it still helps him slightly cope with the intense heat nheless.


    After some time, he finally reached what seems to be the center of the Peaceful Volcano.


    As he exited the tunnel, he was instantly greeted by a huge open area that seems to look like a magmake.


    There were multiple pirs, magma waterfalls, and floatingnd masses slowly moving around the body of the magmake.


    Kayn quickly started to survey the area to look for Natas.


    To his surprise, he soon found Natas running towards him as swiftly as possible.


    "Hide!" Natas eximed as he saw Kayn in front of him.


    Realizing that something is wrong, Kayn immediately hid behind a huge rock as he waited for Natas toe.


    It didn''t take long for Natas to arrive.


    "What''s wrong?"


    "There''s a Monster guarding the Molten Magma Core,"


    "How?" He has never spotted a single Monster ever since he entered the Peaceful Volcano. So, it''s somewhat hard to believe that there is one guarding the Molten Magma Core.


    It wasn''t actually impossible, just that it was highly unlikely.

 Chapter 150 Becoming The Public Enemy Of Serenity Village Part 2

    Chapter 150: Bing the public enemy of Serenity Vige Part 2


    "Why did you run though?" Kayn can''t help himself from asking. As far as he knows, it is practically impossible to see Natas unless thetter intends to show himself, even the ''Tower'' isn''t excepted from this, so how could a Monster see him?


    "The Monster didn''t spot me, but I can''t afford topromise the Storage Ring,"


    That''s right! Although Natas couldn''t be seen, the Storage Ring can.


    If Natas was holding the Storage Ring, people would only be able to see the ring moving and levitating around, making it appear as though it is floating on its own. This is why if the Monster were to spot the Storage Ring, it would likely pursue it because it would assume the Molten Magma Core is contained within. However, the monster would be unable to see Natas himself.


    "I already got the Molten Magma Core. But unfortunately, as soon as I store it inside the Storage Ring, the Monster suddenly appeared. So, I had no other choice but to run and secure the Storage Ring along the way,"


    "Where is the Storage Ring right now?"


    Natas pointed at a rock around fifty meters away from their location. "Under that huge rock,"


    Looking closely, Kayn soon spotted a shining object.


    It was the Storage Ring!


    "I could only go that far without the risk of the Monster spotting the Storage Ring," Natas pointed at an approaching figure.


    Following the direction where Natas was pointing, Kayn immediately saw a huge lizard that was covered in molten magma rocks. asionally, magma would spew out in between a crack on its skin, and slowly flow down to the magma river down below.


    It was a Molten Lizard!


    A Molten Lizard is a lizard that had undergone a mutation after being exposed to extreme temperatures for a very long time and surviving in such an environment which allowed it to develop natural fire resistance and received a Gift rted to the fire element.


    Most likely, it was once a mere lizard that has turned into a Molten Lizard over time, and because it has no natural predator in Peaceful Volcano due to the ce almost having no monsters around, it provided a perfect habitat for it to grow and develop to be what it is today.


    Kayn is fully aware that in this kind of situation, he should ask Friedrich and the others for assistance in dealing with the Molten Lizard. It would be a piece of cake for them to handle a mere Molten Lizard.


    However, there is not enough time to go find them and return back here again since the Molten Lizard is very close to the Storage Ring. Not to mention, the Storage Ring is also not properly hidden by Natas as well.


    He has to think of another solution quickly. Otherwise, things would be a lot harder for him once the Molten Lizard finds the Storage Ring.


    Natas reminded. "We can''t allow the Molten Lizard to find the Storage Ring. Because once it does, it would now be able to dive deep into the magma along with it and there would be next to no chances to get the Molten Magma Core back again,"


    Even though it is a Monster, they are not ignorant of the function of themon items used by Humans, which includes the Storage Ring.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I know," Kayn fully understood.


    If back then when Natas has yet to store the Molten Magma Core inside the Storage Ring, the Molten Lizard could only helplessly stare at it and be its guard. But once it is inside the Storage Ring, it could now carry it along wherever it wants to go.


    As long as that happens, there''s indeed going to be a good chance that the Molten Lizard would leave the Peaceful Volcano and go somewhere else where it could grow even more powerful until such timees when it could finally use the power of the Molten Magma Core for itself.


    "I''ll try," Kayn finally thought of a n. Though he wasn''t confident that it would really work, at the very least it is much better than having nothing.


    Without wasting any time, Kayn jumped on top of the rock.


    "Hey!" Kayn called out to the Molten Lizard. Waving his hand, he took out another Storage Ring. "Are you looking for this?"


    The Molten Lizard immediately turned to look at Kayn the instant it heard his loud voice over the distance calling. Its attention rapidly turned to the Storage Ring the man was holding, thinking right away that the Molten Magma Core is inside.


    "Do you want it?" Kayn smiled.


    Seeing the smile on Kayn''s face, the Molten Lizard instantly lose it as it charged straight. It didn''t bother to consider whether the Storage Ring was really where the Molten Magma Core is or not as it felt insulted at Kayn''s action.


    Without wasting any time, Kayn made a run back to the tunnel he came through.


    Before leaving, he quickly instructed Natas, "Get the Storage Ring,"


    "Okay!" Natas nodded his head as he went forward to fetch the Storage Ring.


    Natas passed by the Molten Lizard, and as he looked back, he saw it chasing Kayn at its top speed while thetter continues to raise the Storage Ring while swiftly running away.


    It was quite an amusing scene to look at. But he knows that he can''t continue watching for long as he has no time to waste because as soon as the Molten Lizard gets close enough, it would instantly realize the Storage Ring in Kayn''s hand doesn''t contain the Molten Magma Core.


    Since the distance was close, Natas got the Storage Ring once again. He quickly turned around, but to his surprise, it was also the exact moment the Molten Lizard slowly turns its head around, evidently realizing that it has been fooled by Kayn.


    Before the Molten Lizard could notice, Natas jumped to the side to hide behind the rock nearby.


    "It would have caught me if I wasted a single second more," Natas started breathing profusely.


    They''re very lucky that the Molten Lizard won''t be able to hear Natas'' breathing. Otherwise, it would have long found out where he is hiding.


    In the next second, Natas started hearing loud noises approaching his direction.

 Chapter 151 Becoming The Public Enemy Of Serenity Town Part 3

    ?


    Chapter 151: Bing the public enemy of Serenity Town Part 3


    As the Molten Lizard slowly approaches, at the same time Natas started slowly moving to a corner where he would be able to hide the Storage Ring.


    Whoosh!


    A loud sound of the Molten Lizard breathing could be heard as its nose moved closer to where Natas was hiding. Evidently, it could sense that the Molten Magma Core is nearby.


    Before it could use its nose to smell the exact location of the Storage Ring once again, Natas made a run for it.


    The moment Natas started running, the Molten Lizard immediately saw the floating Storage Ring where it senses the Molten Magma Core inside.


    "Quickly!" Kayn eximed from the entrance of the tunnel.


    Natas soon reached the tunnel.


    Kayn and Natas didn''t waste any time as they run through the tunnel, intending to get out of this ce and meet up with the others as soon as possible.


    Although the tunnel was small, it was big enough for the Molten Lizard to still fit in with its huge body. It made sure to follow closely after them so that it won''t lose the Molten Magma Core.


    "Drop some of your unused Storage Rings," Natas suggested.


    "Alright!" Kayn immediately understood Natas'' n.


    By throwing unused Storage Rings, it would distract the Molten Lizard as it would think that they''ve ditched the Molten Magma Core in order to survive, thus increasing their distance from it and buying some time.


    Kayn dropped the first Storage Ring with the intent of testing the water. He is fully aware now that the Molten Lizard is able to tell which Storage Ring has the Molten Magma Core, so he doesn''t want to risk losing Storage Rings for nothing.


    ng!


    The Storage Ring dropped to the ground.


    Seeing it, the Molten Lizard immediately came to a halt.


    "As expected," Natas smiled.


    A Monster will always be a Monster.


    It means their intelligence level will never be high, especially in the case of the Molten Lizard. Of course, there are always going to be exceptions, but luckily it''s not in their case right now.


    "Let''s continue with this so that we''ll be able to increase our distance,"


    "Okay," Kayn nodded his head.


    After a few seconds, the Molten Lizard realized that he was fooled once again. It started running once again to chase after Kayn.


    Once again, Kayn dropped another Storage Ring on the ground. Just like what they expected, the Molten Lizard fell for it. As a result, they were able to increase their distance.


    "Perhaps we would be able to escape," Natas expressed his hope.


    "You know that it is going to be impossible to escape from it, right?" Kayn isn''t foolish enough to truly believe that the Molten Lizard would continue to fall for their trick.


    Although its intelligence level is not high, it is still capable of thinking on its own. Meaning, it would eventually learn to realize that the Storage Ring he is dropping doesn''t contain the Molten Magma Core inside and it''s nothing but a trick to dy it and possibly escape.


    "I was only hoping," Natas rolled his eyes.


    "Nevertheless, we can make use of this distance to our advantage," Needless to say, he isn''t nning to use it so that they''ll be able to escape from the Molten Lizard, because regardless of what they do, it is going to be impossible.


    "What''s your n?" Natas became curious.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "You''ll see," Kayn was confident this time that his n is going to work.


    Time continues to pass, and after four more times tricking the Molten Lizard with the unused Storage Rings, it finally learned to never fall for it ever again.


    Unbeknownst to the Molten Lizard, that was exactly what Kayn intended on achieving.


    "You still have the Storage Ring with you, right?" Kayn glimpses at Natas.


    "Until we are safe, I won''t give this to you," Natas replied.


    "Rest assured, I won''t be asking for it yet," Kayn smiled. "Once I give you the signal, I want you to stop running,"


    "Why?"


    "Just believe me,"


    "Okay¡­" Natas choose to believe and trust Kayn''s n. Thetter is someone who has a lot of experience, so whatever he is nning, there''s a very high chance that it will be sessful.


    After some time, the magma waterfall that blocked the entrance to the tunnel was finally in sight.


    Seeing it, Kayn pushed his feet even harder so that he can run even faster and increase the distance even farther.


    Natas also did the same in order to keep up with Kayn.


    Just when Kayn was nearing the magma waterfall, he suddenly stopped.


    "Why are you stopping?" Natas also stopped.


    "Just wait!" Kayn didn''t bother to talk much as he started equipping himself with fire-resistance armor from his Storage Ring. He only took out those that he can wear easily like a pair of boots and gloves, andstly a helmet.


    "I am done," After saying that, Kayn started running once again.


    All of a sudden.


    <<Hot and Cold>>


    He uses one of the Active Skills of the Molten Ice Sword which gives him 50% resistance to both fire and element attack.


    "Go to the corner and stop running," Kayn blurted out as he leaped forward.


    Whilst in mid-air, Kayn maneuver both his arms and legs and also moved his head downward in order to get them closer to his chest seemingly turning into a ball so that all of his fire-resistant armor would be able to cover a wider range around his body. In this way, he would be able to minimize the magma from getting through to his body upon impact with the magma waterfall.


    "You''re insane!" Natas can''t help muttering as he watches Kayn make a cannonball leap straight toward the burning and hot magma waterfall blocking their way in front.


    Boom!


    A loud sound of an explosion sounded as Kayn''s body made contact with the magma waterfall. Because of how much strength he put on his feet to execute the leap, he was sessfully and easily able to get through the magma waterfall.


    Natas could see from the other side of the magma water that even right afternding on the ground, Kayn actually didn''t stop and made another crazy decision of jumping right into another magma waterfall.


    "Wait!"


    It was at this moment that Natas finally realized what Kayn was nning on doing. If he remembers correctly, that path leads exactly to where Friedrich and Chastine are.


    "Fair enough," Killing the Molten Lizard would no doubt bring a lot of profit to their party, that''s why it is better to kill it rather than escape from it.

 Chapter 152 Becoming The Public Enemy Of Serenity Town Part 4

    Chapter 152:  Bing the public enemy of Serenity Town Part 4


    Not long after Kayn went inside another cave, the Molten Lizard swiftly passed by Natas and followed closely behind. Itpletely ignored the Storage Ring on the ground as it assumed that it was another trick.


    After the four times it was fooled, the Molten Lizard believes that the Storage Ring where the Molten Magma Core can only be in the hands of Kayn and he would certainly never drop it.


    Boom!


    The Molten Lizard jumped into the cave where Kayn went to.


    "Great," Kayn can''t help muttering after glimpsing his back for a brief moment.


    Although he had bought himself some time, the Molten Lizard is evidently able to quickly catch up to him and is now just a few meters behind him.


    Fortunately for him, the path inside the cave was just a straight line so there''s no need for him to consider where exactly Friedrich and Chastine are. However, the downside to it is he has to do his best to run as fast as possible because his distance with the Molten Lizard is only going to continue decreasing from here on out.


    "Let''s try this again," Kayn prayed deep inside that the same strategy would work.


    Waving his hand, Kayn dropped another Storage Ring on the ground.


    Regrettably, what Kayn hope to happen didn''t take ce as the Molten Lizard crashed the Storage Ring with its food and never even bother to check whether its decision causes it to lose the Molten Magma Core or not.


    It wasn''t all that bad though as that action exhibited by the Molten Lizard also further solidified Kayn''s thought that it didn''t notice the Molten Magma Core inside the Storage Ring that Natas was carrying.


    That was a good boost in morale for Kayn, so his sprint became faster, thus slowly increasing the distance between him and the Molten Lizard.


    After a few minutes of running around, Kayn finally spotted some traces of Friedrich and Chastine on the ground.


    Strangely enough, many traces of magic spells being used, and some broken weapons were scattered on the ground.


    As he continues to run deeper, he started seeing blood on the ground, albeit there were no bodies, but he is assuming that it''s either because the owner is still alive or that their bodies are now stored inside a Storage Ring in order to clean up the mess.


    "It seems like a fight broke out," Kayn muttered. He doesn''t know why nor does he have a single clue about how it even happened.


    "Maybe it''s a bad thing that I am bringing them a Molten Lizard right now," He thought inwardly. He is hoping deep inside that their situation isn''t bad.


    On second thought, "Or perhaps this is a good thing since this Molten Lizard would no doubt disrupt whatever is taking ce right now,"


    With that thought in mind, Kayn no longer hesitated as he vigorously run to find Friedrich and Chastine.


    As soon as Kayn reached a wide open space, he was immediately greeted by a battle between dozens of adventurer parties.


    "Did a lot of people got inside that cave without me knowing?" Kayn felt shocked at the scene.


    "Kayn?" <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Suddenly, he heard a familiar voice at the side.


    As he look around, he immediately spotted Friedrich and Chastine standing at the side as if they were just casual bystanders watching a movie of some sort.


    It wasn''t strange why they don''t feel the need to join the fight. After all, they are way beyond the league of these people, and not to mention it would be bullying if they indeed participated. But what''s crazy is that no one actually dared toe at them and pick a fight, especially considering that there are only two of them, a mere warrior and a healer on top of that.


    "Don''t be surprised, some groups actually tried to pick a fight with us, but¡­" It was very obvious from the look on Kayn''s face. Chastine took out a badge that shows that they are members of the Green Horn Knights. "I simply showed them this and they immediately understood. Quite an understanding bunch, I must say,"


    "As if," Kayn rolled his eyes.


    Only insane people would dare pick a fight with members of the Green Horn Knights as it ismon knowledge that members of their group are known to be one of the best in ''The Bridge''.


    Even though there are only two of them, only a fool wouldn''t know that there are only four healers and a few warriors amongst the Green Horn Knights and all of them are scary people, and moreover the leaders of all squads are healers and warriors, hence they don''t want to risk the chance of finding out if one of the two or either two are leaders of a squad, because if they are, the oue is not something that anyone here would want to see.


    "As for why there are so many people here; actually, only we came from that tunnel, the rest of them were already here when we got out. So, I asked some people in order to satisfy my curiosity," Chastine waves her hand. "Remember the three paths at the entrance, one of the other two apparently leads to this ce,"


    "I suppose this is where the path in the middle leads to," Kayn immediately understood.


    "That''s also my guess. But how are you so sure that it is,"


    "Just a hunch,"


    "Okay," Chastine could only choose to believe Kayn.


    "By the way¡­" Kayn almost forgot.


    All of a sudden, everyone felt the ground shaking.


    "What did you do," Chastine stares at Kayn, obviously knowing that this was caused by him.


    "I had to do what I needed to do in order to get what I came here for,"


    "It better not be something that would endanger our lives here,"


    "Does that include the rest of them," Kayn referred to the other people who have now decided to momentarily stop fighting each other to see what the shaking is all about.


    "Whether they live or die in this ce is entirely up to them," Friedrich finally spoke after choosing to remain silent ever since Kayn arrived. He waves his hand and immediately took out his sword. "So, what kind of monster is it?"


    "A Molten Lizard. Something we could definitely handle,"


    "Okay, I''ll take care of it," Before stepping inside the tunnel, Friedrich glimpses at a bunch of guys that reeks the aura of dangerous criminals and quietly warned Kayn and Chastine, "I will ask youter as to why you led the Molten Lizard to us, but in the meantime, make sure to watch out for those guys,"


    Kayn and Chastine immediately understood why.

 Chapter 153 Becoming The Public Enemy Of Serenity Town Part 5

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    Chapter 153: Bing the public enemy of Serenity Town Part 5


    Meanwhile, after seeing that Friedrich is going to take care of whatever caused that shaking on the ground just now, everyone immediately jumps straight to continue fighting with one another.


    While Friedrich was taking care of the Molten Lizard, Kayn and Chastine turned their attention to the group that the former had warned them about.


    Even the most foolish person in the world would be able to easily guess that they are dangerous criminals by just simply looking at them


    Observing them from head to toe; their bodies are covered almost entirely with blood. Not to mention, they don''t hesitate to kill immediately anyone who dares to pick a fight with them or get close enough to the range of their weapons. And because no one knows where their allegiance lies, no one hesitates to approach them and engage inbat. In the end, all of them died in their hands, thus dyeing their bodies with their blood. Also, none of them seems to mind the blood covering their bodies, evidently showing that they are used to such a situation.


    "I don''t like those bunch," Chastine muttered with a voice that only Kayn could hear.


    "It''s only natural," Kayn stares solemnly. "They are members of the Assembly of Freedom,"


    "What? How''d you know?"


    "I saw their logo imprinted in the hand of one of their men,"


    "Are you sure?"


    "Yes, I am sure. It was a clown tattoo with white wings,"


    The clown tattoo is actually the logo of the Circus, and the white wings are the real logo of the Assembly of Freedom. Combining the two logos together means that they are underlings of the Circus.


    "Let me see," Chastine still didn''t believe it, so she decided to observe the group closely. As a result, she confirmed Kayn''s findings. "This is bad. We need to inform Friedrich and the others about this,"


    "There''s no need," Kayn express his disagreement.


    "If we don''t tell them, we will be endangering their lives," Chastine insisted.


    "I already have what I need. As long as we don''t alert them, we can leave this ce without engaging in a fight with them,"


    It isn''t that he is scared to fight against the members of the Assembly of Freedom nor that he doesn''t want to get into trouble. He simply wants to get over with what he needed to achieve here and proceed to the next step of his n. Otherwise, he would be dyed which would likewise dy his other ns as well.


    Anyways, he can always take care of the Assembly of Freedomter. After all, there''s still a fair amount of time left in his expected duration of stay in ''The Bridge''. It''s just that, now he has to rush things because he was dyed by quite some time when he lost consciousness and had no other choice but to rest for a few days.


    "After Friedrich takes care of the Molten Lizard, we''ll gather everyone and leave," Kayn ended the conversation.


    He''ll only risk getting discovered by those members of the Assembly of Freedom if he continues to discuss them with Chastine. After all, they aren''t deaf to not hear their conversation, and they are also not blind to not see that they are discussing them. As long as one of those people observes them closely, they would know.


    Moreover, Chastine and Friedrich had pretty much revealed already to everyone that they are members of the Green Horn Knights. As long as those members of the Assembly of Freedom over there are up to date with the current happenings between their organization and the Green Horn Vige, then they will for sure know that they are currently at war with each other.


    That means that one wrong move and a prelude to the war toe would certainly take ce in this cave.


    He doesn''t want that to happen, especially since the Molten Magma Core is still in the possession of Natas. If chaos indeed breaks out, he might get separated from thetter and thus further dy his n.


    It didn''t take long for Friedrich to return.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I stored the Molten Lizard in my Storage Ring. I believe that is what you wanted me to do," Friedrich uttered.


    "That''s right!" Kayn nodded.


    "So, how are our friends from the Assembly of Freedom doing?"


    "You already knew?!" Chastine felt surprised.


    "You didn''t?"


    "Well, I do now. But before, I didn''t have a single clue about it until Kayn pointed out,"


    "Anyways," Friedrich looks at Kayn. "Seeing that Molten Lizard, I am guessing that you''ve already found it?"


    "Yes,"


    "So, shall we go?"


    "Been waiting all this time," Kayn agreed without any hesitation.


    Since she has no other choice, Chastine chooses to follow the two.


    Without wasting any more time, Kayn left along with Friedrich and Chastine to meet up with the other members of their party.


    Before leaving though, Kayn and Friedrich looks at each other and immediately understood what the other was thinking about. They glimpsed behind them for onest time before continuing to walk inside the tunnel.


    As soon as their figures disappeared in the shadow of the tunnel, Kayn and Friedrich immediately bolted away while pulling Chastine with them.


    "What are you both doing?" Chastine was extremely shocked. But she still tried her best to keep up with their speed. Since she is a healer, she quickly adapted to their speed with her high points in the agility stat. "You both can let go of me now and tell me what exactly is going on,"


    Kayn and Friedrich immediately let go of Chastine''s hand.


    "Everyone was eyeing us," Kayn exined.


    Friedrich quickly added. "There are only two reasons for that. Either they are curious about what I did just now or they know we have the Molten Magma Core,"


    "Couldn''t it just be the former?"


    "Regardless of what it is, we have to get away. It''s only going to be a matter of time before they start suspecting the reason why we left right after I took care of the Molten Lizard. And on top of that, those people from the Assembly of Freedom have also been observing us for quite some time now. If we have stayed there for any longer, they would no doubt take action on us," Friedrich described. "I don''t want to put any of us in danger, especially since we still have to find the others,"


    "I understand," Chastine finally understood.


    Seeing this, Kayn can''t help breathing a sigh of relief. Now their only problem left is to gather everyone and leave as fast as possible.

 Chapter 154 Becoming The Public Enemy Of Serenity Town Part 6

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    Chapter 154: Bing the public enemy of Serenity Town Part 6


    After close to an hour, Kayn and the others immediately left the Peaceful Volcano and hurriedly went on a journey back to Serenity Town.


    Along the way, Kayn can''t help looking at the Storage Ring where the Molten Magma Core is inside as he felt delighted inwardly.


    Now that he has the Molten Magma Core, there''s only one item left that he needs in order to finally get what he intended to obtain in ''The Bridge''.


    However, to tell the truth, until now he actually still doesn''t know what exactly that item is. Natas never mentioned it to him and he only satisfied him by describing vaguely how mysteriously powerful the said item was.


    He had asked multiple times, but it seems that Natas is quite adamant about keeping the secret to himself until the right timees.


    Anyways, he trusts Natas with all his heart in this specific adventure only and he believes that thetter won''t lead him to somewhere or something that wouldn''t help him achieve his goal of defeating the ''Tower''.


    All of a sudden¡­


    "Halt!" Friedrich raised his hand, signaling everyone to stop.


    "What''s the matter?" Kayn moves closer to Friedrich.


    "Something is wrong," Friedrich muttered as he look from right to left. "We''ve been walking for almost ten minutes, and until now I still haven''t spotted a single soul,"


    "Now that you''ve mentioned it," Kayn realized something.


    When they wereing up to the Peaceful Volcano back then, they would pass a group of adventures almost every one hundred steps either going in the same direction as them or going back to the Serenity Town. Hence, it is quite suspicious that they haven''t met anyone else on their way down.


    Moreover, the surrounding is strangely quiet as well.


    If this was the past, they would immediately understand why the path to the Peaceful Volcano is quiet. After all, it is a rarely visited ce despite the fact that it is close to Serenity Town.


    However, from the moment the scavenger hunt for the Molten Magma Core was issued by the Chief of the Serenity Town, this ce has never been quiet ever since.


    Friedrich immediately orders everyone. "Take out your weapons and prepare for the worst,"


    Hearing this, Kayn quickly took out his Molten Ice Sword along with Gilbert and the others.


    With their weapons in their hands, Friedrich signals to everyone to proceed cautiously.


    "Gilbert, Natasha, and Jackson," Friedrich halted everyone again. "Go ahead and scout a twenty-meter perimeter around us,"


    "Kimberly, Cyril, and Jude," Friedrich motioned his hand. "Make sure to always position yourselves in the center of our party,"


    "The rest, proceed,"


    With that being said, Kayn and the others continued walking under the lead of Friedrich.


    Along their walk, they would asionally hear an rming cry of pain from their surrounding. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Even without needing to see it for themselves, they could already guess that those cries were from the individuals who were hiding and waiting to ambush them. It was akin to the sound of a failed attempt toy in ambush.


    "How did they know that we have the Molten Magma Core?" Chastine was confused.


    "Remember what we said earlier? You im that it can also be the former, but I and Friedrich believed that regardless of what it is, it is only going to be a matter of time for them to find out,"


    "But how can they be so sure that we truly have the Molten Magma Core?"


    "They are betting on chances," Jude interjected.


    "Or it could also be something else," Friedrich added. "I can''t help but feel that those members of the Assembly of Freedom before have something to do with this,"


    "Are you saying that they''ve sessfully persuaded everyone toe after us?" Kayn raised his eyebrows. He doesn''t dare to imagine it because that would mean they are in an extremely dangerous predicament.


    "It''s possible, especially considering that it is them that we are talking about,"


    "I believe that''s not the only reason why you are assuming that possibility,"


    "To tell the truth, I felt a familiar aura from one of their mages. I believe I''ve met that person before and probably had also fought against him in the past,"


    "That mage is probably formidable enough to still survive after fighting against you,"


    "Exactly! And there are only two mages, particrly from the Assembly of Freedom, that have survived fighting against me," Friedrich paused to think for a bit. "One of them was a skilled battlemage called Cairo, and the other was the mage who is infamously known as Wicked Marite Wesley,"


    "Wesley¡­ I remember him! He was a mage whose gift was to charm people and control them to do his bidding,"


    "If my guess is correct, then we have most likely crossed paths with Wesley," Friedrich sighs heavily.


    "Assuming that''s true, are you telling me that he has charmed everyone in that cave in a matter of less than an hour?"


    "It is possible," Chastine affirms.


    "How?"


    Friedrich exins. "Wesley possesses a unique form of charming people that sets him apart from his counterparts. Unlike those who slowly captivate others upon first meeting or have to get close enough, Wesley''s charm requires a gradual process but is also sudden and abrupt. Although it may not appear as potent initially, his charm operates through the medium of food, enchanting people in a distinct manner. Once you tasted his food, that means that you have met the requirement to be his puppet and now you are just waiting for the time he activates his charm on you,"


    "How long does his Giftst?" Kayn asked. With his experience, the Gift to charm people isn''t actually as powerful as it seems on the surface. Although they can indeed control people, there''s always going to be a set duration.


    "I am afraid it would entirely depend on how much food that was cooked by Wesley has been ingested in their bodies before thetter had finally decided to active his Gift in them," Friedrich replied. "If I remember correctly, one dish would equal an hour of being under his control,"


    "That''s not the most important part," Chastine quickly added. "Considering that he is able to influence this many people, it only means to say that he has been staying in Serenity Town long enough to influence these many people. And in that case, it means that he owns a very popr restaurant that''s widely visited by the residents of this town,"


    "That means¡­" Friedrich eyes widened.


    Chastine interrupted Friedrich to finish his life. "It means that there''s also the possibility that he can control everyone in the Serenity Town¡­"

 Chapter 155 Becoming The Public Enemy Of Serenity Town Part 7

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    Chapter 155: Bing the public enemy of Serenity Town Part 7


    "That''s a very scary ability¡­" Kayn slightly shivered, not from being scared, but because he was feeling slightly excited.


    Finally, he has found his first target to use his Gift.


    As soon as he sees that man named Wesley, he would immediately copies thetter''s ability and make it his own.


    The potential of possessing such a Gift is no doubt going to be a huge addition to his developing arsenal of skills.


    Also, Friedrich and Chastine have already exined just how potent Wesley''s Gift is ¡ª controlling people through the use of food. No one would be able to notice his influence if he targets anyone.


    Whoosh!


    All of a sudden, an arrow traveled as fast as the wind toward their direction.


    Bang!


    Roshan immediately blocked the arrow from reaching Kimberly.


    "Careful, they are targeting our mages!" Friedrich waves his sword, cutting another arrowing for Cyril.


    Waving his hand, Kayn quickly took out a shield from his Storage Ring and swiftly inserted it in front of him and Jude.


    Bang! Bang!


    "How versatile," Judeplimented.


    "Stop talking and return fire!" Kayn eximed. If he had been slow by a heart bit, those two arrows would have reached him and Jude. He would be fine as he can block with his sword, but thetter would definitely be injured.


    "Use the trees as cover!" Friedrich warns before jumping to a nearby tree.


    Waving his hand, Kayn took out another shield and quickly inserted it into the side of the first shield. In this way, he created a safe path to reach the close tree.


    "Good job, Kayn!" Cyril apud as he jumped behind the shield and use it as cover.


    "Let me join in, too," Kimberly also jumped to use the shield as her cover.


    With the protection of the shields and trees nearby, Kimberly, Cyril, and Jude were finally able to cast magic spells andunch their counterattack.


    Since there was nothing Kayn could do here aside from providing support, which he doesn''t want to do, he jumped behind another tree before starting to climb to the top.


    As soon as he reached the top, he hid himself using the branches as cover and after making sure that no one is watching him, he swiftly disappeared through the forest.


    Not even Kayn''s party was able to notice that he has disappeared. And when they finally found out, he was already long gone and is now steadily approaching the enemy line to hopefullyunch a coordinated attack with Gilbert, Natasha, and Jackson.


    "Kayn?" Gilbert suddenly appeared. "What are you doing here?"


    "Good timing," Kayn smiled. With Gilbert here, it means that Natasha and Jackson are also nearby his location. "I have a n. Do you have any way to bring Natasha and Jackson here?"


    "We are listening," Natasha silently appeared behind Kayn along with Jackson.


    "I have a skill that will allow me to immediately destroy the enemy line. I want to request your support in order for me to get as close as possible to them,"


    The closer he gets, the more effective his attack is going to be.


    "Understand!" Natasha nodded.


    In the next moment, Gilbert, Natasha, and Jackson disappeared.


    Evidently, they are now proceeding to clear all enemies that will try to hinder Kayn''s path.


    It didn''t take long for Kayn to notice that they are doing great as he never encountered any enemy along the way.


    Not long after, he finally saw the enemy line.


    He can''t help feeling slightly surprised as he saw close to fifty people gathering in one area.


    "If I add those people hiding around the forest, there should be more than one hundred people targeting our party," Kayn thought inwardly. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "What are you nning," Natas suddenly appeared close to Kayn. He remained silent all this time because thetter wasn''t doing anything dangerous, thus there was no need for him to intervene.


    "Just watch," Kayn carefully moved from one tree to another. This time he made sure to be as careful as possible since he is already inside the enemy''s perimeter.


    After a few more jumps, Kayn finally decided to stop as he found his present location a good enough spot tounch his attack.


    "Time to test how strong my new skill is,"


    <<Hundred Shadow Cut>>


    In the next moment, exactly one hundred daggers made of shadow suddenly appeared above the enemy line.


    "Holy shit!"


    "What is that?!"


    "Just run away!"


    Before anyone could retreat, the one hundred shadow daggers started raining down on everyone in its range.


    This wasn''t Kayn''s first time using the <<Hundred Shadow Cut>>, so with his experience, not a single shadow dagger was wasted.


    As the dust settled down, whaty next to Kayn was a line of unconscious people.


    That''s right, Kayn didn''t kill anyone since they are simply under the charm of Wesley. In other words, they are innocent.


    If he had truly killed them, then he would be no different to the members of the Assembly of Freedom.


    The way he achieved that is by simply using the hilt of the shadow daggers. They might be shadows, but their toughness is no different from actual daggers, thus getting hit to the nape is more than enough to send them to the dream world.


    Although there were some exceptions¡­


    A few meters away from where the majority of people were two dead figures of men covered in ck cloth.


    There is no need to confirm who those two people were as Kayn easily recognized them as part of the group of the Assembly of Freedom inside the cave back then.


    "What was that?!" Gilbert immediately asks in shock afternding behind Kayn.


    "A new skill I developed," Kayn vaguely respond.


    "Can you teach me the skill?" Gilbert expresses his desire to learn it.


    "Perhaps in the future," Kayn didn''t promise Gilbert since although thetter is now considered his friend, he still doesn''t trust him enough to bestow a powerful skill like the <<Hundred Shadow Cut>>. It will entirely depend on how Gilbert would act in the future to whether he deserves to learn the skill or not.


    Friedrich and the others started arriving one after another after confirming that the area is safe for them.


    "Good work, Kayn!" Friedrich patted Kayn''s shoulder.


    "Just doing my job,"


    "Now let''s continue,"


    "How about them?" Chastine asked out of concern.


    "Whether they will live or die is entirely up to their luck," Friedrich coldly responded. Although these people were under Wesley''s charm, that still doesn''t change the fact that if it wasn''t for their carelessness, they wouldn''t have fallen for thetter trick.


    "We also don''t have any time to waste just to make sure they are safe when they wake up," Kayn hastily added.


    "Rest assured, we''ve already scouted the surrounding and we haven''t spotted a single monster nearby. As long as they wake up before night, they should be fine," Natashaforted.


    "Wait for a moment,"


    Nodding their heads at each other, Kimberly, Cyril, and Jude cooperated with each other as they created dozens of vines to act as walls around all the unconscious people.


    Once the trio was done, the party immediately continued with their journey in the direction of Serenity Town. Needless to say, with their discovery, they no longer intend to get inside the territory but instead would make a detour to reach their destination and meet up with Gnak and the others.


    Moreover, just to be safe, they decided to move in secret so that they will not fall into another ambush again.

 Chapter 156 The Encounter With Wicked Marionette Wesley

    ?


    Chapter 156: The Encounter with Wicked Marite Wesley


    After quite some time walking, they finally saw the walls of Serenity Town.


    As they observed Serenity Town from a distance, they quickly noticed that the level of security around the area has significantly increased.


    Just like what they have expected along the way, it seems like quite a lot of people from Serenity Town is under the charm of Wesley.


    Back then when they first entered the territory, aside from a few guards maintaining order, there were barely any more patrolling the territory.


    However, right now, the number of guards has almost tripled.


    Moreover, they weren''t just wearing ordinary equipment, but equipment for war.


    There were also mages, tanks, and assassins forming groups and patrolling slightly far from Serenity Town. Those groups seem to be split into two squads that take turns to patrol outside.


    "Are we really that scary?" Gilbert can''t help muttering.


    For them to prepare the guards as if there''s a war that''s about to happen only means that Wesley doesn''t underestimate Friedrich''s party even the slightest.


    "This is quite overwhelming," Friedrich said jokingly.


    "How would they feel if they realize that we won''t being to Serenity Town?" Jude can''t help muttering.


    "The Assembly of Freedom would most likely feel embarrassed. And Wesley''s effort would ultimately be all for nothing,"


    "Who might those people outside be?" Kayn pointed at a group of people surrounded by dozens of guards.


    "I know who they are!" Gilbert quickly answered. "If I am not mistaken, that guy at the center of the group was the one who posted the mission to find the Molten Magma Core in the Peaceful Volcano. I think his name is Nixon,"


    "Just how great is Wesley''s influence in the Serenity Town?" Friedrich was surprised.


    Realizing that, Kayn immediately understood something, "I am guessing that Wesley doesn''t intend on going to war with us,"


    "Impossible! He set up an ambush outside the Peaceful Volcano. If he wasn''t looking for a war with us, then what else?"


    "Perhaps Wesley was testing if he can get the Molten Magma Core from us without costing him anything. Look," Kayn pointed out.


    Behind Nixon''s group were three carriages that carries with them countless coins.


    "I believe that as long as we give the man named Nixon the Molten Magma Core, they will peacefully give us those carriages, and then we can immediately walk away," Kayn assumes.


    "That''s too good to be true," Friedrich shakes his head in dismissal.


    Kayn finally changed the topic. "Anyways, we are just wasting time staying here, let''s quickly make a detour and meet up with Gnak''s group so that we can leave this ce for good," <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I agree," Friedrich nodded.


    With that being said, Friedrich started leading everyone to the direction of the shore where Gnak''s group are currently hiding in wait.


    As they made their way there, they made sure not to be spotted by anyone from Serenity Town.


    Unfortunately, Kayn and the others didn''t realize just how extensive Wesley''s influence was. His influence wasn''t only limited to people, but also animals.


    Without Kayn and the others knowing, countless ants that were peacefully crawling under their feet are actually amongst those that were charmed by Wesley.


    It''s very easy to charm antspared to Humans. Wesley could just drop a piece of food and all ants in the colony would instantly be under his charm.


    As soon as Kayn and the others passed by them, they swiftly started sending a signal from one ant to another until it reached their queen ant which is currently with Wesley.


    After being alerted by one of the queen ants with him, Wesley immediately directed the members of the Assembly of Freedom toe with him to chase after Friedrich and the others. He didn''t bring the others who are influenced by his charm with him after finding out that there is someone in Friedrich''s party that can easily knock them out unconscious. It would just be useless, and not to mention, it might identally backfire on him. Better be safe than sorry, that''s what he thought.


    ¡­..


    Kayn and the others reached the shore and finally meet up with Gnak who is now swiftly starting to evacuate along with his men on top of the Guardian Turtle who is currently waiting for them.


    "We need to hurry, I am starting to have a bad feeling about this," Kayn motioned for everyone to hasten their work. It was as if something is about toe to them.


    He has always been a man who believes when facts and reality are presented in front of him. But he also asionally believes what his guts say. And right now, his guts are sending a warning to him that something bad is about to happen.


    "Everyone, prepare your weapons," Friedrich suddenly warned.


    As if proving that he was right, Kayn saw over the distance a group of people swiftly approaching their location.


    "It''s Wesley and those members of the Assembly of Freedom inside the cave before," Friedrich informs everyone.


    In just a single second, Gilbert and the others faced Wesley''s direction with their weapons ready in their hands.


    Nevertheless, Gnak and his men didn''t stop their evacuation to the back of the Guardian Turtle.


    The reason why they are taking a lot of time is that they have gathered plenty of resources in the time that Kayn and the others were away. And they can''t just leave them behind as they n to use them when they finally establish their Vige in the future.


    Kayn and the others knew about it. That''s why they weren''t against Gnak and his men dying their departure.


    However, they can''t help feeling slightly regretful in their decision after seeing Wesley and his group finally arriving in front of them.


    "Friedrich, we meet again," Wesley greeted. But his face soon changes as he looks around his surroundings. The level of shock he is feeling deep inside of him increased steadily after finding the existence of Goblins and discovering the huge Guardian Turtle a few tens of meters away from them. "I didn''t expect you had reinforcement¡­"

 Chapter 157 The Tree Of Death And The Undead Apple

    ?


    Chapter 157: The Tree of Death and the Undead Apple


    "Um¡­"


    Wesley was evidently shaken at his discovery.


    It wasn''t only him, but also all of the men that he brought with him felt the same. Probably even worst as they can''t help retreating a few steps away.


    "I won''t beat around the bush, Friedrich," Wesley gulped down a mouthful of saliva in hopes of calming himself down. "We''ve pretty much known each other for a long time now, so there''s no use in pretending not to know what we want,"


    "I''ll spell it for you ¡ª give me the Molten Magma Core,"


    "Or what?" Friedrich can''t help smirking after seeing that Wesley isn''t feeling confident. He clearly has the upper ground in this conversation.


    "Okay, you got me," Wesley raised his hand to express defeat. A wise man knows when to concede, especially when all odds are against him from the start. "You caught me by surprise, so I can no longer hide behind a facade,"


    "Even if you did, you know it won''t work," Friedrich shook his head.


    "At least I can pretend," Wesley sighs regretfully at his failed attempt. "Anyways, I am not looking for a fight,"


    "Says the one who ambushed us," Gilbert interrupted with a roll of his eyes.


    "That was just my way of testing the strength of your party," Wesley quickly added. "And also I was just trying my luck if I can perhaps take the Molten Magma Core without giving your party anything in exchange,"


    Just like what Kayn had initially expected before.


    Friedrich put his sword to the side before crossing both his arms in front and asking. "So, how was it?"


    "I must say, you have someone in your party that can pretty much counter my Gift," Wesley looks at Kayn. "And it seems like he is the person that Chief Kylo wanted us to eliminate. Sadly, with two squads of Green Horn Knights protecting him, it''s next to impossible for me to do that today,"


    "Actually, he can take care of himself quite well. We are pretty much just spectators," Friedrich interrupted. "Before you say what you want, I refuse,"


    "You didn''t even listen to what I will offer in exchange for the Molten Magma Core,"


    "Not interested,"


    "I can offer you all the richest of the Serenity Town,"


    "Don''t take us for fools Wesley!" Friedrich sternly responded. Suppose that he agreed and his party took all the richest of the Serenity Town, it would be no different from digging their own graves. Once those people wake up from the charm of Wesley, there''s no doubt that they will immediatelye after them as soon as they find out the truth.


    "What if I tell you that my charm canst for up to a month?"


    "Still not interested. And thank you for telling us such important information. We will definitely take that into consideration and prepare appropriately," Friedrich said in sarcasm.


    While Friedrich and Wesley were discussing a transaction with no possibility of going in thetter''s favor, Kayn secretly activated his Gift, 3R, and sessfully copied Wesley''s Gift.


    A system prompt immediately pop-up as soon as he activated his Gift.


    [Do you want to copy Wesley''s Gift?]


    "Yes,"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    [Initializing replication process of Wesley''s Gift¡­]


    [1%...]


    [25%...]


    [50%...]


    [75%...]


    [100%...]


    Ting!


    [Replication Complete!]


    [Congrattions! You''ve received the Gift <<Death''s Envoy (Farmer)>>]


    [


    <<Death''s Envoy (Farmer)>>


    Description: This Gift gives the user ess to the Tree of Death, which is the counterpart of the Tree of Life, and harvests its only fruit called the Undead Apple. Take special note that the user can only harvest one Undead Apple per day. Though each Undead Apple can be stored by the user for as long as he wants and will only cease to exist once it is used. The ability of the Undead Apple is it will allow the user to control an undead soldier by feeding the fruit to someone who is about to die. Undead soldiers will only die if they are burned to ashes or the user choose to eradicate them. However, if one uses the Undead Apple on a living person, it will instead allow the user to charm that person for a day. But feeding the target multiple fruits will extend that duration by a day for each fruit.


    ]


    Kayn can''t help feeling slightly disappointed after finishing reading the description of Wesley''s Gift <<Death''s Envoy (Farmer)>>.


    He initially thought that the Gift would be something really great. Turns out it''s just simr to Rowan Starlight''s Gift, or possibly worst.


    It is stillpensable though since the Gift <<Death''s Envoy (Farmer)>> will allow him to control an army that will always be loyal to him no matter the circumstances.


    However, the biggest problem of undead soldiers is the fact that their strength and power will entirely depend on how powerful they were when they were still alive. That''s not all, their original power will also be cut in half because one of the most important factors, which is one of the major sources that gives a person power has disappeared; their willpower, which every undead soldier doesn''t possess anymore.


    On the other hand, the ability to charm others is exactly the same as what Friedrich had mentioned before.


    That is what he truly needed. Albeit the ability to control the undead is also useful, nheless.


    What he is very curious about though is the additional title (Farmer). In most cases, an additional title only means that the Gift can level up and reach a higher league.


    Does this mean that as long as he levels up the Gift <<Death''s Envoy (Farmer)>> his ability will also improve?


    Now that he thinks about it, he had actually met plenty of people in the past who possess the Gift <<Death''s Envoy>>.


    Was the reason why their Gift entirely unique from each other simply because the level of their Gift was different from the rest?


    In that case, what would it be like if he levels up the <<Death''s Envoy (Farmer)>> to its next level? Will it grant him more abilities or will it simply strengthen the existing ones?


    He can''t wait to find out.

 Chapter 158 Escaping From Wesley And His Men

    ?


    Chapter 158: Escaping from Wesley and his men


    "Seriously?! That actually still doesn''t change your mind?" Wesley was surprised. He already offered powerful items and other materials more powerful than the Molten Magma Core on top of the richest of the Serenity Town, yet despite that Friedrich still didn''t bodge a single bit.


    "All your offer tells me about is that the Molten Magma Core is more important than all of those treasures that you''ve offered me even whenbined together," Friedrich wasn''t foolish enough to not see the underlying meaning behind Wesley''s offer.


    "And your rejection likewise tells me that the Molten Magma Core is very useful to your party," Wesley also realized something. "Tell me, what do you n on using the Molten Magma Core for?"


    "Why should I tell you that? And isn''t it more reasonable if you tell me your intention for the Molten Magma Core first?"


    "Well, I honestly don''t know," Wesley sighs. "Chief Kylo simply told me to bring the Molten Magma Core to him regardless of what,"


    "In that case, how you about leave and ask Chief Kylo first beforeing to find us again," Friedrich finally had enough of this conversation, and he intended on ending it.


    "That wouldn''t be good for me. If I return empty-handed, he''ll definitely make me an example of what will happen to anyone who fails toply with his wishes," Wesley shook his head.


    "I don''t see that as my problem,"


    "It seems like this transaction has failed,"


    "Correction, there was no chance of it seeding from the very beginning," Friedrich grabbed his sword to the side.


    Raising his staff, Wesley muttered, "You''ve left me with no choice then,"


    "Attack!"


    From the very beginning, Kayn and the others already expected that a fight would eventually break out between them and the members of the Assembly of Freedom. So, from the start, all of them prepared themselves to attack the enemy.


    "Retreat!"


    But to the surprise of everyone, Friedrich issued contrary to what they were expecting.


    "What? Why?!" Gilbert was confused.


    "This wasn''t what was written in the script!" Charles parried his sword to defend himself from an attack.


    "Idiots! Friedrich was only buying time for Gnak and his team to get on the Guardian Turtle," Kayn expressed to everyone. Glimpsing to his back, Gnak and his team have finally finished evacuating, which is why Friedrich finally ended his conversation with Wesley.


    He already knew Friedrich''s intention from the start.


    "No wonder they didn''t stop moving," Gilbert understood.


    The sudden realization dawned upon everyone, except for Kayn and Friedrich.


    With that thought in mind, everyone no longer hesitated as they start retreating to the back of the Guardian Turtle.


    The first ones to reach the Guardian Turtle were Kimberly, Cyril, and Jude as they were already at the very back of the team. From there, they provided support to the others so that they can quickly retreat.


    Whoosh!


    Countless spells rained down on the enemy ground, hindering them and distracting their pursuit of Kayn and the others.


    Roshan and Carter took the responsibility of guarding the front as they were both tanks and has the necessary skills to keep their enemies at bay.


    Meanwhile, Gilbert, Natasha, and Jackson didn''t linger around for long to engage with the enemy. As a matter of fact, they were the second group to reach the Guardian Turtle.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    With that, only Kayn, Friedrich, Cedric, Roshan, Carter, Chastine, and Charles remained down below.


    "Healers, you can retreat first," Friedrichmanded.


    The reason why Cedric and Chastine stayed behind instead of following after Kimberly and the other Mages was that they had to closely provide support to Roshan and Carter. If they retreat to the top of the Guardian Turtle, the two tanks would bepletely out of range of their healing and support spells.


    "Understood," Chastine nodded her head to Cedric before the two of them turn around and started running.


    Seeing the two healers retreating, the members of the Assembly of Freedom nearby immediately tried to use it as an opportunity tounch an attack on them.


    Too bad for them though since Roshan and Carter already expected that they will make a move. The two tanks swiftly jump to block their path.


    "Get out of my way!"


    "And why should I do that?" Roshan bashed his shield at the iing man.


    Boom!


    The man was instantly sent flying away. With the strength of Roshan, he only came to a stop after crashing into numerous trees.


    Seeing the aftermath of messing with Roshan, the rest of the men felt hesitant about engaging with the two tanks. They were even more scared of the duopared to the Guardian Turtle since the two could easily catch up to them while in the case of the Guardian Turtle, there is still a chance for them to run away.


    Gulp¡­


    Roshan and Carter can''t help looking at each other after hearing the men gulping a mouthful of saliva very loudly.


    <<Shield Dash>>


    <<Shield Dash>>


    Boom!


    Whoosh!


    The men were easily sent flying away since they didn''t bother running away from the range of the skill.


    With a fraction of Wesley''s forces thrown away, Kayn and the others now have an easier time retreating away.


    "What are you all doing?! Do everything and don''t let them get away!" Wesley eximed.


    "How about you do it yourself instead of just standing there and ordering your men around as if they are ves!" Friedrich taunted.


    "A mage always stays at the back," It has always beenmon knowledge for mages to remain at the rear at all times. If he takes Friedrich''s advice seriously, there''s no telling what thetter would do to him once he gets close.


    "That''s the exact reason why you will never be able to catch us," Friedrich muttered as he, Kayn, and the others jumped at the same time on the back of the Guardian Turtle. "Let''s see each other again if fate permits,"


    "No!" Wesley screamed loudly.


    As the Guardian Turtle started its voyage away from the shore of Serenity Town, Wesley could only watch hatefully as they slowly got farther and farther away. In the end, he turned his hate to his men who were weak and helpless to stop even just a single person from Friedrich''s party. "Why are you all so useless!"


    Those were thest words that Kayn and the others on top of the Guardian Turtle heard before Wesley and his men disappeared from their views.

 Chapter 159 Forest Spirit Seed And Another Key

    ?


    Chapter 159: Forest Spirit Seed and Another Key


    After a few days of travel in the ocean, Kayn and the others are finally close to their next destination.


    Kayn looks at the inside of his Storage Ring.


    Spring Water Source Bonsai¡­


    Mountain Heart Flower¡­


    Molten Magma Core¡­


    Water¡­


    Earth¡­


    Fire¡­


    With the three items in his possession, the only item he needed is the Forest Spirit Seed which is of Nature element.


    Water, Earth, Fire, and Nature, were the four elements that he must possess in order to get the treasure that Natas has been talking about.


    "Forest Spirit Seed¡­ If I remember correctly, there is only one ce in ''The Bridge'' where we can find that item," Friedrich muttered.


    At this moment, every essential personnel of Kayn''s party is now gathered together around a table to discuss the Forest Spirit Seed, thest item Kayn required.


    "Slumbering Forest," Kayn utters.


    Just like what its name suggests, the Slumbering Forest is an area that is greatly influenced by a poisonous mist that gives an effect of sleepiness or drowsiness to whoever gets a whiff of it.


    The reason for such an effect is that the forest is greatly infested by arge number of Drowsy Mushrooms. This certain magical mushroom releases a smell that causes the sleepiness effect, which is actually its own defense mechanism to ward off any predators away from it.


    Although such a negative and dangerous effect ismon knowledge to both humans and monsters, they still scavenge for the Drowsy Mushrooms because this mushroom''s benefit once consume is very attractive to everyone. It can literally increase resistance to any type of poison for a duration of time, and on top of that, increase vitality and endurance stat temporarily.


    As a result of that scavenging, a great amount of mist covers the forest all year around whichter on became the main reason why it is now known as the Slumbering Forest.


    Other than the Drowsy Mushrooms, the Slumbering Forest is also the home of dozens more different valuable resources, which includes the Forest Spirit Seed. But because of the rarity of the Forest Spirit Seed, it barely appears on the market and the only known ce to get it without needing to look hard for it in the Slumbering Forest is through the auction house.


    Sadly, the price of the Forest Spirit Seed would always be extremely expensive as its effect and usefulness is something that''s very attractive to the masses, especially to people that ownsrge plots ofnd.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The reason for that is because the Forest Spirit Seed can greatly improve the vitality of thend and henceforth increase the quality and decrease the growth time for any seeds and nts that are sowed in the saidnd. Moreover, it can also instantly and also randomly grow different kinds of nts the moment it is nted, which is the real treasure that people are truly looking for. There was one instant when a Silver Apple Tree grew after a Forest Spirit Seed was nted, which instantly made that person very rich.


    "This is going to be no different from the Molten Magma Core. Once we find a Forest Spirit Seed, we must make sure not to let anyone find out about it and should immediately retreat," Kayn informs everyone. "This time, I suggest that we go in with a disguise,"


    "Why? Wouldn''t it be much safer if everyone knows who we are?" Gilbert was curious.


    "That''s indeed true, but as a consequence of that a lot of people would also be paying close attention to our party," In other words, it would be next to impossible for them to hide the fact that they have found a Forest Spirit Seed.


    Kayn can already imagine his party getting ambushed once again.


    Back then, they were simply lucky enough that those people were under the charm of Wesley, thus the extent of their capability was greatly affected and he was able to easily take care of them. However, it would definitely be different if they are sane and clear-headed. Not to mention, fighting against groups is unlike fighting against individuals, and most importantly, multiple groups cooperating with each other is not something to underestimate, even in the case of two squads of Green Horn Knights.


    "Either you agree to wear a disguise or don''t go at all," Kayn proposes only two choices for the members of his party.


    "What do you think?" Charles looks at Jude.


    "I honestly agree with Kayn," Jude nodded in affirmation. "I would also like to add that I sense another key hiding in the Slumbering Forest,"


    "In that case, we definitely have to be in disguise when we arrive," Friedrich finally realized the importance of this mission.


    Unlike Kayn''s goal of finding a Forest Spirit Seed which seems to be something that can only benefit him, the existence of ''Keys'', on the other hand, is what will free everyone from ''The Bridge''.


    "In addition to what Jude has said, I suspect that there''s a possibility that the Assembly of Freedom is actually aware or perhaps has a clue of my goal and the existence of the four ''Keys''," Kayn quickly added.


    "I agree," Friedrich nodded. He already suspected that to be the case when he was conversing with Wesley back then.


    Wesley would definitely not trade that many items just for a single Molten Magma Core, especially if one considers the fact that he can actually find another Molten Magma Core inside the other volcanoes around ''The Bridge''.


    Moreover, Wesley also mentioned that it was Chief Kylo who needed the Molten Magma Core, and not him.


    As long as Chief Kylo is involved, they have to take things seriously and must consider every possible reason as to why he is looking for the Molten Magma Core.


    "With those additional risks, say, do you still not intend on wearing a disguise?" Kayn looks at Gilbert.


    "I''d even be willing to dress as a woman just to be extra safe," Gilbert finally changed his mind. He''d rather have a peaceful scavenging hunt than get ambushed once again. Also, he wants to ambush the members of the Assembly of Freedom this time around as payback for what they''ve done to them.


    Everyone else also had the same thought as Gilbert after hearing Kayn, Jude, and Friedrich''s exnation.

 Chapter 160 Slumbering Forest

    ?


    Chapter 160: Slumbering Forest


    Later in the day, they finally reached the closest shore to the Slumbering Forest.


    Unlike the previous time, there''s no territory nearby where they can replenish their supply.


    It wasn''t that there was no one courageous enough to establish a territory close to the Slumbering Forest. Instead, they purposely choose to duck as far away as possible from any territory. In that way, they won''t risk getting discovered and they can also move inside the Slumbering Forest in secret. This was another extra precautionary move aside from the disguise.


    However, this would also mean that they will have a limited supply and their only way of getting more is through gathering them inside the Slumbering Forest themselves. Luckily though, Gnak and his men could somewhat minimize the negative effect brought by that problem.


    "This ce is indeed a good location to establish our vige," Gnak informs Kayn.


    This was also the other reason why they had to be far from any territory. Gnak is nning to finally establish a Vige to be the home for his men.


    "Are you sure? I think it''s a lot better if you establish it inside the Slumbering Forest," Kayn suggested.


    Even though the Slumbering Forest is covered with the mist of the Drowsy Mushrooms every time, it is actually possible to create a safe zone by simply creating a method to push away the mist. Like for example, creating a functioning wooden manual fan or something simr to that. Also, the mist could be used as protection to ward off any Humans and possibly monsters from getting close to their Vige.


    "Most Humans would think of getting inside the Slumbering Forest rather than exploring the outskirts," Gnak exined. "And besides, we will create our Vige underground as we are more used to living in the darkness and it will also be a lot safer for us that way,"


    "I see," Kayn finally understood. "Anyways, we will be leaving tomorrow, so in the meantime make sure to prepare some of your men toe with us so that they can start gathering supplies,"


    "Understood," Gnak nodded in affirmation.


    With that, Kayn left to look for Friedrich and a few others who went scouting around the Slumbering Forest.


    He doesn''t need to stay in the camp because Chastine and the second squad of the Green Horn Knight with the assistance of Jude and Charles are present to manage the tasks that need to be aplished.


    Instead, he wants to explore the Slumbering Forest and see for himself the secrets it''s hiding.


    Before getting inside the Slumbering Forest though, he made sure to equip his disguise, which is a simple straw hat paired with a slightly tattered cowl and his Molten Ice Sword. Overall, he now seems to be a wandering swordsman.


    Just a few steps inside the Slumbering Forest and Kayn immediately saw the infamous Drowsy Mushroom just swaying with the wind on the side of a tall tree.


    Drowsy Mushrooms grow in groups, so the patch he sees has six pieces of sprouting mushrooms.


    Since Kayn didn''t post any dangers to the Drowsy Mushroom yet, it didn''t release its dangerous mist to protect itself.


    As curious as he was, Kayn doesn''t want to personally experience how the Drowsy Mushroom releases its defense mechanism as that might bring unnecessary dangers to him.


    Turning around, he continued running to look for Friedrich and the others.


    The trees around the Slumbering Forest were humongous and tall, evidently because this forest hasn''t experienced any deforestation over the past years. That''s because Drowsy Mushrooms sprout on the side of trees, and if they want to increase their production of it, they''ll rather nt more trees instead of cutting them down.


    "Where could they possibly be,"


    It hasn''t been long since Friedrich and the others departed from camp, so he felt slightly strange that he still didn''t find a single clue about their whereabouts.


    "The forest is also eerily quiet," <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    It feels like something is wrong.


    "Am I lost?" Kayn can''t help suspecting.


    "Luckily for you, I came along," Natas muttered behind.


    "That''s the exact reason why I was never feeling worried," Kayn smiled, slightly relieved that Natas is apanying him along.


    "You can rest assured, you''re not lost. The forest has always been like this, ever so silent and tranquil," Natasforted. The mist around the Slumbering Forest wasn''t the only reason for its name, the peacefulness inside the forest is another reason.


    "I noticed some tracks above the trees just now. I believe that was Gilbert''s,"


    As an assassin and an experienced scout, Gilbert would scout the areas from trees and move from one tree to another.


    "Where is it heading?"


    "Just straight ahead. The tracks were deep, so I think they are chasing after something,"


    A shallow track means that he was just casually moving around, but a deep track means a lot of things, one being that he is in a rush.


    "It can also be that they are being chased,"


    "Not likely, since I don''t see any tracks of someone chasing after them. It''s most likely them chasing after something, possibly a monster,"


    "What kind of monster would be so strong that it requires the entire first squad of the Green Horn Knights to chase after it?" Kayn can''t help bing curious.


    Without wasting any more time, he quickly followed the direction where the tracks were pointing.


    After a few distances, he finally started finding more and more tracks. It wasn''t only Gilbert''s track, but also Friedrich, Roshan, Cedric, and Kimberly''s as well.


    Going a few more distances, he finally notices the tracks of the monster that they were chasing¡­ or more specifically a group of monsters.


    Down below the trees, countless deep tracks that seem to be hooves of huge monsters could be seen going in the direction ahead of him.


    "So it was more than one monster," Kayn finally understood why the entire first squad of Green Horn Knights has to chase after them.


    A group of monsters would definitely provide a huge addition to their supply.


    Food¡­


    Materials¡­


    And other more uses¡­


    "This is definitely going to be fun," Kayn started feeling excited about the thought of hunting a group of monsters.

 Chapter 161 Shielded Nose Moose

    ?


    Chapter 161: Shielded Nose Moose


    If there were any living beings that can survive and still strive inside the Slumbering Forest, they can only be the type of monster like the one Kayn is looking at right now.


    Shielded Nose Moose.


    The Shielded Nose Moose are a special species of monster moose whose noses have evolved to create a special shield in order to adapt to extremely foul odor and deadly smelling environments such as the Slumbering Forest.


    No matter how hard the Shielded Nose Moose inhale, the mist around the Slumbering Forest would not be able to get inside their nose as there exists a protective shield and barrier that blocks anything that can cause harmful effects to them. Even if it can still pass through, their nose has a special filter that releases the inhaled air as soon as they realized that it is going to be harmful to them.


    Looking at the Shielded Nose Moose, Kayn can''t help feeling slightly pity at the head part of the monster. That''s because other than its eyes, its entire head is basically covered by a square-shaped solid and hard meat shield that ranges from the top of its head to the ground. One can only imagine just how challenging it is for such a monster to eat and the difficulty in their vision.


    On the contrary, Friedrich and the others were able to take advantage of such weakness of the Shielded Nose Moose by making sure to stay at the very back where it cannot see them.


    "Kayn?" Gilbert quickly notices Kayn. "Good timing, we need that skill of yours to bring down this group of Shielded Nose Moose,"


    "That is exactly what I was hoping for," Kayn was delighted.


    Without any hesitation, Kayn swiftly chases after the Shielded Nose Moose.


    <<Shield Dash>>


    Whoosh!


    All of a sudden, Roshan dashes in a horizontal line in front of the running Shielded Nose Moose. As a result, it immediately causes them to make a U-turn to change direction.


    The direction they are going now is exactly the direction of Kayn.


    "Great work!" Kayn smiles at the sight.


    After making a sudden halt, Kayn swiftly waves his hand to take out one of his daggers from his Storage Ring. "Here I go!"


    <<Hundred Shadow Cut>>


    In the next moment, exactly a hundred shadow daggers appeared above the heads of the Shielded Nose Moose.


    "Avoid hitting its head, your attack is only going to be useless," Friedrich reminded.


    "Got that!"


    With that in mind, Kayn made his shadow daggers rain down toward the quickly approaching Shielded Nose Moose.


    Although they are monsters, the Shielded Nose Moose still possess a bit of intellect. As soon as they saw the raining shadow daggers, all of them immediately decided to stop and quickly raises their heads to make it into a shield.


    Unfortunately, because of how sudden the stop of the group of Shielded Nose Moose at the front was, those at the back were not able to stop on time, hence they instantly came crashing into them.


    Like a domino, the Shielded Nose Moose came crashing down one after the other, starting from the very back as it slowly made its way to the front.


    In the end, the shield of the Shielded Nose Moose became useless as they presented themselves openly for the ughter of Kayn''s shadow dagger.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    In the next second, numerous cries of pain echoed throughout the surrounding as the shadow daggers easily took the lives of the Shielded Nose Moose.


    "Great n, Kayn," Friedrichplimented after seeing the result of Kayn''s attack.


    "It was nothing," Kayn casually responded.


    That''s right, everything that happened from the beginning to the end is actually what Kayn had nned from the start after seeing how fast they were running at him.


    Regardless of being a Human or a monster, anyone who is carrying a shield and can use it at any time they want would no doubt think of using it at the very first moment they see signs of danger.


    However, unlike Humans, the Shielded Nose Moose aren''t properly trained to make an orderly and unified stop. They only believe in their instinct, and sadly even that isn''t a decision that all of them will think about at the same instant.


    "With these many Shielded Nose Moose, we won''t have to worry about food for two weeks," Gilbert expressed his delight.


    "We won''t even have to stay that long,"


    "I have an idea with its shield, but I don''t know if all of you will like it though," Cedric suddenly interrupted.


    "Kindly enlighten us," Friedrich motioned his hand to permit Cedric to speak freely.


    "I''ve experimented with this before so I know it will definitely work," Cedric waves his hand to take out a butcher knife from his Storage Ring.


    Brandishing the butcher knife a few times, Cedric easily cut and separated the shield from the rest of the Shielded Nose Moose''s body. As of now, the monster is no different from the ordinary moose.


    After tweaking the shield for a few seconds, Cedric took out a mask-like object. It was sticky and had some gooey substances on it.


    "That''s disgusting," Gilbert said in a remark.


    "Don''t worry, we can clean it after thoroughly washing it," Cedric assures. "Anyways, this object is the part that filters out any harmful scent for the Shielded Nose Moose,"


    Hearing that, everyone immediately realized what Cedric intended on doing.


    "No way!" Gilbert instantly backed away. "There''s no way I will wear that disgusting thing, especially not close to my mouth and nose,"


    "Are you serious?" Kimberly slightly shivers.


    "Just like what I said, it is possible to thoroughly clean it," Cedric assures once again.


    "I know it is disgusting," Friedrich finally stepped forward. "But Cedric is correct. If we want to negate the problem with the mist around the Slumbering Forest, then this is one the best method for us to deal with it,"


    "As much as I hate to say it, I agree," Kayn could only nod his head out of helplessness. Even though he already experienced in his previous life a fair share of disgusting scenarios, this right here could easily rank in the top ten.


    "I guess we can try¡­" Roshan scratches his head after seeing Kayn and Friedrich agreeing to Cedric''s method.


    Seeing that his n was approved, Cedric instantly felt joy. "In that case, let''s quickly pack all of these Shielded Nose Moose and return back to camp,"


    Cedric acted like a child whose request was granted by his parents as he started taking the lead in cleaning up the mess.

 Chapter 162 Hunting For The Forest Spirit Seed Part 1

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    Chapter 162: Hunting for the Forest Spirit Seed Part 1


    While storing the carcasses of the Shielded Nose Moose inside his Storage Ring, Kayn still can''t help asionally recollecting the disgusting scene which causes him to slightly shiver in revolt.


    It wasn''t only Kayn that felt that way, even Friedrich, who stepped forward first to agree with Cedric would also act as if he was vomiting from time to time after thinking of the sickening thought of wearing a mask that the Shielded Nose Moose used for fate knows how long.


    Evidently, Friedrich is now regretting his decision of agreeing to Cedric''s n. However, after looking at how joyful Cedric was, he felt hesitant about breaking his mood.


    "Let''s just suffer in silence," Friedrich silently uttered to himself.


    Kayn was able to hear it though, and in the end, he also can only choose to concede to Cedric. In his mind, solving the mist problem of the Slumbering Forest is a lot more important than feeling disgusted right now. He might just even forget about that feeling entirely.


    Not long after, Kayn and the others returned to camp.


    "So, how was the hunt?" Jude greeted.


    "It went well," Friedrich smiled.


    "Then¡­" Jude pointed at Gilbert who looks as if he is about to vomit.


    "It indeed went well. Tomorrow, all of us will have something new to wear," Gilbert motioned his hand before weakly walking away.


    "I guess I was only overthinking," Jude muttered as he epted all the Storage Rings that contains the result of Friedrich''s party''s hunt. He was assigned by Chastine to manage the supply since he was a party leader in the past.


    Kayn and the others immediately went to rest and wait for dinner to be served in the evening.


    Meanwhile, Cedric went to his tent and started busying himself producing and cleaning the mask they will be using tomorrow.


    ¡­..


    The next day.


    When the first ray of light hit the camp, Kayn and the others walk one after the other from their assigned tents.


    Breakfast was already prepared by the Goblins that Gnak had assigned yesterday. So, the team went right ahead to eat their breakfast.


    As soon as they finished breakfast, they immediately started preparing for their departure to begin the hunt for the Forest Spirit Seed.


    This time, the party is separated into three different groups.


    The first party was Kayn''s party whose members are Gilbert, Jude, and Charles.


    The second party is Friedrich''s party which is made up of Roshan, Kimberly, Cedric, and Jackson.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Lastly, Chastine''s party which Carter, Cyril, and Natasha are part of.


    Left behind the camp were Gnak and the other Goblins who will spend the rest of the day constructing their future Vige.


    "Have a safe trip," Gnak bid farewell to Kayn and the others as they left camp. "Now time to focus on the construction of our home,"


    "Why didn''t we ask Friedrich to assign Cedric to our team?" Gilbert finally asked the question of why it was their team that didn''t have a healer. "Friedrich''s party would definitely be fine without a healer,"


    "Because a healer will only slow us down," Kayn responded. Even though the agility of the healer ss is high since they are expected to provide a lot of support on the battlefield, they tend to always slow down the party because they are always the target, thus the rest of the party members are required to protect them. He doesn''t want that and rather he prefers a teamposed of people who can take care of themselves.


    "It was also a question of whether to bring me along or Cedric," Jude felt slightly repulsive at the thought of Cedric in his mind. It was only this morning that he finally understood what Gilbert''s words yesterday meant exactly. But as much as he hates it, he has no choice but toply because it was only for their own safety.


    "I don''t want to get close to that man today, or else I might not be able to hold myself back and beat the crap out of him. Just why on earth did he propose the idea of wearing this mask?!" Charles eximed as he tries his best not to look at the mask he is wearing. Even though the mask is now thoroughly clean, the disgusting sight yesterday, when Cedric was making it inside his tent, is still deeply carved into his mind.


    "From this moment on, we will never mention anything rted to Cedric or the ''Mask'', do we have a deal?" Gilbert suddenly proposes.


    "Deal!"


    "Alright!"


    "I agree,"


    With that being said, the topic quickly changed.


    "ording to yesterday''s agreement, we are assigned to look for the Forest Spirit Seed at north of the Slumbering Forest," Kayn started recollecting his memories of the n. In truth though, he purposely assigned their team to the north as he knew quite well that he will be able to find a Forest Spirit Seed in that part of the forest as that was what Natas'' had mentioned. The only problem is thetter doesn''t know where exactly it is. So, their only way of finding it is to put a lot of effort into their search and trust that their efforts won''t betray them.


    "As long as you''re lucky enough, it shouldn''t take you more than a week to find it," Natas tried tofort Kayn.


    "If only you had remembered it¡­" Kayn sighs regretfully. In the past three items, Natas was able to provide him with their urate location that''s why it didn''t take him a very long time to find them. But this time, his only clue is that the Forest Spirit Seed is located somewhere in north of the Slumbering Forest.


    "It can''t be helped¡­ The Forest Spirit Seed can literally be found anywhere in the Slumbering Forest as long as one is lucky enough," Natas tried to reason out.


    Honestly, Natas is correct. In the case of the previous three items, they were located in one certain location only on the map. The Springwater Source Bonsai under theke of the Springwater Canyon, the Mountain Heart Flower at the third floor of the Mountain Monkey''s Lair, and the Molten Magma Core at the deepest part of the Peaceful Volcano.


    On the contrary, there are multiple sightings and findings of the Forest Spirit Seed all over the Slumbering Forest.


    "You better be correct in your guess," Kayn could only hope for the best.


    "I said it twice, as long as you''re lucky enough,"

 Chapter 163 Hunting For The Forest Spirit Seed Part 2

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    Chapter 163: Hunting for the Forest Spirit Seed Part 2


    It took Kayn''s team close to two hours to reach what isbeled as the north side of the Slumbering Forest on the map. It was also the part that Natas pointed to be the location of the Forest Spirit Seed.


    Along the way, they never spotted even a single adventurer group let alone another individual. It all makes sense though since that is the exact reason why this ce is called the Slumbering Forest.


    It''s also much better this way as they won''t have to always be cautious of their disguise.


    "Should we split up?" Gilbert suggested.


    "I think that''s a bad move," Jude responded before turning his head to look at Kayn. "What''s your n, Kayn?"


    "Jude''s right, we can''t split up," Kayn nodded his head. "Although we didn''t encounter anyone else until now, we should still not let down our guard as there is still a possibility that we will meet other people. And with the surrounding nature of the Slumbering Forest, I suspect that the people we would encounter wouldn''t be as kind as those we met in the Peaceful Volcano,"


    "They weren''t kind though," Gilbert pointed out the fact that they ambushed them as soon as they got out of the Peaceful Volcano.


    "That was only because they were under the charm of Wesley," Kayn corrected.


    "Fair enough," Gilbert conceded.


    "I suggest we go from east to west," Charles suddenly interjected.


    "Why do you think so?" Kayn approaches.


    "Look," Charles pointed at the map. "There''s a nearby Vige at the very north of the Slumbering Forest. If a Forest Spirit Seed is indeed located there, it would have been found by other people a long time ago,"


    "Our best choice would be to look at the area far from their territory,"


    "That''s true," Kayn agrees. "The farthest to their territory is the area to the west, but it is also far from us right now. So, to save us some time traveling, we should start at the edge of the east and slowly make our way to the west,"


    "Kayn, you also need to take into consideration the possibility of the Forest Spirit Seed hiding at what you thought to be an impossible ce," Natas can''t help expressing.


    "I got it,"


    "Got what?" Gilbert, Jude, and Charles simultaneously stare at Kayn.


    "Nothing," Because he was deeply engrossed with the map, he nearly forgot that only he could see Natas. That was so close, good thing that he wasn''t acting strangely just now.


    "Let''s begin," Kayn immediately initiated their search.


    With that being said, Kayn led everyone to the east side of the Slumbering Forest.


    The east side isn''t far from where they stopped, so it only took them ten or so minutes to get there.


    When Kayn said at the very edge of the east side, he meant it quite literally. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Looking behind them, they could see a wide expanse of tnd.


    "I can''t help but wonder. What if the Forest Spirit Seed is not inside the forest but outside?" Gilbert suddenly expressed.


    "That only means it wasn''t meant for us to find it from the very beginning," Kayn quickly disregarded the thought. "And besides, it has the word ''Forest'' on it for a reason,"


    "I guess you''re right,"


    "Stop dilly-dallying around and let''s begin our search!" Kayn said with a stern voice. "Gilbert, you search the top of the trees. Charles, you lead in front of us. Jude, at the center. While I''ll be the one to double-check all areas you''ve searched,"


    "Understood!" Gilbert, Jude, and Charles acknowledged.


    Everyone no longer wasted any time as they started their search for the Forest Spirit Seed.


    In their search, they turned almost everything nearly upside down, strictly not leaving anything unchecked.


    It even came to a point where Jude practically sted a huge rock into pieces just to make sure that there wasn''t a Forest Spirit Seed hiding inside the rock.


    Needless to say, they took extra precautions whenever they encounter a Drowsy Mushroom in their path.


    Even though they are now wearing a mask that can filter out the mist of the Drowsy Mushroom, Cedric meticulously reminded them that there is a limit to the extent of mist it can handle. That''s because they are not the Shielded Nose Moose and the mask is nothing but just an ornamental item now, not a part of their body.


    "Let''s make a detour," Kayn suggested again. They always make a detour every time they encounter a Drowsy Mushroom.


    "Are you sure? There could be a possibility that in one of those Drowsy Mushrooms that we didn''t search a Forest Spirit Seed is hiding," Gilbert expressed.


    "I have my own ways of checking. And besides, there''s a reason why I assigned myself the responsibility to double check,"


    "Alright, you''re the boss,"


    Even if Kayn tells them the truth, they definitely would not believe him.


    Looking in the direction of the Drowsy Mushroom, Natas gave him a thumbs down. Meaning, there is no Forest Spirit Seed hiding around it.


    What Gilbert and the others didn''t know, they aren''t actually a team of four members, but five, which includes Natas.


    In all the instances they encounter a Drowsy Mushroom, it was Natas that came forward to check the area for any signs of the Forest Spirit Seed. The only reason why he always suggests a detour is because there was one time when the Drowsy Mushroom nearly releases a mist. It wasn''t because of Natas, but instead, it sense a threat from one of three, either Gilbert, Jude, or Charles.


    He can''t me them though since he is the only one who can see Natas. And moreover, they genuinely don''t want to just leave a ce unchecked, that is why they always feel like checking whenever they see an area with a Drowsy Mushroom.


    Finally, Kayn''s team finished checking the entire east side. It took them quite some time, more than five hours to be exact. Within that timeframe, they never let down their guard even a single bit and continued to earnestly search every nook and cranny of the ce.


    Most importantly, the east side was huge despite the fact that this is only the east side of the northern part of the Slumbering Forest. So, one can only imagine just how stressful and arduous the task was, and how much effort andbor they have to exert.

 Chapter 164 Hunting For The Forest Spirit Seed Part 3

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    Chapter 164: Hunting for the Forest Spirit Seed Part 3


    It was about time for lunch when they finished searching the east side of the northern area of the Slumbering Forest.


    So, they ultimately decided to only continue searching after they finish eating their lunch.


    "Make sure that your disguise won''t be affected as you eat," Kayn reminded everyone.


    At this moment, he is starting to feel that there''s a high chance that they will encounter other people on the west side.


    His reason is actually simple and it isn''t far from why he suggested that they go from east to west ¡ª it''s the farthest from the vige.


    With the east side being the closest to the Vige, he honestly expected that they''ll encounter other people in their search. But contrary to his expectations, he didn''t find anyone.


    And along their search, they barely found anything noteworthy. As a matter of fact, the Storage Ring that each of them has brought along with the hope of filling them up while they search for the Forest Spirit Seed still remains empty until now. Meaning, there wasn''t anything that they consider valuable.


    Considering those factors, it means that the east side has long already been emptied out of any valuable resources, leaving the west side the only ce to look for possible profit. Needless to say, there is still the option of going deeper inside the Slumbering Forest. But only a few minority would definitely dare to go deep.


    Kayn''s group honestly just came out from there in order to quickly reach the northern area of the Slumbering Forest, and there are only two words they can use to describe their experience ¡ª extremely dangerous!


    In other words, despite the west side being the farthest from the vige, it can still be considered somewhat safe.


    Gilbert and the others easily understood the reason behind Kayn''s reminder, so they eat carefully so that their disguise won''t be ruined.


    Around half an hourter, everyone was finished eating their lunch. Because of that, they finally continued with their search.


    The west side is very different from the east side. In thetter''s case, they can simply search in whatever method and direction they prefer. However, this time, they have to be tactful about it.


    "Let''s search in the shape of a fan," Kayn suggested.


    "Didn''t you just suggest a while ago that we shouldn''t split up?" Gilbert felt slightly confused.


    "Let me exin," Kayn started exining. "Jude will act as the handle of the fan. Meaning, he will be at the very back. I and Gilbert will each be at the edge, exactly twelve and six o''clock location. Lastly, Charles will be at the center, which is the closest to Jude so that he can immediately assist him whenever it''s dangerous,"


    Gilbert instantly realized that Kayn''s method wasn''t the same as the usual fan-out type of strategy where everyone will split and spread out. The other way he can describe it is a pet owner taking a walk in the park with his three dogs.


    "Charles," Kayn looks at Charles. "You have the second greatest responsibility here because you have to protect Jude,"


    "Second? Who''s first then?" Jude felt curious.


    "You are," Kayn turns to Jude. "Before you can reject me, the reason why you have the greatest responsibility is because you have to protect our rear,"


    "You won''t have to worry about your rear because I have my own way of making sure that you won''t get attacked behind your back," Kayn glimpses at Natas who is now standing behind Jude. He already discussed this strategy with Natas during their lunch break, so thetter already knows what to do.


    "I trust you," Jude has faith in Kayn, so he didn''t question his decision.


    "Let''s begin,"


    The instant Kayn issued the order, everyone swiftly went to their position.


    "We will begin our search from bottom to top, understand?"


    What he meant from bottom to top is that because the west side is a huge piece ofnd, they have to make a clean sweep of the bottom area first and slowly make their way to the top area.


    "Yes,"


    "Make sure exactly what you did back then!"


    With that being said, the search began.


    ¡­..


    Just an hour in their search and they''ve already found traces of other people nearby them.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Was that a fight we''ve heard? Or are they hunting a monster?!" Gilbert asked. Because they were far from each other, he had to shout in order to be heard by the others.


    "Ignore it! Focus on what we have to do!" Kayn quickly responded.


    In the next hour, they suddenly came to a halt.


    It was an order by Kayn.


    "We gotpany!" Kayn warned everyone.


    After close to half a day of searching the Slumbering Forest, they are finally going to encounter other people.


    Despite the fact that someone else ising, Kayn and the others still didn''t stop on their search.


    Eventually, they saw the people that Kayn warned them about.


    There were six people that seems to be part of the same group.


    Looking closely, the group seemed to be returning back to their Vige after a sessful hunt as they can be seen carrying with them a huge dead monster that seemed to look like a hog.


    Just like what they nned before, Kayn''s team ignore the approaching group.


    Simr to what Kayn''s group did earlier, the other group also came to a halt in order to start observing them. After realizing that the other group is searching for something and didn''t seem to be nning on stealing their valuables away, they continued along.


    "Good day!" One of them greeted Kayn.


    "Likewise," Kayn responded in a friendly manner before quickly returning to what he was doing.


    After that group passed through, Kayn immediately signaled for everyone to gather together.


    Gilbert quickly asked in curiosity. "What''s the matter?"


    "We are now being targeted by someone,"


    "How did you know?" Jude was in disbelief.


    "Remember what I said back then?"


    "If I remember correctly, you said; because of the surrounding nature of the Slumbering Forest the people we would encounter won''t be as peaceful as those we met in the Peaceful Volcano,"


    "That''s right, they aren''t, and they also don''t seem to be the type of people that will just rashly attack us. As of this moment, they are still observing us and preparing for their next step," Kayn suddenly looked in front of him. "If my guess is correct, another group will approach us soon,"


    Just like what Kayn expected.


    After a few minutes, another group appeared and is now slowly approaching them.


    Simr to the group they''d met just now, this group was also carrying with them the monster they''d hunted.


    "Look at their fingers," Kayn pointed out using his eyes.


    "Is that a Storage Ring?" Jude felt confused.


    "He''s not the only one. Look at the others,"


    "All of them have Storage Rings," Jude''s confusion instantly turned to shock.


    "Now, why would you think a group with Storage Rings manually carry their hunt?"


    "They are acting,"


    "Exactly!"

 Chapter 165 Hunting For The Forest Spirit Seed Part 4

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    Chapter 165: Hunting for the Forest Spirit Seed Part 4


    They are acting.


    That was the realization that instantly dawned upon everyone, excluding Kayn.


    Honestly, Kayn isn''t new to this kind of situation, that''s why he was able to easily tell that those people were acting.


    When he was still exploring the ''Tower'' in the second life, he had his fair share of experiences as it is one of the mostmonly used strategies by mostly barbarians and bandits.


    Honey Trap¡­


    Spider Trap¡­


    Theatrical Trap¡­


    These were the popr variety of this kind of style in trapping a target.


    If he remembered correctly, they call it the Quick Sand Operation, because the target would be falling deeper into quicksand with every move. Unlike the actual quicksand though, the word ''Quick'' on it means that everything happens really fast that one wouldn''t even be able to realize what exactly is going on until it finally happens.


    "Hey! People over there!"


    One of the men suddenly called out.


    In order to not alert the enemies, Kayn and the others turned their heads naturally.


    "Why?" Kayn pretended that he was curious why they called his team.


    "Um¡­"


    Clearly, the man wasn''t prepared to respond to Kayn after calling him out. In fact, he shouldn''t have done that in the first ce. But for the sake of the n, he had to make sure that Kayn and his group didn''t realize that something is wrong.


    "Have you also finished your hunt?" Kayn decided to break the awkward tension between the two groups.


    "Oh, that''s right!" The man can''t help heaving a sigh of relief.


    "It seems that it is better for us to continue walking in that direction," Kayn pretended to be interested.


    "We were just lucky," The man felt delighted inwardly. In his mind, he thought, "That''s right, as long as you continue in that direction you will be in for a surprise, hehe,"


    "I don''t quite believe in luck. For two groups to bring such a huge monster from that direction only means one thing ¡ª the profit lies over there!" Kayn muttered excitedly. He glimpses at Gilbert and the others as he whispers. "We will make a detour once they are gone,"


    "Good luck with that," The man already confirms that Kayn''s group haven''t realized anything yet, so he finally bid farewell. "We''ll continue heading our way, then,"


    "Keep safe," Kayn waves his hand.


    As soon as the man''s group was gone, Kayn quickly returns to his conversation with Gilbert and the others.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Should we move now?"


    "We''ve pretty much confirmed already where their trap is actually located, at least the general direction of it," Unbeknownst to the man, his response back then had pretty much revealed to them where it is most dangerous. "We can''t leave any ce unsearched, so will make a detour in order tounch a surprise attack on where the majority of their force is hiding,"


    "But if don''t go there like what you imed we will do, they will definitely suspect it," Gilbert was in doubt about how they canunch a surprise attack if their enemy knows where they are moving.


    "I know, but trust me, the majority of their force won''t chase after us. The worst case scenario would only be two to three groups chasing us,"


    "You sure?" Gilbert still didn''t believe it.


    "How many people do you think they have?"


    "Considering that those two groups just now were made up of five people each, I guess more than twenty,"


    "You''re wrong," Kayn shook his head. "If we continue going over that direction, we''ll most likely meet a third group or even a fourth group. Making it twenty people in total. In that case, won''t there only be a few people waiting for us at the end?"


    "Impossible! If that''s true, then just how many people do they have?"


    "This isn''t just any ordinary trap. This is an operation being executed by an organization. And luckily for us, we are not the only target,"


    That''s right, the so-called Quick Sand Operation doesn''t only target a single group, but multiple groups. And the exact reason for that is that targeting a single group using a lot of people isn''t a profitable venture. Imagine more than twenty people sharing the loot of four individuals. Surely not everyone would be satisfied with what they would receive, right? Even if they execute it multiple times in a day, there would still be barely any profit to share between more than twenty people.


    At this moment, there are likely multiple groups heading in the same direction as where they were nning on heading before, except that they areing from different areas of the west side.


    Kayn muttered confidently. "We should be able to easily take care of two to three groups that are made up of five people each,"


    "You shouldn''t be looking down on us," Gilbert smiled in excitement.


    That isn''t even something to consider about. They can even travel in the deep parts of the Slumbering Forest ande out without a scratch, let alone take care of a few weaklings.


    Considering that these people decided to execute such an operation only in the safe area of the Slumbering Forest despite the fact that they have so many men, it only means that they are weak and don''t possess enough courage to face the real dangers of this ce.


    "Insulting us like that; I guess I have to look for a ce to vent out my anger. Those people you mentioned should be a good target," Jude looks at Charles meaningfully.


    "They definitely will, without a doubt," Charles nodded.


    The reason why Gilbert, Jude, and Charles are acting like this is evidently because they are itching for some action for a long time now.


    It''s only natural considering that Kayn made three powerful individuals do a search operation for hours now. The nature of their work basically involves fighting and being on the edge of a knife, so it isn''t strange for them to get bored already.


    The chance to fight against more than twenty people at the same time is obviously a good opportunity to solve their boredom.


    It wasn''t only them that felt that way, Kayn is also feeling the same, probably even worst knowing who he once was.

 Chapter 166 Hunting For The Forest Spirit Seed Part 5

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    Chapter 166: Hunting for the Forest Spirit Seed Part 5


    Kayn nodded to the others and in the next moment, they immediately disappeared.


    Whoosh!


    "Where did they go?!"


    As soon as Kayn''s group vanished, the man with whom Kayn had been conversing a short while ago expressed immediate surprise. He turned out to be the leader of the second group.


    "Over there!" One of his men pointed.


    "Quickly chase after them!" The man hurriedly orders his men.


    Just like what Kayn had initially expected, the first group also chased after them along with the second group. Not only that, a third group came out not far away and also went chasing after them.


    "It''s just like what you''ve said," Gilbert muttered after glimpsing behind him. "Time to split up,"


    Whoosh!


    Gilbert disappeared through the trees.


    "Be careful, I think they are nning on splitting up to divert our attention," The man warned the leaders of the two groups behind him.


    "What if they are simply nning to escape?"


    "Exactly! And they n to separate from the group one at a time,"


    "In that case, make sure to focus on the remaining three," The man immediately changed his n. It is already toote for them to chase after the person who disappeared just now, so their best way left is to make sure that it won''t happen again.


    "Understood!"


    The two leaders nodded at each other as they quicklyprehended the man''s n.


    With the change of n, the three groups immediately fan out so that no one else would be able to escape anymore.


    "They took the bait," Charles quickly informs Kayn after noticing the change in their enemy''s formation.


    "Then proceed to the next step," Kayn signals everyone to slightly slow down so that they can give their enemy some false hope of catching up.


    Such a thought would no doubt excite their enemies, thus preventing them from thinking about Gilbert. As soon as that happens, thetter would be able to perfectlyunch a surprise attack.


    "They''re slowing down!"


    "Now''s the time," The man smiled.


    Hearing that, all three groups simultaneously hasten their speed.


    All of a sudden¡­


    Whoosh!


    Bang!


    Three mages who were chasing from the rear suddenly dropped to the ground with lifeless bodies.


    "Watch out, there''s an ambush!" One of the leaders quickly informs the other.


    "Shit! Who''s there?!" The man eximed in a sudden halt while motioning his hand to signal the other to stop pursuing Kayn''s group.


    "Over there!"


    Whoosh!<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Ah!"


    "Unbelievable!" The man was greatly taken aback by the sudden and swift demise of theirst mage. As a result, their team nowcked any remaining mages, leaving them with no alternative but to engage in close-quartersbat.


    Unfortunately, their target would definitely not allow that to happen.


    Whoosh!


    Boom! Boom!


    In the next moment, two warriors were sent sting away after two fireballs blew up on their bodies.


    "They''re counterattacking!"


    "Tanks, keep them distracted!" The man ns on killing the person hiding in the forest first before dealing with the others. And he has solid proof that it was the person who separated from the main group not long ago.


    Unbeknownst to the man, his decision turned out to be a bad choice.


    Boom!


    Bang!


    Boooshhh!


    In an instant, the three tanks that were intent on blocking Kayn and the others'' path were easily sent flying away and soon came crashing on the ground as if arrows that falling from the sky.


    Boom!


    "This¡­" The man was inplete disbelief as he slowly turn his head to look at Kayn and the others who are now beating the living daylight of his remaining men.


    Whoosh!


    "Yow!"


    "You¡­" The man stared with eyes wide open at Gilbert who suddenly appeared in front of him.


    "Have a nice sleep," Gilbert uttered before sending a punch to the man''s face.


    Bang!


    It didn''t take long for Kayn''s group to defeat the three groups.


    "Are you really sure that we don''t have to kill any of them?" Charles can''t help asking as he threw thest person inside a prison cell made out of vines that Jude has conjured.


    As of now, all the men are now almost nude after Kayn and the others removed any and all useful weapons and equipment they possess, including their Storage Rings, of course. What''s worst was, they are all still unconscious.


    "If their organization possesses even a trace ofpassion within them, they should be capable of returning safely.," Kayn replied.


    "What if they aren''t?"


    "Then I guess that''s the end of the road for them. At the very least we gave them a chance to live. If continuing to live isn''t meant for them, then we''ll have to take ountability for that, and they''ll also have to ept their own fate," After saying that, Kayn turns around to leave. "We still have a job to do, so quickly follow after me after you are done pitying them,"


    What he has done isn''t actually heartless. In fact, he is already being merciful enough to them. And his only reason for doing so is that they didn''t cause that much harm to him. As a matter of fact, he barely even had to fight them as Gilbert and the others did most of the work themselves.


    Moreover, he also wasn''t sure whether they were intent on killing them or not as he didn''t sense the slightest of killing intent all this time. Most likely they were only thieves, which exins the reason why they don''t dare go deeper inside the Slumbering Forest. Of course, there are always exceptions, just that it doesn''t include these people.


    "Wait up," Gilbert quickly chases after Kayn along with Jude and Charles.


    The three took onest look at the unconscious men inside the prison made out of vines before finally turning away and following Kayn.


    Following the direction of where the man pointed to them, they soon discovered the exact location of where their main force was waiting.

 Chapter 167 Hunting For The Forest Spirit Seed Part 6

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    Chapter 167: Hunting for the Forest Spirit Seed Part 6


    Over the distance, a huge gathering of people with over fifty people on it could be seen scrambling around from one ce to another doing various different tasks. Some were checking on their inventory, others were bringing in new prisoners, and there were also some that prepares themselves to go hunting for other victims.


    The entire ce might look like a mess, but there was a certain order and unity about it that confirms Kayn''s suspicion that they belong in the same organization.


    "TGA, what does that stand for?" Kayn looks at  Gilbert and the others.


    "Thieves Guild Alliance," Gilbert responded with a stern voice.


    It was quite evident that Gilbert knew about this organization.


    "So are they all assassins?"


    "Most of them are. But there are still others who belong to the other sses. As long as they have talents in stealing and bing a thief, they can apply to join,"


    "What exactly is this organization about?"


    "Believe it or not, they are actually a legal and a hero guild. People hire them not to steal though, but to scout and gather information," After all, they are still assassins, so scouting and gathering information is their specialty. "I was once part of them in the past before Chief George recruited me to join the Green Horn Knights, so I know them quite well,"


    "Most of the time their members spend on scouting and gathering information for their client, but every now and then they would hang around in the boundary of good and evil. The grey area, you could say,"


    "It hasn''t always been this way. It only started when the previous guild leader was reced because of old age. The person who reced him was someone young and ambitious. He expressed his intent on bing the richest man alive in ''The Bridge'',"


    "Let me guess, his way of doing that is by stealing other people''s richest away," Kayn interjected.


    "That''s right," Gilbert nodded. "Although he doesn''t want to steal everyone''s richest. He only targets people who have the capability to easily earn what was stolen. Somewhat like Robinhood, except he doesn''t give what he stole to the poor. Albeit they do give a lot of profit to everyone,"


    "That is why although everyone knows about their dark secret, people still wee them with open arms and invite them to be part of their alliance and organization. I think the reason why they are here is because the Vige nearby is one of those groups who wees the Thieves Guild Alliance,"


    "I see," Kayn could understand why.


    Everyone always has a dark secret or two and they also aren''tpletely kind and good. There are also people who don''t treat thieves differently, especially if they are only targeting a specific group of people. They might even say that one is just unlucky if they be a target of the Thieves Guild Alliance.


    Needless to say, it doesn''t mean Kayn agrees with the actions of the Thieves Guild Alliance. A bad deed will always be a bad deed regardless of how little it is.


    But what he does understand is that the way things work for the people living in ''The Bridge'' ispletely different from those back on Earth and inside the ''Tower''.


    A man has to do everything in order to survive in ''The Bridge''. And with how limited the resources avable for them here, it isn''t strange for them to asionally choose to walk the life of a thief or to even allow a thief to stand beside them.


    Looking around their base of operation, they could see multiple medium-sized cages with some being empty while the others have people trapped inside. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Clearly, those people were unluckily caught after falling into their Quick Sand Operation.


    Fortunately for them, they weren''t treated harshly by the members of the Thieves Guild Alliance. As a matter of fact, their cages have all basicmodities such as a chair, small bed, table, and even food and some normal clothes to change into. There was also a mask hanging around the corner, probably in preparation in case the Drowsy Mushrooms in the surrounding area spew out their mist.


    Speaking about the Drowsy Mushrooms¡­


    Kayn soon notices that there is a huge number of Drowsy Mushrooms surrounding the Thieves Guild Alliance''s base of operation.


    He immediately thought of an idea after seeing it.


    "I guess we won''t have to fight them, after all," Kayn said as he looks at Gilbert and the others.


    "Seeing the look on your face, you are thinking of pulling some kind of stunt," Gilbert is already very familiar with Kayn. "Come on, tell us what it is,"


    "See those Drowsy Mushrooms around them," Kayn pointed. "Do you think it would be possible for us to use it to our advantage?"


    "Don''t tell me that you''re nning on releasing a dense amount of mist around this ce and sending everyone here to sleep?" Gilbert immediately understood.


    "Just the right amount," Kayn corrected. "You see, I notice the mask they are wearing isn''t as effective as ours. We can definitely take advantage of that, right?"


    "I suppose we can," Gilbert feels like it is possible.


    "Since they are very busy, they shouldn''t be able to notice the mist on time. And even if they could, not everyone would be able to evacuate and we can just simply take care of those who were lucky enough to escape,"


    "So, how do you n to split thebor?" Gilbert asked.


    "This time, we will have to split up so that we can finish things fast. I believe everyone is capable enough to take care of themselves. And on top of that, we can also cause disturbance to the Drowsy Mushrooms in secret,"


    "I think I have something that can help us," Gilbert started looking inside his Storage Ring. "Here they are,"


    Waving his hand, Gilbert took out three ghillie suits that matches quite well the surrounding terrain of the Slumbering Forest.


    Gilbert started introducing the suits. "These are special ghillie suits. They have the function to automatically adjust their color to match your surrounding. So long as you are careful, no one should be able to notice your movements,"


    "This is perfect!"


    Kayn and the others couldn''t hope for anything more useful than these ghillie suits.


    "Let''s quickly equip ourselves with these and begin the operation Smoke The Rats To Sleep,"

 Chapter 168 Hunting For The Forest Spirit Seed Part 7

    ?


    Chapter 168: Hunting for the Forest Spirit Seed Part 7


    Using the ghillie suits, Kayn was able to sneak pass the men patrolling the base of operation of the Thieves Guild Alliance. They didn''t even see that the grass was actually moving despite it just being under their nose, albeit a few extra meters below as they were standing on top of the trees.


    Looking at where he had assigned Gilbert and the others, Kayn finally understood just how hard it is to notice them. Honestly, he couldn''t even see a single sign of them despite the fact that he knows where to look.


    Anyway, putting that aside, he turned his attention to the group of Drowsy Mushrooms a few meters in front of him.


    This group had dozens of sprouts sticking closely to each other, which is why he decided to approach it first. Moreover, there are groups of Drowsy Mushrooms surrounding it, giving him the perfect opportunity to disrupt them all at the same time.


    He didn''t approach very closely because the effectiveness of its mist increases the closer one gets to it.


    Reaching his arm to the side, he carefully grabbed a handful of pebbles. He then locked onto his target and with extreme precision, he hits all of them at the same time.


    Whoosh!


    In the next moment, the dozens of Drowsy Mushrooms started releasing their mist.


    It didn''t just end there.


    Kayn quickly directed his attention to the groups of Drowsy Mushrooms not so far away from him. He grabbed another handful of pebbles and from his location, he threw one pebble after another.


    Whoosh! Whoosh!


    A series of puffing noises could be heard as the surrounding Drowsy Mushrooms let out their mist one after the other.


    He didn''t target that many Drwosy Mushrooms yet, as such the mist wasn''t dense enough to be noticed easily.


    Looking closely at the direction of Gilbert and the others, he started noticing that they have also started disrupting the Drowsy Mushrooms nearby them. Only after looking intently did he notice the mist.


    "Okay, this might take longer than I expected," He initially thought that just disrupting a few Drowsy Mushrooms would be more than enough to cover their enemy camp. Turns out that they need a lot more than just a few dozen.


    Grabbing another handful of pebbles at the side, Kayn used his extreme precision to target more and more Drowsy Mushrooms nearby his location.


    After a few minutes of throwing pebbles around, the mist began umting together as it slowly got denser and denser. From merely being translucent, its body started showing a tinge bit of the color purple.


    "Finally," Kayn started feeling excited as he sees his n is about to unfold.


    All of a sudden, he felt a strong wind from the direction where Jude was assigned.


    Turning his head around, he instantly saw a tsunami of purple mist quickly approaching the direction of the camp.


    Because of how strong the wind was, every Drowsy Mushroom that it passed through would instantly release its mist as if thinking that the wind is a threat to it.


    "That''s actually possible?" Kayn was surprised. If only he knew about that before, he would have just let Jude do all the work instead of spending countless efforts throwing pebbles around.


    Whoosh!


    Whassh!


    Not long after, Kayn simrly started hearing loud noisesing from the direction of Gilbert and Charles'' side.


    "Wind¡­" Kayn immediately realized something. He seems to have a skill that can produce a strong wind¡­ or perhaps even better.


    Waving his hand, Kayn took out a dagger from his Storage Ring.


    <<Hundred Shadow Cut>>


    The ground around him was immediately covered by one hundred shadow daggers. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Instead of throwing pebbles, I should have thrown these shadow daggers instead," With a motion of his hand, the shadow daggers flew towards the nearby Drowsy Mushrooms.


    With themotion that Gilbert and the others created, silently disrupting the Drowsy Mushrooms is of no use anymore. That is why he dared to use the skill <<Hundred Shadow Cut>>.


    Whoosh!


    In just a span of a single minute, the entire camp of the Thieves Guild Alliance was covered by the mist of the Drowsy Mushrooms.


    With thebination of the misting from all directions, the strength and effectiveness of its effect multiplied to the degree that the mask they brought with them no longer prove any usefulness.


    One by one, the men started dropping to the ground while snoring.


    The first ones to sleep were those inside the cages before quickly being followed by the men patrolling their surroundings.


    Seeing theirrades sleeping on the ground, the others quickly tried to escape.


    Unfortunately, Kayn and the others swiftly took care of them and sent them flying back inside the trap so that they can join the rest of theirrades.


    Around ten minutes, everybody aside from Kayn''s team is now sound asleep on the ground.


    "Great work everyone," Kaynplemented Gilbert and the others for doing such a good job.


    "It was Jude who informed me and Charles on what to do," Gilbert looks at Jude.


    "Why didn''t you inform me as well?"


    "I thought that you were smart enough to know what to do," Jude reasoned out. "And my guess was right,"


    "So, should we continue with our search?" Gilbert can''t help asking.


    "Let''s leave that forter. Right now, I want all of you to search everything that they have,"


    "What are we looking for,"


    "You''ve mentioned that their specialty is scouting and gathering information. In that case, they should have clues about the location of the Forest Spirit Seed,"


    "Great idea!"


    With that being said, Kayn''s group hurriedly look around the Thieves Guild Alliance''s base of operation to look for clues.


    After looking around for ten minutes, they gathered together and started discussing each of the clues they''d found.


    As expected, the Thieves Guild Alliance had useful clues about the location of the Forest Spirit Seed.


    "So people have sighted a Forest Spirit Seed around the river banks to the south," Kayn looks at Gilbert meaningfully. "It seems like your previous guess was correct,"


    The river actually leads to the east area outside of the Slumbering Forest, which is where Gilbert suggested that what if the Forest Spirit Seed was just out there in the ins? Although its other side is leading the deeper part of the Slumbering Forest.


    "Just close, since it is still inside the Slumbering Forest,"


    "So, should we head back to the east area?" Jude looks at Kayn.


    "We''ve pretty much looked everywhere over there, so I suggest we follow the river and start heading into the deeper part of the Slumbering Forest instead," Kayn muttered before looking at their surrounding. "It''s also the best choice we have since we need to be far from here before they wake up,"


    "Indeed," Gilbert doesn''t want to experience a situation where they would be chased after by over fifty people.


    "Let''s quickly leave,"

 Chapter 169 Hunting For The Forest Spirit Seed Part 8

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    Chapter 169: Hunting for the Forest Spirit Seed Part 8


    As they were already starting to get familiar with the northern part of the Slumbering Forest, it didn''t take long for Kayn''s group to finally find the location of the river.


    The river wasn''t very wide, but it also wasn''t something they can just cross easily because of how strong the current was.


    Although the river was inside the forest, it was surrounded by a wide expanse of emptynd, thus slightly separating it from the forest.


    Looking closely at the river bank, they confirmed one of the signs of the Forest Spirit Seed being nearby ¡ª grass growing on rocks.


    Normally vegetation doesn''t grow very well in areas covered in pebbles. Not to mention, nts don''t grow on rocks.


    The only exnation as to why that is possible is that a Forest Spirit Seed caused the anomaly.


    The discovery of this clue instantly raises the morale of Kayn''s group.


    "Now we are finally no longer searching around blindly," Gilbert sighs in relief.


    "These traces seems to be not from long ago, probably two days or so," Jude informs everyone after briefly investigating the traces. "From here to the north, the traces seem to range from two days and so on. However, going to the south, the traces slowly bes fresh,"


    "Can a Forest Spirit Seed move?" Gilbert can''t help feeling curious. ording to what they talked about yesterday, the Forest Spirit Seed is just simr to the other three items that they''ve found so far. So, how exactly is it leaving traces as if it was moving from one ce to the other?


    Jude turns his head in the south direction before starting to exin. "My guess is these pebbles came from the south. Because the water is flowing north, and these are light objects, it is possible that the water carried them to this location,"


    "Fair enough,"


    "Let''s follow where the traces lead us. As soon as these traces stop, that should be where the Forest Spirit Seed is located," Kayn interrupted.


    "Most likely," Jude agrees. "Hopefully the Forest Spirit Seed is still a seed when we find it,"


    Considering that the Forest Spirit Seed is now affecting the objects nearby it, it can only mean that it started its maturing phase a long time ago.


    "Hopefully," Kayn can only wish that they would be lucky enough to find a not fully matured Forest Spirit Seed yet. Otherwise, all their efforts would be for nothing because a mature Forest Spirit Seed means their energy is now being injected into the ground in order to enrich the surrounding area.


    ¡­..


    As they followed the traces of the clues, they started seeing fresher and fresher nts growing on top of pebbles.


    "This one was less than a day. This means that we are close," Jude hastened his footsteps.


    Seeing Jude in a rush, Kayn and the others also increased their speed to catch up.


    After ten minutes or so, Jude suddenly came to a halt.


    "This is strange¡­"


    "Why?" Kayn wonders.


    "The traces stops here," Jude crouched down. He looks around and still, he sees no signs of any evidence of an area where a Forest Spirit Seed is maturing. "If the traces stops here, then there should be a wide area where the trees are bright green, the river crystal clear, and pebbles as smooth and white as quartz,"


    "The only reason why it is no longer here can only be because someone already found it," Jude concluded.


    "Even if that''s the case, an area that you mentioned just now should still be present," Kayn dismiss the possibility. Even if one cancels the maturing phase of the Forest Spirit Seed, its effect would still be around and it won''t just disappear.


    "Perhaps they removed all evidence of its existence,"


    "Then there should be an area that''spletely out of ce somewhere nearby us," Kayn looks at Gilbert and Charles. "You two, look for a ce that fits either of the two descriptions,"


    Instead of just standing here talking, it is much better to search for more clues.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Okay," Gilbert and Charles acknowledge before starting their search.


    As the two were searching, Kayn and Jude continued with discussing all the possibilities.


    "Is there a possibility that the pebbles came from somewhere else instead?" Kayn suggested.


    "Are you saying that someone threw it here in order to mislead us?"


    "Not likely," Kayn walks closer to the river. "Like for example, what if there''s a cave underneath us right now,"


    "Supposed there is," Jude came beside Kayn. "How can it spit out those pebbles?"


    "It could if it is an underwater cave just like when we were at Springwater Canyon?"


    "That''s impossible. A river on top and an underwater cave underneath would simply cause the soil in between them to copse after some time,"


    "It won''t, because the soil in between them is a mixture of rocks and dirt. And on top of that, these river is very shallow, so it''s not enough to affect the ground underneath,"


    "In that case," Waving his hand, Jude conjured a huge ming ball above his hand. "There''s only one way to find out!"


    Whoosh!


    Boom!


    Sizzzleeee!


    Whiiishh!


    As the ming ball crashed onto the river, the water exploded everywhere making the water rain nearby for a brief moment.


    And with the heat of the ming ball, a sizzling noise created by water hitting on hot rock continuously sounded.


    At the location where the ming ball crashed, a fountain spewing water on the river could be seen, and down below it was a hole leading to what Kayn had imed to be an underwater cave.


    "What happened?!"


    "We immediately came after hearing that explosion,"


    "What the heck is that?!"


    "Oh my goodness!"


    Gilbert and Charles immediately shut their mouths upon seeing the shocking sight of a hole underneath the river.


    "How did you know?" Jude stares at Kayn with a look of surprise.


    "I was honestly just guessing," In truth, Kayn already suspected that there is an underwater cave when the traces of the pebbles stopped at a dead end.


    The pebbles they''ve seen so far were very tiny, which is a perfect size to pass through possibly tiny holes that connect the river to the underground cave. And considering that the river has a strong current, it exins why it can pull out pebbles, which are light objects, from the underground cave.


    "If someone tells me you are a schr, I would for sure be the first one to agree to that,"


    "I was just lucky, that''s all,"


    "As if," Jude rolled his eyes, not taking Kayn''s words seriously.


    Even Gilbert and Charles also don''t believe Kayn''s exnation. But they simply let it pass as they are already used to it.

 Chapter 170 Hunting For The Forest Spirit Seed Part 9

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    Chapter 170: Hunting for the Forest Spirit Seed Part 9


    "Are we all going to dive inside?" Gilbert turns to look at Kayn.


    Normally, Kayn would have immediately agreed to this after seeing that they are close to finding the Forest Spirit Seed. But this time, he choose to remain quiet.


    The reason for that is that he remembered the time when they were passing through the underwater cave in the Springwater Canyon. He saw countless monsters roaming around the area and understood just how dangerous it was for the current him. If it wasn''t for the presence of the Guardian Turtle, they wouldn''t even be able to stay long in that kind of ce without the risk of dying.


    "I don''t think that would be a good idea," Jude responded instead. He also recollected the memories in the Springwater Canyon just like Kayn, thus he was able to understand what thetter is currently thinking.


    However, if they don''t do it, everything they''ve been through would all just be for nothing.


    "Even if we don''t want to, we still have no other choice," Kayn finally spoke. That is their only choice if they want to find the Forest Spirit Seed.


    "We should send someone to contact the others first before we think of going in there," Jude suggested.


    "Let''s put a hold on this for now. In the meantime, let''s cover this ce and make it seem like nothing happened here," Kayn decided what is best for everyone on his team. As much as he hates postponing this, it''s more dangerous for them to enter such a ce without enough preparation.


    "Are you sure the Forest Spirit Seed would still be here tomorrow?" Gilbert expressed his concern. As an assassin, he had experienced multiple instances where leaving a treasure for a day equals not getting the treasure anymore.


    "That''s why I told you to cover this ce and make it seem like nothing happened here. If we don''t do that, there won''t be any Forest Spirit Seed waiting for us here tomorrow, but instead piles after piles of dead bodies," Kayn was certain that if anyone find this clue, a war would instantly break out between different organizations. That is how valuable a Forest Spirit Seed is.


    However, even in that case, there is still a chance for them to get the Forest Spirit Seed. After all, an underwater cave isn''t as simple as any cave. Just that one factor alone where the ce is almost entirely covered with water is already a huge disadvantage fornd-dwelling creatures like Humans. Not to mention, the monsters waiting for them inside would definitely possess the advantage in such an environment.


    "Alright!" Gilbert acknowledged.


    With that being said, Kayn''s team quickly started covering the hole they made.


    Jude was responsible for most of the work since he is a mage, whereas Kayn and the others did the detailedyout to make it seem like the area blend inpletely with the surrounding.


    Needless to say, they left a sign that only they would recognize so that they won''t have to look hard for this certain area again tomorrow.


    As soon as they were done, they made one patrol in the surrounding area just to make sure that there was no one nearby. And only after they were done with that did they finally leave to return to their camp.


    Because they were already very familiar with the path they took to reach the northern part of the Slumbering Forest, it didn''t take them long to return to camp.


    Their camp is located at the southeast of the Slumbering Forest which can almost bebeled as the middle of nowhere. It was because of that that despite multiple huts being constructed around the ce, no one was still able to find them.


    "You''ve made a lot of progress Gnak," Kayn greeted the uing Goblin Chief. "Weren''t you supposed to construct your Vige underground?"


    "We are," Gnak pointed at a cave that wasn''t there previously.


    Clearly, it was a cave that they built.


    "These huts are actually for you and the others. After all, it wouldn''t be good if you sleep underground as well," Gnak exined. "They areplete with all basicmodities that you will need for your days of stay in the Slumbering Forest,"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Thank you for your great work," Kayn can''t helpplimenting Gnak for his effort. Looking at the hunt, it even seems like the inside was fully furnished and that it wouldn''t be just like any ordinary hut at all.


    "Since the others are still not here, I''ll go take a rest first," Gilbert quickly proceeded to choose the hut that he likes. "Call me when they return,"


    Seeing Gilbert hurrying to look for a hut, Jude and Charles also did the same.


    "Can I?" Kayn also doesn''t want to be left behind.


    "Oh, you don''t have to do that," Gnak turned around and pointed at a specific hut. "We specifically made that hut just for you. It has everything that I believe you will definitely like, at least that''s what we think after the days we''ve been observing you,"


    "And those two?" Kayn pointed at the other two huts close to his hut. "Its for Friedrich and Chastine,"


    "So they are the huts for the leaders?" Kayn finally understood.


    "Not really. We made those huts specifically for the three who contributed the most in saving our tribe From the Mountain Monkey''s Lair," Gnak rified so that Kayn won''t misunderstand.


    "Thank you," Kayn expresses his gratitude.


    "Your party will always be treated as special guests for our tribe," Gnak bowed respectfully.


    Kayn walks to his hut to check what Gnak prepared for him.


    The moment he opened the door, he was immediately greeted by a scene that he didn''t expect a hut would have.


    A huge bed, a kitchen paired with a counter, a personal bathroom, and a living room. Moreover, there was also a small door at the corner which he immediately felt curious about.


    Approaching the door, he opened it carefully to see what is inside.


    As he pulled the door, he instantly sees a stair leading to somewhere underground.


    Gnak, who was standing outside the hut, quickly exined. "That stair leads to our vige underground. You could say that we made a special path specifically for the three of you,"


    "I didn''t expect that," Kayn indeed didn''t expect that Gnak would provide such convenience to him. In this way, he won''t have to waste time walking to the cave located a considerable distance from the location of the huts.


    "By the way, there is a level there which if you pull it would immediately cover the stairs with ayer of dirt,"


    In other words, Kayn can use it to escape in case someone attacks this ce.


    "It seems like you know me quite well," Kayn was greatly impressed by it.


    "As long as you''re happy," Gnak was d that Kayn appreciated all of his and his men''s effort.

 Chapter 171 Hunting For The Forest Spirit Seed Part 10

    ?


    Chapter 171: Hunting for the Forest Spirit Seed Part 10


    It was around midnight that Friedrich and the others finally returned back to camp. Looking at their state, it''s quite obvious just how serious they were with their job of looking for the Forest Spirit Seed.


    "Gnak already prepared a bath for everyone inside those huts," Kayn kindly informs everyone.


    In an instant, Chastine, Natasha, and Kimberly quickly rushed inside the huts. They didn''t even bother picking the hut that they like as they simply got inside the closest to them.


    Well, women will always do what women need to do.


    "We''ll have a meetingter to discuss today''s progress of each team after we finish taking a bath as well," Friedrich bid farewell along with the men of the two groups.


    "I guess we better prepare the ce where we will hold the meeting. As if that would even be necessary considering that only our team''s report is going to be necessary," Kayn felt helpless.


    Gnak suddenly interrupted. "We''ve already built a room to hold meetings,"


    "You just make my day better and better, you know that," Kayn really likes the way Gnak has been acting today.


    "It''s the least we can do,"


    "Lead the way. And tell your men to fetch the others once they are done,"


    "Alright,"


    ¡­.


    "So, you''ve found the likely location of the Forest Spirit Seed, the only problem is it''s located inside an underwater cave system?" Friedrich wanted to rify first.


    "That''s right," Jude confirmed.


    "I didn''t expect that we''d be able to make this much progress in just a single day," Friedrich truly didn''t anticipate such an oue from less than a day of searching. Even their group who nearlypleted the search at the east side of the Slumbering Forest didn''t make such progress. Not to mention Chastine''s group that possessed two of the finest assassins in ''The Bridge''.


    "Everything was all thanks to the Thieves Guild Alliance," Gilbert chuckled. "We got the clue from them after searching all their valuables,"


    "No wonder," Natasha interrupted. One of the best organizations for information gathering could indeed provide such helpful clues. "But did you just say searching for their valuables? Does that mean that you stole from them?"


    "We stole, they stole, why does that matter? It''s not really a big deal if one steals from a group of thieves, right?"


    "Gilbert, you''re wrong," Jackson shook his head. "It is not a problem to steal from thieves. But your victims aren''t just ordinary thieves,"


    "If the Thieves Guild Alliance were able to find traces of the Forest Spirit Seed which helped you find its likely location, then they will definitely be able to track us as well," Natasha expressed.


    Jackson added. "You might have gotten us some useful information, but you''ve also brought us a troublesome foe along with it,"


    "I already expected that," Kayn interjected. "We have no choice. It''s the cost if we want to quickly find the Forest Spirit Seed. And as if it would even be possible to negotiate with them, right?"


    If they really did that, they would also only end up with the same oue. After all, buying information rted to the Forest Spirit Seed only implies that they are looking for it. In that case, what is stopping the Thieves Guild Alliance from following them in order to try to steal from them once they find the said item? <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Indeed," Friedrich shares the same thought as Kayn. "Let''s set that aside for now. So, what''s your n?"


    "Tomorrow, all of us will go to that ce and build a camp. The camp is just a cover for the real operation that we will be doing underground," Kayn exins his n.


    "So, we will pretend that we are camping in that ce in order to not raise any suspicion and to also prevent attracting other people who are also looking for the Forest Spirit Seed?" Friedrich stroke his chin in deep thought. "Since we are putting ourselves out in the open, then how do you n to solve the problem with the Thieves Guild Alliance?"


    "That''s the time we negotiate," Kayn smiles.


    "I see," Friedrich immediately understood.


    ¡­..


    "So, this is the ce?" Friedrich looks around their surroundings. "I was thinking of an area where there would be somewhere that we can use as cover nearby. Didn''t think that it would entirely be open,"


    "Indeed, this would be difficult to defend when something bad happens," Chastine agrees.


    "We can still construct some structures around this area for defense," Jude suggested. "It might not be practical, but it will make do for the situation at hand,"


    "I guess it can''t be helped," Chastine turned around and approached Kimberly and Cyril to discuss the construction of their defense.


    Jude also follows along to help.


    "Is it there?" Friedrich pointed while looking at Kayn.


    "Yes," Kayn nodded. "We just have to dig the ground a bit and we will see the underwater cave. We''ve already constructed a made out of vines behind the ground in hopes of making it easier to build the entrance,"


    "Okay! Let''s finish the construction of the camp first before we begin with the operation," Friedrich decided.


    "I thought the same,"


    However, before Kayn and Friedrich could leave to help the others in the construction of their camp, a ground of people suddenly arrived.


    Without needing to ask, Kayn already knew who they were. Thought it was also because he saw once again the man that they have stripped naked and thrown into a cell.


    "I didn''t expect to meet you again this soon," Kayn looks at the man.


    "How dare you show your face here again!" The man eximed full of hate at Kayn.


    "I guess I wasn''t informed that the Slumbering Forest is the property of the Thieves Guild Alliance now," Gilbert stepped forward.


    "No wonder you are familiar. You are that traitor who left the organization," The man pointed at Gilbert.


    "Jadiel, you can stop talking now,"


    A schrly-looking map motioned his hand, which instantly shut the man whose name is Jadiel.

 Chapter 172 Hunting For The Forest Spirit Seed Part 11

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    Chapter 172: Hunting for the Forest Spirit Seed Part 11


    "I take it that you were the one who ambush one of our operations yesterday?" The schrly man asked.


    "They ambushed us first. We simply retaliated in self-defense," Gilbert didn''t bother to hide the truth as there is no use doing so.


    "Self-defense, I see," The man push his eyesses forward. "Then would it also be considered self-defense if we start stealing some of your valuables here, including that Storage Ring of yours? After all, we didn''t steal any of your items. As you''ve said, we only ''Ambushed'' you, we didn''t actually steal anything from any of you, am I right?"


    "I¡­" Gilbert was instantly left speechless.


    "Considering that you didn''t attack us immediately, I believe that you have a different intention ofing here," Kayn decided to step in to lend a hand to the helpless Gilbert. Thetter was good at talking, it''s just that he prefers senseless arguments to logical ones, which is exactly what the schrly-looking guy is good at.


    "I don''t really like beating around the bush. It''s just not my style. So, who''s the leader of this group? Is it you, or him?" The schrly man pointed at Kayn before Friedrich.


    "I am the leader, but I mostly take care of the actual work. Anything that requires the brain, it''s entirely up to him," Friedrich motioned at Kayn.


    "Alright," The schrly man extended his hand forward. "I am Jericho,"


    "Kayn," Kayn epted the hand and shook it.


    Respectfully pulling his hand away, Jericho then continued introducing himself, "I am the vice guild leader of the Thieves Guild Alliance,"


    Gilbert can''t help asking. "What happened to the previous vice guild leader?"


    "He is dead,"


    "How?"


    "I killed him,"


    "That¡­"


    "You see, I don''t like people who threaten the goal of the Thieves Guild Alliance. We wanted to be rich, and he was satisfied with merely being one of the average. I offered him to be one since that''s what he likes, but he rejected me. So, just like what every ambitious person would do, I cut the dead leaf so that it won''t affect the growth of the entire flower,"


    "You don''t look like the type who would kill people immediately," Kayn felt slightly surprised.


    "I didn''t actually kill him immediately. I discuss and discuss, but after numerous failed negotiations that all ended with him still not understanding the mission and vision of the people in the Thieves Guild Alliance, I had to do what I must do,"


    "I see,"


    "And that''s also what I am going to do here,"


    "As expected," Kayn honestly already knew that Jericho intents to negotiate with him.


    "After looking at our inventory yesterday, I saw a few things missing," Jericho immediately went to the point. "Some items that are not so valuable like daggers, staff, and sword, but more importantly,"


    "Information about the Forest Spirit Seed," Kayn waves his hand to interrupt and immediately threw a piece of document to Jericho. Thetter quickly caught it.


    "Yes, this," Jericho stored the item inside his Storage Ring.


    "It was useless, see," Kayn pointed at the area where Friedrich had previously pointed. "Nothing,"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "If that''s really true, then what are you doing here right now?"


    "The clue stops here, which means the Forest Spirit Seed is nearby. So, we are nning to camp here and search the nearby area for any more clues about it,"


    "Are you sure that''s all there is?"


    "We would still be here tomorrow, so you can freely check on us if you want," Kayn waves his hand once again, taking out a Storage Ring. "Here. The payment for the items my group have stolen from you,"


    After checking the coins inside, Jericho nodded in satisfaction. "It''s enough. But,"


    "What else do you need?"


    "I am not only here for this," Jericho quickly signals for his men to prepare two chairs and a table.


    "It seems to me that your conversation would take a lot of time," Friedrich looks at Kayn. "I''ll handle the preparation for the camp in the meantime,"


    "Alright,"


    "Gilbert and the rest of your team will stay to act as your bodyguard," After saying that, Friedrich left to help the others. There is no need for him to stay any longer since Kayn could obviously handle this problem quite easily.


    "Your leader surely trusts you a lot," Jericho followed Friedrich with his eyes before eventually returning back to Kayn.


    "Anyone who possesses the brain will always be trusted," Kayn sat on the chair.


    "But sometimes they are also the ones the leader should watch out for the most,"


    "That depends on what kind of organization you belong to in the first ce. If you are talking about the Thieves Guild Alliance, I suppose smart people would be a threat to your guild leader. Luckily for him, he has you,"


    "I am actually one of the people he should watch out for," Jericho smiled.


    "No wonder Gilbert left your guild,"


    "Just like what its name suggests, it is just an alliance of multiple thieves'' guilds. So, you could expect that everyone isn''t going to be united for the most part," Jericho coughed before quickly changing to the main topic. "Anyways, enough about the Thieves Guild Alliance. I am not here as their representative, I am here to bring benefit to my guild,"


    "You definitely fit the description that you''ve just said," Kayn felt amused. "So, what do you want?"


    "I want to propose cooperation,"


    "I am interested," Kayn motioned his hand for Jericho to continue.


    "I believe that you are also looking for Forest Spirit Seeds in the Slumbering Forest. We are also looking for them,"


    "Them? As in you are looking to get more than two Forest Spirit Seeds,"


    "Indeed," Jericho nodded. "You see, we''ve just been given the Slumbering Forest territory by the guild leader of the Thieves Guild Alliance after I reced the previous vice guild leader. Well, this was one of the territories under the previous regime''s management, so I was only being handed the responsibility to continue its management,"


    "Let me guess, you want to prove you are worthy of the position since you basically didn''t receive it through the fairway," Kayn easily understood since he was a guild leader himself and he had his fair share of simr situations. Not from his guild, but from his ex-allies guild.


    "That''s right," Jericho can''t help smiling upon realizing that Kayn understood.

 Chapter 173 Hunting For The Forest Spirit Seed Part 11

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    Chapter 173: Hunting for the Forest Spirit Seed Part 11


    "So, your n is to basically supply a huge number of Forest Spirit Seed to the Thieves Guild Alliance, is that it?" Kayn raised his eyebrow.


    "Hmm¡­" Jericho affirmed.


    "You know that is not a long-term n, right?"


    "I just intend to prove my worth, that''s all. I thought you understand," Jericho felt downhearted.


    "Even so, members of the Thieves Guild Alliance would start expecting you to provide a steady source of Forest Spirit Seed," Kayn could already imagine how it would turn out.


    "That is why I am having this negotiation with you,"


    "What do you mean?"


    "Ever heard of the Forest Spirit Origin Seed?"


    Since he hasn''t heard of it yet, Kayn could only turn to Gilbert and the others to see if one of them knew about it.


    "The Forest Spirit Origin Seed is said to be a seed that dropped from the Forest Spirit Tree which is supposed to be where all the Forest Spirit Seede from. It is nothing but a myth though since no one has ever seen it and they only assume that it exists because until now no one still understands where exactly the Forest Spirit Seedes from," Jude exined.


    "If there''s a supply, there''s a source. I get it now! You want to find the seed of the source so that you can nt it yourself and by doing so you can provide a steady supply of Forest Spirit Seed," Kayn finally understood.


    "It seems like this is the reason why your leader trusts you so much," Jericho was disturbed at how easily Kayn can understand his agenda.


    "And what makes you think we are the best candidate to ask for help? After all, such a thing, if it truly exists, is also going to pique our interest,"


    "I know who all of you are," Jericho looks at Friedrich and the others. "That man is the leader of the first squad of the Green Horn Knight. Considering that, I conclude that all of you here are members of the Green Horn Knights,"


    "As long as you agree, we will share the profit of the Forest Spirit Origin Seed with your Green Horn Knight, or probably with the Chief of your Vige, Old Chief George,"


    "In other words, you n to use your alliance with us to discourage people from trying to steal the Forest Spirit Origin Seed from you, and as an exchange, you will share the profit with us," Kayn strokes his chin. "That''s indeed a good idea, but let me think about it first. You see, the greater the profit, the higher the risk of your ally betraying you. Not to mention, the Thieves Guild Alliance is infamous for stealing other people''s properties,"


    "I won''t defend myself since that''s true. In fact, that''s the reason why I even learned of your presence in the Slumbering Forest," Jericho shook his shoulder dismissively. "But you see, once members of the Thieves Guild Alliance make a deal, we will never go back on it regardless of what,"


    "Is that true, Gilbert?" Kayn turned to Gilbert.


    "That''s true. Also, there''s no record of them betraying any of their allies, at least not yet," Gilbert still doesn''t hold any good opinion of the Thieves Guild Alliance despite such a record.


    "I don''t want you to view us in general, because this isn''t a deal between the vice guild leader of the Thieves Guild Alliance and Kayn, but between me and you," Jericho corrected. "In case I forgot, my guild is called Heralds,"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The moment Kayn heard the name of Jericho''s guild, he was instantly shaken from the inside.


    Heralds¡­


    It was a very familiar name. As a matter of fact, he is very familiar with this guild.


    In the past, the Herald was a guild that directly serves one of the Gods of the Tower, Hermes, the God of messengers, travelers, merchants, and thieves.


    They are a guild known for their merchants and assassins, making them one of the members of both the organization Pandora and Genesis.


    From the day they establish their names, they''ve instantly achieved countless feats, thus making their guild very famous both on Earth and inside the ''Tower''.


    Their guild might be a den of merchants and assassins and has a tainted history of stealing, but they always follow one strict rule ¡ª loyalty and faithfulness.


    Unfortunately, he never had the chance to establish an alliance with them. If he had done so, they would have shown him if they truly lived up to such a rule.


    On second thought though, if he remembered correctly, he had personally destroyed this guild because they were relentlessly blocking his way to kill Hermes. He had ughtered all of their members without any shred of mercy.


    "Is this perhaps Fate''s way of helping me?" Kayn silently whispers.


    "Did you say anything?" Jericho narrowed his eyes.


    "Supposed that I ept your offer, what other benefit can we get other than the share of profit from the Forest Spirit Origin Seed?" Kayn was curious to what extent Jericho is willing to pay for in order to achieve his goal.


    "I can make sure that you are well taken care of in any territory that is allied with the Thieves Guild Alliance,"


    "Our status alone is enough for that,"


    "How about¡­" Jericho turned quiet. Now that he thought of deeply, he actually can''t offer much considering that these people are members of the Green Horn Knights. If they want, they can even ask all Chiefs around the Slumbering Forest to give this area to them and those Chiefs would dly offer it without any cost. On top of that, including their territories as well and possibly also offer their service.


    "I guess you don''t have any," Kayn lightly chuckled.


    "I swear that I was more than prepare when I thought of negotiating with you,"


    "I can see it," Kayn patted Jericho''s shoulder. "But as you can see, we are not interested in material objects or any protection,"


    "Tell me. As long as it is within my power, I will dly ept it," Jericho could only wait and see what Kayn''s demands are.

 Chapter 174 174: Hunting For The Forest Spirit Seed Part 12

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    Chapter 174: Hunting for the Forest Spirit Seed Part 12


    "Considering you''re members of Thieves Guild Alliance, I believe you''ve probably heard already that the cloud of war is slowly enclosing the entire ''The Bridge''," Kayn knew that a lot of people has now learned of the conflict between the Green Horn Vige and the Assembly of Freedom.


    "I don''t know about the others, but we, the Thieves Guild Alliance, and the other territories that are allied to us were already informed of this uing war between two giants of ''The Bridge,"


    As the vice guild leader of the Thieves Guild Alliance, Jericho is aware of almost all big events in ''The Bridge''. He even knew that the Serenity Vige is now under the control of the Assembly of Freedom after their higher-ups were charmed by Wicked Marite Wesley.


    "ording to what I know, the Assembly of Freedom are using everything they have to gather as many forces as possible for the war. As for the Green Horn Vige," Jericho smiled. "They are no longer a Vige, but has now be the first ever City in ''The Bridge'',"


    "When did this happen?" Kayn was surprised, and so were Gilbert, Jude, and Charles behind him.


    "I guess your team is out on a special mission for the Green Horn City," Jericho immediately understood something. "A week ago, Old Chief George signed the ''Green Horn Covenant'', which is an agreement that states that all of his close allies are now bound together from here on out and havebined their manpower to construct the first City in this godforsakennd with the main goal of defeating the Assembly of Freedom and finding a way to free everyone from this prison,"


    "Almost all Towns around ''The Bridge'' left their territories to show just how serious this matter is for them and how dedicated they are to find a way for everyone to finally return home,"


    "As I see it, the Assembly of Freedom has offended someone who they shouldn''t have offended no matter the circumstance,"


    "Then tell me, where does the allegiance of the Thieves Guild Alliance reside?"


    The look on Kayn''s face suddenly turned dark and cold.


    Seeing this, Jericho instantly understood that his answer would define his goal of getting the Forest Spirit Origin Seed.


    "Honestly," Jericho felt slightly awkward. "Everyone in the Thieves Guild Alliance is free to stand on whatever they believe is right. Because of that, some of them had taken the side of the Assembly of Freedom, which includes our guild leader,"


    "I guess there''s the answer you''re looking for to your proposition," Kayn prepared to stand up from his seat.


    But before he could do so.


    "Wait, wait!" Jericho hurriedly tried to pull Kayn back on his seat. "The Heralds have yet to make our decision,"


    "If you''re about to tell me that you choose to stand on the side of the Green Horn City, all that I am going to say to you is," Kayn paused. "The Heralds are part of the Thieves Guild Alliance, and you are their vice guild leader,"


    Jericho slowly let go of Kayn''s hand.


    As Kayn slowly stood up, he suddenly heard Jericho saying something.


    "We only share the same ideals as the Thieves Guild Alliance, to be the richest people of ''The Bridge'', that''s why I choose to join them,"


    Kayn looks at Jericho for onest time.


    "But I''ve never sworn any real allegiance with them nor do I truly consider them as our allies,"


    Jadiel, who remained quiet all this time after being told to stop talking, finally decided to speak out in order to back his leader''s im. "Yes, that''s true,"


    Jericho glimpses at Jadiel as his lips slowly formed into a smile of appreciation. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "And what makes you think I would believe a thief''s words?" Kayn snickered.


    "Because the members of the Herald follow one simple rule,"


    "And that rule is?"


    "Loyalty and Faithfulness,"


    "You im to be loyal and faithful yet you won''t hesitate to stand on the other side of the Thieves Guild Alliance. Don''t make meugh,"


    "What should I do to make you believe my words? If there''s anything that can make you trust me, I will do it as long as it''s within my reach,"


    Jericho stared at Kayn with dedication andmitment.


    "Then answer my question once again," Kayn muttered in a loud voice. "Where does your allegiance really stand?"


    Looking at Kayn''s face, Jericho instantly realized the true meaning behind his question.


    "It stands with my people!"


    "And what do your people want?"


    "To get the Forest Spirit Origin Seed!"


    "And what do you think is the best course of action to take in order for you to achieve that?"


    "To ally with the Green Horn Knights," Jericho was quite certain of this. Only when he is allied with the Green Horn Knights could he be able to have a force cable of deterring others from stealing the property of their guild.


    "So, where do we sign the agreement," Kayn quickly sat on the chair again. This time, his lips formed a wide smile.


    Seeing that, Jericho immediately understood that Kayn trapped him with leading questions. But he totally don''t mind it, because it was also what he intended to achieve.


    "We will make a draft of the agreement today and I''ll personally send it here tomorrow. Would that be okay?" Jericho obviously can''t make the agreement right on the spot. His goal today was only to make them agree on forming an alliance with him.


    "Whatever you see fit," That''s for the best. Once the Herald is gone from this ce, they can immediately start with their actual operation.


    "Do you need me to assign some people here to help you construct your camp?"


    "I am afraid we can''t allow you to do that," Kayn shook his head. "Since we are about to be allies, I don''t mind telling you this. Every time we make a camp, we always set up traps and other hidden mechanisms,"


    "Totally understandable," Jericho can empathize with that since his team also do the same whenever they set up camp in the wild.


    "See you tomorrow," Kayn bid farewell.

 Chapter 175 Hunting For The Forest Spirit Seed Part 13

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    Chapter 175: Hunting for the Forest Spirit Seed Part 13


    The moment Jericho left along with all of the members of Herald he took with him, Kayn and the others hurriedly started the construction of their camp.


    In order to make his lie seem more believable tomorrow, he ordered Gilbert to make dozens of secret traps and hidden mechanisms surrounding the camp.


    Meanwhile, Friedrich''s team prioritize the construction of a pathway that would lead to the entrance that Kayn mentioned. They had to work on it underground so as to not raise any suspicion, especially to Jericho and his people who are currently very suspicious whether they really didn''t find the location of the Forest Spirit Seed or not.


    As for the others, they constructed tents and othermodities for their stay in this ce.


    They weren''t as talented and experienced as Gnak and his men, so they were only able to construct the most basic infrastructures.


    Because this was just a temporary camp and their priority was to make a tunnel leading to the underwater cave, the construction was finished as soon as the sun started setting.


    After eating dinner, they began assigning everyone in a shift to protect the camp while the others would go to sleep.


    Since Kayn still has something important to do tomorrow rting to Jericho''s alliance, he was spared suchbor, making him feel relieved as he slept in the night peacefully.


    The next day.


    As soon as Kayn got out of his tent, he immediately saw the midnight shift walking back to their respective tent in order to get enough rest. After they entered their tents, the evening shift walks out of their tent to start doing their morning routines and start working on the task for today.


    "I''ll be taking Cedric and Roshan with me and begin the first exploration of our party inside the underwater cave," Friedrich informs Kayn who was also doing his morning routines with them.


    "Make sure to prioritize your team''s safety. At the first sign of danger, immediately retreat and go back up here. I don''t care if it will dy the progress of our search, as long as everyone''s safe," Kayn kindly instructed.


    "I know," Friedrich smiled. "By the way, good luck with your alliance talk,"


    "I''ll make sure to seed so that we will have a backup n," Kayn assures.


    That''s right. As long as his alliance talk with Jericho seeded, they would most likely receive information and clues about the location of the other Forest Spirit Seeds in the Slumbering Forest. In that way, if this location proves very dangerous, they could choose to go somewhere else to look.


    Of course, in exchange for that, they would have to help Jericho and the Herald Guild find the Forest Spirit Origin Seed.


    To tell the truth, Natas told him yesterday evening that the Forest Spirit Origin Seed is true and does exist in the Slumbering Forest. Though there is only one and there is no Spirit Forest Tree, at least not in ''The Bridge''. And the only reason why Forest Spirit Seed exists is through the Forest Spirit Origin Seed as it is capable of producing it even though it''s merely a seed as well.


    Quite a remarkable and fantastic item, he must say.


    He can''t wait to finally find the Forest Spirit Origin Seed. Albeit he would never forget to suggest to Jericho to only nt it somewhere either on Earth or inside the ''Tower'' since they would definitely be closing ''The Bridge'' sometime in the future, which would ultimately make all of their efforts useless.


    Obviously, he can''t let that happen since Forest Spirit Seed is still useful even on Earth and inside the ''Tower''. So, possessing the method to have a steady supply of it will certainly solve a lot of his financial problems. Not to mention, it is a good advantage to use when he wants to expand his influence in the future.


    In that case, he also has to discuss it with Friedrich and the others, including Old Chief George as well so that the agreement will continue even on Earth and inside the ''Tower''.


    After they finished their morning routines, Friedrich immediately left with Roshan and Cedric before Jericho could arrive at their camp.


    In the meantime, Kayn started preparing himself for the arrival of Jericho.


    And speaking of the devil¡­


    "I timed myself quite well," Jericho smiled proudly after seeing Kayn just finishing with his preparation.


    "I didn''t prepare much. Just some biscuits and a normal tea while that we replenish ourselves while we discuss business," Kayn quickly invited Jericho to sit down.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "You came alone?" Kayn was slightly surprised after not noticing anyone else other than Jericho himself.


    "There was no need. After all, we are about to be allies soon. Would I need a guard if I am only visiting nearby ally''s camp?" Jericho said before letting out a brief chuckle.


    "You''re being sincere. I guess you''re very satisfied with our discussion yesterday,"


    "I was," Jericho nodded his head before waving his hand to take out a few documents from his Storage Ring. "Here''s the agreement. Tell me if there''s anything that you don''t like and we will discuss further about it,"


    Kayn carefully epted the documents and he then started reading their content.


    In the end, Kayn was satisfied with everything. "Just one more question,"


    "Ask away,"


    "What''s the difference between this alliance and the alliance you have with the Thieves Guild Alliance?"


    "Thetter is an alliance out of pure benefits and gain, while this is an alliance of trust and mutual respect,"


    "I hope you stay true to your words because I really hate traitors," Kayn stared at Jericho with a cold tinge in his eyes.


    Jericho can''t help assuming something. "Did someone you trust betrayed you in the past?"


    "Something like that," Kayn could only respond vaguely.


    "Rest assured, as long as we get what we want and you stay true to our agreement, we will never betray you and the rest of your party," Jericho muttered before looking around. "Speaking about your party, I don''t see Sir Friedrich and some of his men. Have they already started searching for clues of the Forest Spirit Seed in this area?"


    "Yes. We need to quickly finish things because we still have other things to take care,"


    "Is it perhaps bad timing that I propose this agreement this time?"


    "It isn''t," Kayn assures. "Anyways, where do I sign?"


    "Before you sign," Jericho waves his hand once again. This time, he took out a bunch of documents from his Storage Rings. "These are all information and clues about all the sightings of Forest Spirit Seed in the Slumbering Forest. We already have a copy of our own, so feel free to do whatever you want with these,"


    "I haven''t even signed it yet and you''ve already given me a token of your sincerity," Kayn dly epted the information.


    "Here, done,"


    All of a sudden, a powerful wind suddenly appeared as the contract that Kayn had signed started slowly floating mid-air.


    In the next moment, the paper was turned into white particles before gathering into one single orb before suddenly splitting into two and shooting inside Kayn and Jericho''s forehead respectively.


    As soon as the light disappeared, a system prompt appeared in front of Kayn and Jericho.


    [You''ve just signed an alliance with Jericho.]


    [You''ve just signed an alliance with Kayn.]


    From here on out, Kayn and Jericho are officially allies.

 Chapter 176 Hunting For The Forest Spirit Seed Part 14

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    Chapter 176: Hunting for the Forest Spirit Seed Part 14


    What Kayn and Jericho have signed just now is called the Soul Contract. It is a special type of magic contract as it is bounded inside the soul of each of the parties involved who have signed or are mentioned in the contract and is under the strict regtion and protection of the ''Tower''.


    Whoever dares to break a Soul Contract would receive a punishment rted to what was stated in the contract. Albeit even if there is none stated, the ''Tower'' will still make one pay the crime of not respecting its rules andw, which is deducting away some of the fame points, entirely depending on the degree of the Soul Contract.


    It ismon knowledge in the ''Tower'' that a low fame point equals a bad reputation. If someone with low fame points tries to negotiate something with someone, it is advised to better to disregard it immediately. Moreover, inhabitants of the ''Tower'' also based their trust level on how much the fame points are.


    In the case of Kayn and Jericho''s contract, it was nothing but mere formalities. So, the only punishment for breaking it would be a minus in the fame points.


    Unfortunately, although the Soul Contract is a special magic contract, it doesn''t hinder anyone from breaking it. Not to mention, it actually doesn''t inform either of the party if one of them has actually broken the contract.


    That was the reason why despite signing Soul Contracts to the members of his guild in the past, Kayn never got to know about their betrayal until it was already toote.


    This was the nature of anything rted to the ''Tower''. One shouldn''t trust everyone or anything, but if one still does, never trust them one hundred percent. They will and are capable of betraying or tricking you.


    After conversing for a brief moment about future-rted endeavors that their alliance could possibly try to engage, Jericho finally bid farewell to Kayn and the rest of the members of his party who were currently present.


    As soon as Jericho left, Kayn didn''t waste any time as he immediately started studying all information that was given to him. He didn''t even bother changing spots as he simply used the same table that he and Jericho used in their alliance talk.


    It was that important to learn more about the whereabouts of each and possibly every Forest Spirit Seed that exists in the Slumbering Forest at this present moment.


    And if he really wants to find the Forest Spirit Origin Seed, he has to determine where the source is by determining it through activity-based location inference. This is a method used to pinpoint someone in real life by looking at their patterns of activities, such as check-ins, social media posts, or transaction records, to infer their current or likely exact location in the map. In the current case right now, he would look at the pattern of the Forest Spirit Seed''s location, the locations of those Forest Spirit Seeds in the past, and every other record of its spawning around the Slumbering Forest.


    He would then make a perimeter to encircle the location of where the Forest Spirit Origin Seed would likely be located.


    "Interesting¡­" Kayn mutters inwardly.


    As of this moment, he had spent two hours analyzing all the documents about the Forest Spirit Seed.


    Right now, he noticed strange characteristics based on the location of almost every Forest Spirit Seed that exist both in the present and past inside the Slumbering Forest.


    "They are all located inside or nearby any bodies of water around the Slumbering Forest,"


    Just like the location they''re in right now.


    "Gilbert, Jude, and Charles," Kayn quickly called out.


    "What do you need?" <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Gilbert and the others understood that Kayn found out something.


    "I want you three to check these nearby bodies of water and dig under them to see if they lead to an underwater cave system. I want you toplete it as soon as possible,"


    "Alright!" Gilbert and the others acknowledge as they immediately left after checking the exact location of where they have to check on the map.


    If his assumption is proven correct, then it would mean that the Forest Spirit Origin Seed is likely located somewhere inside the underwater cave system.


    "No one ever says that finding powerful items was easy," Kayn uttered.


    History has already proven countless times that finding any rare or special items would always be difficult. If one doesn''t find himself dealing with an extreme environment, then it can be because they are faced with countless rivals that desire the same item, or possibly even both.


    Kayn returns to analyzing the documents in hopes of finding more clues while he patiently waits for Gilbert and the others to return.


    "If I connect all the Forest Spirit Seeds," Kayn traces the locations of the Forest Spirit Seeds that were found in the past. "This entire area here would be within the circle,"


    Looking at the map, the entire deeper region of the Slumbering Forest was within the scope of the search.


    "And if I connect the clues of the Forest Spirit Seeds in the present, it would further expand the circle to cover the northern region and southern region of the Slumbering Forest,"


    This was quite understandable since all the rivers connect the northern region, which is where the mountains and other bodies ofnd are, and the southern region, which is where the ocean lies.


    "If we consider the possibility that there are indeed underwater cave systems under each body of water around the Slumbering Forest," Kayn started connecting all the bodies of water together.


    After five minutes, Kayn was surprised to discover that the underwater cave system has covered at least the majority of the Slumbering Forest, both the northern and southern regions having the most paths connecting to them.


    All of a sudden, a woman''s voice sounded behind Kayn.


    "Has anyone else discovered this or is it just you?"


    It was Chastine.


    Clearly, Chastine was very curious about what Kayn was doing since he spent almost the entire morning just sitting on a chair and reading mountains of documents in front of him.


    "This is just an assumption. I have already sent Gilbert, Jude, and Charles to confirm its feasibility to be true,"

 Chapter 177 Hunting For The Forest Spirit Seed Part 15

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    Chapter 177: Hunting for the Forest Spirit Seed Part 15


    "If it is true, what are you going to do?" Chastine wonders.


    "As much as I want to keep this information to our party only, it would take us a very long time to cover this entire system of underwater caves. The best option we have is to ask for Jericho and his Herald guild''s cooperation," Kayn heave''s a sigh. They were helpless to change this.


    "What if I send a message to ask for cooperation from Green Horn City? Old Chief George should be more than happy to help us," Chastine suggested.


    "That wouldn''t be good. If the Green Horn City sends some men toe here, it would most likely alert the Assembly of Freedom," Kayn shook his head to dismiss the idea.


    "That''s the point,"


    "What do you mean?"


    "How about we make the entire Slumbering Forest the battlefield for the uing war?"


    "Tell me your n," Kayn''s interest was immediately piqued.


    "Imagine, even if we have the help of the Herald''s Guild, it would still take us a lot of time to find the Forest Spirit Origin Seed. There would no doubt be countless numbers of casualties too considering just how dangerous it is to search around the underwater cave system. But what if we have enough firepower to destroy the entire ce and take it to the ground?"


    "We can also achieve that just with the cooperation of the Herald''s Guild,"


    That''s right. If they are only talking about firepower, their group alone is already capable of destroying the entire Slumbering Forest.


    "If we do that, we will have to face an unimaginable number of monsters. Can our group and the Herald Guild handle that? Even if we ask for the cooperation of the territories nearby and the entirety of the Thieves Guild Alliance, it would still not be enough," Chastine shook her head. "However, it would be apletely different story if we involve the Assembly of Freedom, their allies, the Green Horn City, and our allies,"


    "I guess if you put it that way we would definitely be able to handle the hoard of monsters. But," Kayn suddenly had a thought. "There''s no guarantee whether we can really get the Forest Spirit Origin Seed,"


    "We don''t have to," Chastine smiles. "As long as our allies get it, it would still be our win. Think about it, Green Horn City, our allies, Herald Guild, and possibly even some members of the Thieves Guild Alliance who have a close rtionship with our fried Jericho,"


    "Now that''s even better," Kayn chuckled.


    Honestly, the n wasn''t something that Heroes would think about. As a matter of fact, it is what Viins would do.


    However, if one thinks about it deeply, one would understand that the war between the Green Horn City and the Assembly of Freedom is bound to happen anytime soon. Whether they like it or not, it is imminent.


    The only difference is, with this n, they got to take advantage of that war to achieve their goal. And at the same time, defeat the Assembly of Freedom.


    Once Gilbert, Jude, and Charles confirm that there is indeed a path to the underwater cave system under those locations that he assigned them to search, it would more or less confirm already thework of tunnels he drew on the map, and probably even more tunnels.


    All that they have to do next is inform the others about his and Chastine''s n.


    ¡­..


    "Absolutely not!" Friedrich shooked his head while both of his arms crossed in front of him. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Why?" Chastine stood up.


    "You are involving innocent people here and causing needless deaths," Friedrich responded while motioning his hand to make Chastine sit.


    Chastine sat back down and said. "That so-called involving innocent people and needless deaths is still going to happen even if we don''t do this,"


    Friedrich turned quiet. Indeed, people are still going to die in the uing war.


    "We are just choosing the location for where the war would take ce and take advantage of it to find the Forest Spirit Origin Seed,"


    "But there''s no certainty whether we can even keep it to ourselves. Not to mention, once Old Chief George realizes what we did, he would definitely not like it,"


    "Well, I am just suggesting a choice," Chastine finally decided to give up persuading Friedrich. There''s no use. With the character of Friedrich, he would not do something that Viins would do.


    "Were you involved in thinking of this strategy, Kayn?" Friedrich looks at Kayn.


    "I do, and I think there''s absolutely nothing wrong with it," Kayn express his support.


    "Why do you think so?"


    "You want to win this war or do you want the Assembly of Freedom to win this war?"


    "Of course, I want the side of good to win this war, which is us,"


    "Then choosing where the war would take ce is an advantage for us since that would give us prior knowledge of the surrounding. And besides, we are already involved in this war. And if you think that we are not involving innocent people here, then you are naive,"


    This time, Friedrich choose to shut his mouth. He knew already that this was the best choice if they want to find the Forest Spirit Seed, and possibly even the Forest Spirit Origin Seed, in a short span of time. He wasn''t being naive. Instead, he just doesn''t like the idea of being the mastermind of starting the war.


    The war is indeed going to happen whether he likes it or not. However, he doesn''t want himself or the members of his party to be the main cause of the war. He prefers it to take ce naturally, even if there is an involvement of someone else, as long as it is not them, then he is fine with it.


    "Let''s just have a vote and consider the thoughts of others,"


    Having no other choice left, Friedrich could only hope that the others would share simr beliefs as him and vote against them.


    "Whoever votes to proceed with Kayn''s n, please raise your hand,"


    Seemingly in an instant, Gilbert, Jude, Charles, Chastine, Natasha, Jackson, Cyril, and Carter raise their hand. And surprisingly enough, even Cedric, one of the loyal men of Friedrich, chooses to raise his hand as well.


    In the end, only Friedrich, Roshan, and Kimberly were against the idea.


    Seeing this, Friedrich could only sigh heavily. "It seems like the majority views it in favor,"


    With that being said, everyone changes their n and started preparing for the war in the Slumbering Forest.

 Chapter 178 Hunting For The Forest Spirit Seed Part 16

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    Chapter 178: Hunting for the Forest Spirit Seed Part 16


    The next day, Kayn went to the Drowsy Vige to find Jericho as he wanted to inform thetter about their n. Jericho deserves to know about it because he is their group''s ally.


    Jericho and the Herald Guild''s base of operation in the Drowsy Vige wasn''t really hard to find. Just ask any random person in the street and they would be able to point the right direction.


    Kayn did just that and soon he found himself in front of a huge mansion.


    Considering the nature of the Herald''s Guild, which is an assassin and merchant guild, he finds it quite reasonable that their base is a mansion instead of a store, a shop, or probably an office.


    After informing the guard waiting at the gate of his presence, Kayn waited for ten minutes before he saw Jericho quickly running to the gate.


    "Kayn!" Jericho called out as soon as he saw Kayn waiting at the gate.


    "Jericho!" Kayn called back.


    "I tried to get here as soon as possible when I heard you came," Jericho exined as he motioned his hand to the guard to open the gate.


    The gate opened and Kayn walked in.


    "It''s okay," Kayn totally doesn''t mind. He knew the process and he respects it.


    "To what do I own the pleasure of your presence in my simple abode," Jericho said with a chuckle.


    "If this was simple, then what would you call our base of operation," Kayn responded jokingly.


    "Anyways, let me take you to my office. Let''s talk in there. I assume that you are here to discuss an important matter,"


    "Lead the way,"


    "But before that," Jericho looks at the guard. "Next time, make sure that he enters the gate first while you send someone to inform me,"


    "Alright, sir Jericho," The guard acknowledged.


    Jericho took Kayn on a brief tour around their mansion, introducing to thetter their base of operation.


    "Your guild is very well prepared," Kayn said in a remark.


    "I actually n to make this ce our headquarters in the near future. That is why I prepared all necessary things that our guild would need for any given circumstances," Jericho motioned his hand to the door at the end of the hallway. "That''s my office,"


    Kayn and Jericho walked inside.


    Jericho made Kayn take a seat before he went to get the tea at the side and serve thetter some.


    "Thank you,"


    "So, what do you want to discuss?" Jericho asked as he take a seat opposite Kayn.


    "Well," Kayn starts exining to Jericho the n of their group.


    After ten minutes, Jericho put down his tea and sat straight.


    "You guys are insane!" Jericho eximed. "But I like that!"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Good to know," Kayn felt relieved knowing that Jericho took it positively. Albeit he was already thinking that thetter would agree with it.


    "I really didn''t expect that your group would be capable of executing something like that. Think about it, you''re all Heroes. Well, at least that''s what I see. But to actually take the initiative to start the war just so that you can pick up the treasure in the midst of the chaos. I have only seen Viins do something like that,"


    "So, what do you want my guild to do?" Jericho was curious about what role the Herald guild would be ying in this master n.


    "I want you to ry this information to the Thieves Guild Alliance,"


    "So you n to make it into a three-way war?"


    "If you don''t mind," Kayn was slightly hesitant if Jericho would agree to it.


    Contrary to Kayn''s expectation, Jericho easily agreed to it. "Well, that''s not a problem. My guild was already thinking of leaving the alliance soon anyway. This should be a good reason to go about with it,"


    "You were?" Kayn can''t help feeling surprised.


    "Now that we are allies, I obviously have to start taking measures on what to do once we are out of ''The Bridge''. And still being a part of the Thieves Guild Alliance is not a part of that,"


    Jericho is more than aware of the reality that the only reason why the Thieves Guild Alliance is still weed in ''The Bridge'' despite its bad reputation is due to the limited amount of resources, which includes manpower that their guild could offer. If there was no limitation to that, they would have been treated the same way as the Assembly of Freedom a long time ago.


    He doesn''t n to be viewed in an antagonistic way by the people on Earth and inside the ''Tower'' in the future. Not to mention his guild that he painstakingly built from the ground up.


    Needless to say, he expects that there would still be difficulties when ites to cleansing their reputation in the future. But that''s a lot more convincing for the peoplepared to still being a member of the Thieves Guild Alliance.


    "That''s a good choice," Kayn agrees. In fact, he was about to suggest that to Jericho once he was finished with the main matter. Evidently, thetter was also thinking of what was best for his guild more than him.


    "So, other than that, do you want our guild to do something more?" Jericho doesn''t believe the slightest bit that their guild was only given a single task by Kayn''s group. After all, this is a huge operation.


    "There''s one more thing that I need your Herald Guild to do," Kayn smiles. "I believe your guild is very familiar with the Quick Sand Operation, right?"


    "That''s one of our specialties," Jericho nodded.


    "I want your guild to do that but that on a much bigger scale,"


    "How big?"


    "Well, if possible, I want you to cover the entire ''The Bridge,"


    "That¡­" Jericho was speechless. "How do you n for us to do that exactly?" He doesn''t understand why Kayn believes that they can do that.


    "I call it the Information Sand Operation, just a variety of the usual,"


    "Alright, so how does it work?"


    "You will send your men out on every territory around ''The Bridge'' and pass around a message that the brewing storm of war between the Green Horn City and the Assembly of Freedom is most likely going to take ce in the Slumbering Forest,"


    "You intend to attract more people here?" Jericho was shocked. Just the n of involving the Thieves Guild Alliance and the territories around the Slumbering Forest was already a huge deal. Now Kayn expressed that he wants more.


    "Our best friend in this mastern is chaos. The more chaotic it is, the lesser people would be able to know the real goal behind it,"

 Chapter 179 Hunting For The Forest Spirit Seed Part 17

    ?


    Chapter 179: Hunting for the Forest Spirit Seed Part 17


    Kayn and Jericho continued their discussion for more than an hour to cover more specifics and to establish a detailedyout of the n to further perfect its execution.


    Not long after Kayn left the mansion of the Herald Guild, all members of the guild arrived one after another and received their separate tasks from Jericho.


    Jericho purposely didn''t bring up the entirety of the n and only informed each member of what they had to aplish as he doesn''t want the truth to leak out to the other forces. Simply put, he divided the whole piece of the puzzle so that no one can get a clear picture.


    It was a wise idea, and this was just one of the results of his nning with Kayn for more than an hour.


    The rest of the ns would slowly unfold in the future.


    Before returning back to camp, Kayn went to a certain store first to pick up a batch of items that they have ordered yesterday. It was necessary for their n.


    ¡­..


    Kayn returned to the camp and immediately saw the others finishing packing their things.


    "Do you have what we need?"


    "Five Storage Rings worth of gunpowder," Kayn threw five Storage Rings to Jude. Being known as the Judge of Fire in the future, thetter definitely knew a lot about gunpowder.


    "Perfect," Jude nodded at Kayn before signaling to Gilbert and Charles. The three of them would be doing something that will set the mood of the uing war to the clouds.


    "Make sure to take note of their location, otherwise we might end up causing friendly fire," Kayn reminded.


    "So, let''s return to our base of operation?" Friedrich patted Kayn''s shoulder.


    "Yeah, it is time," Kayn agrees.


    Friedrich was referring to the Vige that Gnak and his men have constructed.


    Looking around, Gilbert, Jude, and Charles have gone to do their own task, the only remaining people in the camp were Friedrich, Roshan, Cedric, and Kimberly. As for the second squad of the Green Horn Knights, they departed yesterday on the Guardian Turtle to go to the Green Horn City to inform Old Chief George of their n.


    "It feels strangely peaceful now," Kayn slightly feels sorrowful. After traveling around ''The Bridge'' with everyone, it feels like something is missing now that there are only a few of them.


    "I feel the same," Friedrich smiles. "You''ll eventually get used to it someday. I was like that too when Old Chief George decided to separate the Green Horn Knights into four different squads. I miss the others, I know I have a bigger responsibility to take care of¡­"


    "Enough old man," Kayn interrupted before letting out a chuckle.


    "It does sound like I am an old man," Friedrich regretted acting that way.


    "I understand what you meant, Friedrich," Kayn looks at Friedrich.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Friedrich strangely felt like he was being stared at by a wise person like Old Chief George instead of a young man.


    "Sometimes I wonder if you have reincarnated back to the past. You see, novels about reincarnation always portray the same character that you are showing. All-knowing, slightly lowkey, and would only show their capability when needed,"


    "What if I was,"


    "That would make everything up until now reasonable," Friedrichughs. "Of course, that is impossible,"


    "I know right," Kayn could only agree awkwardly with Friedrich.


    "What a sharp intuition," Natas muttered in a remark.


    After traveling for around an hour, Kayn and the others finally arrived at their main base of operation at the southeast corner of the Slumbering Forest.


    At this moment, other than the huts, there is now a wide open and huge space at the very front of their base that Gnak and his men have constructed overnight after receiving information that the men of the Green Horn City would most likely be staying in their Vige for the uing war.


    "How''s the progress of what I told you about?" Kayn asked Gnak.


    "We have already found the entrance and we are now just creating a door to block the water from getting inside the tunnel. It should about to be finished now," Gnak muttered as he lead Kayn underground to their Vige.


    The progress that Kayn had asked him was about creating a tunnel that will connect this Vige to the underwater cave system nearby them.


    Although their Vige is located at the southeast corner of the Slumbering Forest, they are conveniently close to a huge number of underwater tunnels. Because of this, Kayn informed them yesterday to make a tunnel that connects their vige and the underwater cave system as they are nning on using it to secretly explore the ce as they wait for everything to slowly unfold. In this way, they will be able to know a lot of what they are dealing with ahead of time.


    "Are you going to start exploring today? Or do you want me to send some men first to scout a perimeter for your group?"


    "I appreciate your offer, but I don''t want any unnecessary sacrifices," Kayn shook his head to dismiss the idea. "Instead, what you can do for me is continue preparing for the arrival of our people from Green Horn City. Make sure that there is enough space to amodate all of them,"


    Gnak smiles. "Since we don''t have a clue of how many they would send, we are trying our best to cut the surrounding trees and create an open space as wide as we could possibly achieve before they arrive,"


    "That is more than enough," Kayn halted on his step.


    They are here.


    In front of them, a huge doorway made out of steel is currently undergoing construction one hundred meters underneath their feet. The entire body of the door was alreadyplete and it only needs to be further solidified at the corner for it to bepleted.


    "Just like what you''ve said, we have to make it as wide enough so that the Guardian Turtle can easily fit inside," Gnak informs.


    That''s right. Kayn knew that just their group alone won''t be able to handle everything inside the underwater cave system, or even if they could, it would probably take a lot of time. However, with the help of the Guardian Turtle, it would hasten their progress by dozens of folds.

 Chapter 180 Hunting For The Forest Spirit Seed Part 18

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    Chapter 180: Hunting for the Forest Spirit Seed Part 18


    It didn''t take much longer for the gate to be finished by the Goblins.


    As soon as it waspleted, Kayn immediately gathered everyone to start preparing for their exploration inside the underwater cave system.


    "Although you were against it, I''ve sent some men to explore the area first. Rest assured, I only ordered them to go as far as they possibly could and return immediately once they sense any danger nearby them," Gnak informs Kayn.


    "As long as they return safely, that''s all that matters to me," Kayn doesn''t want to see any sacrifices from the already small number of Gnak''s people.


    Friedrich approached. "Kayn, we are ready,"


    "Okay, let''s begin,"


    As soon as the gate was opened, Kayn and the others immediately jumped down from a hundred-meter height.


    All of a sudden, a blue light covered Kayn and everyone else.


    Kimberly cast <<Aqualung>>, which is a magic spell that allows anyone affected by it to breathe underwater for a limited duration of time. Depending on how strong the mage who cast the spell, the time limit would be affected.


    Wasssh!


    A series of loud sshing noises from the water was soon heard as Kayn and the others dived deeper and deeper into the dark waters of the underwater cave system.


    Although it didn''t take that long for them to finally see light.


    Just like the case of the underwater cave in Springwater Canyon, illuminating stones that were imbued along the walls slightly brightened up the ce. Nevertheless, it was more than enough to provide Kayn and the others with a vision of their surrounding.


    As it was his first time entering the underwater cave system, Kayn had to keenly observe his surrounding and take note of everything. His experience is near to no use in this kind of ce as each and every circumstance happens at random.


    "Keep your eyes wide open," Friedrich quickly warns after their team saw an eel peacefully swimming by in front of them.


    "Bolt Eel," Kayn mutters after recognizing the monster.


    "Do you know that creature?" Cedric wonders. He had never met such a monster in his entire life.


    "It''s one of the deadliest species of monsters in this kind of environment. As long as it actives its lightning gift, it would instantly paralyze everything in a limited diameter,"


    Annoyingly enough, the Bolt Eel was just circling around in front of them.


    "One of Gnak''s men said that there was a monster blocking their way to go any deeper, that''s why they decided to abandon scouting farther ahead and had to retreat," Roshan mutters. "I guess this was the monster they mentioned,"


    "Kayn," Friedrich looks at Kayn. "Do you know the best way to kill it?"


    As much as they want to avoid fighting against the Bolt Eel since their main goal ofing here was to explore the ce. Unfortunately, they can''t because it is blocking their only path to further their exploration.


    "The best way to kill it is with a long-range attack, preferably from a marksman, which aims to instantly kill a target. Unfortunately for our team," Kayn glimpses at Kimberly. "We only have a mage,"


    "What''s wrong with that?" Kimberly felt slightly annoyed.


    "Don''t get me wrong. I am not insulting you. I just want to know if you have any water element-rted magic spell that can pull the same result as a marksman?"


    "I don''t," Kimberly shook her head helplessly.


    "Then," Kayn looks at the Bolt Eel again. "Then I guess our remaining option is to engage with it in close range,"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Here''s the n,"


    Not long after, Roshan quickly swam to the Bolt Eel who seems to be minding its own business.


    Because of the disturbance caused by Roshan, the Bolt Eel instantly notices a person approaching it. Without any hesitation, it shows its teeth before pping its tail to engage with Roshan.


    Just when the Bolt Eel was about to reach Roshan, it suddenly sense an unknown dangering front its front.


    Whoosh!


    Dozens of vines went passed Roshan and shoot straight to the Bolt Eel.


    Seeing the vines, the Bolt Eel immediately releases electricity in hopes of paralyzing it. In its mind, it thought that it was a living creature.


    It was already toote for the Bolt Eel to realize that the vines were mere non-living objects as they already surrounded it.


    In the next moment, the vines went for a swoop.


    "Are you sure that it won''t send another wave of electricity?" Roshan can''t help asking Kayn who is swimming with him from behind along with the rest.


    "It should be,"


    "That response doesn''tfort me the least,"


    "I wasn''t intending to,"


    Roshan bit his lips and along with the pain he felt was his arm swinging at a vertical angle tounch the first hit to the Bolt Eel.


    Whiiizzzh!


    Out of Roshan''s expectations, the Bolt Eel sent electricity to his steel sword, which immediately paralyzes him. Albeit it didn''t prevent him from swearing at Kayn by raising his middle finger with difficulty.


    "Now!"


    Whoosh!


    Both Kayn and Friedrich wave their sword to create two sword waves that instantly made two deep cuts on the Bolt Eels'' body.


    As the Bolt Eel opened its mouth, a surging electric current was instantly sent inside.


    "Have a taste of your own medicine!" Kimberly eximed as sheunches an <<Electric Bolt>> spell.


    Boom!


    As soon as the electrical bolt entered the mouth of the Bolt Eel, its head instantaneously shattered into pieces.


    "Great job everyone," Kayn apuded. He then looks at Roshan who was still paralyzed with his middle finger still raised to him. "Let''s wait for Roshan to recover before continuing with our exploration,"


    To tell the truth, everyone else actually knew what Roshan would be doing except for thetter himself.


    In other words, it was a sacrifice, a necessary one on top of that. Albeit it wasn''t something that could take away Roshan''s life nor even pose a threat to his safety.

 Chapter 181 Hunting For The Forest Spirit Seed Part 19

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    Chapter 181: Hunting for the Forest Spirit Seed Part 19


    As Kayn''s group continued with their exploration, they had to bear with Roshan''s continuous cry of feeling betrayed by his teammates.


    However, what Roshan doesn''t know was that Kimberly actually cast a <<Sound istion>> spell on him in order to prevent them from hearing his loud voice. Unfortunately, that doesn''t prevent him from doing other things. Like for example, annoying them, pulling them back and forth, acting as if he doesn''t hear them, and many other more.


    Kayn and the others have no other choice but to be understanding because they have indeed wronged Roshan by not telling him of their true n.


    Along the way, they encountered different monsters with various kinds of Gifts. As one could easily guess, they were able to y all of them.


    In the end, Kayn was able to level up three times, which now makes him level 26. In those three levels, he earned fifteen stats points, giving him a total of twenty-five SP to spare in improving his stats. He decided to use it in the future as he doesn''t know yet what kind of situation awaits him.


    Kayn''s level didn''t stop everyone from continuing to uncover more secrets about the underwater cave system. But what halted everyone instead was having enough of Roshan pestering them about their supposed betrayal. Thetter was still not over it even though around six hours have already passed.


    "We know, we know. We are sorry," Kayn could only apologize in hopes of ending everything and making Roshan quiet.


    Lucky for them, Roshan did. But it wasn''t because of Kayn apologizing to him. Rather, it was because their group had reached a huge open underwater cavern with no view of its other side. Even the ceiling was considerably high above.


    Friedrich and the others'' attention also turned away from Roshan.


    "We didn''t encounter anything simr to this thest time we were exploring," Friedrich was very surprised.


    "I believe we are close to what I think is the boss''s dungeon," Kayn uttered.


    It implies the location of where a boss-rank monster resides.


    This wasn''t the first time they came into a ce where there is a wide-open area. However, this time they felt the same feeling they sense when they were fighting against the Mountain Gori, probably even worse than that time.


    "Should we continue or retreat?" Cedric can''t help asking. Their situation right now no longer looks good after fighting underwater for a very long time. The skin on their hands has also already wrinkled after being exposed to water long enough. And they are also having a problem dealing with the strong force of pressure from the water.


    "We have two options," Kayn looks at everyone solemnly. "We either look for where the entrance to the boss''s room, or we return to the surface and continue the exploration tomorrow,"


    "What do you suggest?" Friedrich wanted to know Kayn''s opinion first.


    "I want us to look for the boss''s room so that we will have a very fruitful exploration. And also, I have the feeling that the Forest Spirit Origin Seed is inside the boss''s room,"


    Almost in every instance, the most valuable treasures are hidden in the boss''s room. If one considers how valuable a Forest Spirit Origin Seed is, one too will not dismiss the possibility of it being inside the boss''s room. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Although if we return it doesn''t mean we are also retreating empty-handed," Friedrich added on Kayn''s opinion. He looks at Roshan, Cedric, and Kimberly as if asking what the others intended to do right now.


    "I want to return," Cedric voiced out. He is no longer confident in supporting everyone in his current state. If ever they faced a very dangerous situation, there is a high chance that he will fail in saving one of them.


    "I don''t mind," Roshan is still feeling very energized, probably because he was electrocuted not long ago by the Bolt Eel.


    "I''ll go with whatever you decide," Kimberly motions her hand to Friedrich. She still has a lot of mana left in her mana core, but she doesn''t want to be the deciding factor on whether they should proceed or not as she can''t bear the consequences if something bad happens.


    "So, there are two people who agree, one abstains, and another one rejects the idea of continuing to find the boss''s room," Kayn uttered to Friedrich. "Your vote will be the deciding factor,"


    "I know," Friedrich naturally understood. He started observing everyone''s condition first beforeing to a conclusion.


    "Other than our healer Cedric, everyone''s condition is totally fine,"


    In the end, Friedrich agrees with Kayn. But, "As long as we retreat immediately after finding the boss''s room, everything should be alright,"


    "If that''s the case, I guess I can try to do my best as well," Cedric could only sigh heavily.


    Friedrich could only look at Cedric apologetically as he hadid a heavy burden on thetter''s shoulder since he is their main support.


    "It''s fine," Cedric smiles weakly.


    With that being said, Kayn and the others extended their exploration.


    Because the water was now dark due to the fact that the ceiling is way up above their heads and the light of the illuminating stones could no longer brighten up the entire ce, they had no choice but to proceed very carefully and to stick on the ground where they can still see a limited area around them.


    It wasn''t a good feeling to continue exploring with a limited range of vision. But they have to be ountable for the consequences of their decision just now.


    Although it wasn''t all that bad because if they can''t see that far, the monsters swimming around them also couldn''t. And because of that, they never met any more monsters on their journey.


    There''s only one location where a boss''s room could be located ¡ª around the walls.


    If it was up above the ceiling, they would have found it easily, and the same goes for the floor. So, the only option left is around the walls.


    Because of that, they focused all of their attention on searching around the walls of the cavern. And in that decision, they realized just how huge this entire cavern was, which caused them to think of another possibility.

 Chapter 182 Hunting For The Forest Spirit Seed Part 20

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    Chapter 182: Hunting for the Forest Spirit Seed Part 20


    That possibility that everyone suddenly came up with inside their minds was the idea that they are now inside the boss''s room.


    "What if this ce we are right now is the boss''s room?"


    It was Kayn who brought up the thought that everyone has been thinking for a while after still not finding the supposed boss''s room.


    "There could also be the small possibility that the boss''s room doesn''t actually exist," Friedrich argued.


    It was impossible for that to happen since the gut feeling they are sensing right now doesn''t lie to them.


    They know that they are close to the boss''s room, but they just haven''t found it yet.


    "How about we leave today and search again tomorrow?" Cedric can''t help proposing.


    They''ve been searching for around an hour now and everyone is starting to feel fatigued, especially Kimberly who has to cast the <<Aqua Lung>> spell every now and then so that they can continue breathing underwater.


    "I guess that''s our only choice," Kayn turned to look at the side. Unbeknownst to Friedrich and the others, he is now looking at Natas, asking thetter for help.


    "I have a bad feeling about this, I just don''t know what exactly," That was the only response that Natas uttered while wearing a clueless look on his face.


    In order to not be noticed by the others, Kayn just slightly nodded his head before adding. "Let''s get out of here and return back to camp,"


    He decided to return not because he wanted to give up searching nor is it because he is feeling scared, it is instead because he believes that there are no things in the ''Tower'' that his and Natas'' both knowledgebined together can''t figure out. If there is one, then he must get away from that ce as soon as possible as it only means one single thing ¡ª danger.


    Cedric and Kimberly can''t help heaving a sigh of relief after hearing Kayn telling them to leave.


    With that being said, Kayn''s group slowly marched their way back to the entrance of the tunnel they took to get to this huge cavern.


    However, they quickly realized that something was very wrong.


    "Wait a minute, I remember quite well that this is where the tunnel was," Friedrich expressed his surprise.


    Standing in front of them right now is a huge stgmite.


    "Kayn, I think we need to find a way to get out of this ce as soon as possible," Natas informs Kayn with a dark expression on his face.


    "Can you break that stgmite?" Kayn approaches Friedrich.


    "We would be attracting the nearby monsters if we do that,"


    "Do you trust me?"


    "Of course I do," Friedrich felt strange out at Kayn''s question. But he knew deep inside of him that there was only one reason why Kayn is asking that sort of question.


    Simrly, Roshan, Cedric, and Kimberly''s expressions turned solemn.


    "I can try to destroy it," Friedrich responded with a stern face.


    "As soon as you destroy it, I want everyone to quickly swim as fast as you can. Don''t look back, and just focus on saving yourself, do you all understand?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Are you nning on pulling the same stunt you did thest time?" Cedric shook his head. "If you do something like that again, I swear to God that I will knock you unconscious right now,"


    "This time, even if you give me a dragon''s gut, I still won''t dare to think of staying behind in order to save everyone," Kayn wasn''t saying this because he doesn''t want Friedrich and the others to feel devastated again at his previous action. Rather, he saw Natas shaking his head multiple times to discourage him.


    "d to know that we are on the same page,"


    "Alright, are you ready?" Friedrich interrupted Kayn and Cedric''s talk.


    "Ready as you are,"


    With a wave of his arm, Friedrich''s sword was instantly covered by an aqua-blue-colored light.


    The light turned brighter and brighter as more and more water element was being gathered by Friedrich''s sword.


    "As soon as I release this attack, immediately follow after it!" Friedrich roared.


    Kayn and the others nodded their heads.


    Friedrich turned around and faced the stgmite.


    "I don''t know what exactly is going on, but I believe that you aren''t supposed to be in this ce right now!" Friedrich cliched his finger to his sword tightly.


    <<Aqua Torrent>>


    With the water element that Friedrich harnessed to his sword, all of its power came crashing to the stgmite like a huge wave.


    The sword skill came sting forward, instantly destroying the stgmite.


    However, contrary to everyone''s expectations, it turns out not to be a stgmite, but a piece of flesh covered in huge chunks of rock.


    A thickyer of blood exploded like a puff of smoke.


    Regardless of the unexpected turn of events, one thing is clear inside everyone''s mind, which is also their realization of why Kayn informed them to trust him.


    They have to RUN!


    Whoosh!


    In the next second, everyone started swimming toward the thickyer of blood. They didn''t care about anything as the only thing inside their mind right now is to get as far away from this ce as possible.


    Unlike them, Kayn remained calm and collected as he swim. Though he was fast, he didn''t forget one important thing.


    With a wave of his hand, he immediately stored the huge piece of meat that Friedrich has cut inside his Storage Ring.


    "Good job!" Natasmended Kayn for his quick thinking. To tell the truth, he was about to tell Kayn to get it, but it seems like thetter was a step ahead of him.


    This was the clear definition of experience.


    While the others were panicking and were only thinking of getting as far away. On the other hand, Kayn knew that if they want to know what exactly was trying to trap them just now, he has to get a piece of its body and investigate it.

 Chapter 183 Hunting For The Forest Spirit Seed Part 21

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    Chapter 183: Hunting for the Forest Spirit Seed Part 21


    Fortunately, Kayn''s group was able to get away from that ce safely.


    Deep inside, they were feeling d that whatever that was, it didn''t chase after them. Otherwise, they are sure that a few of them won''t be able to escape and get away alive.


    "What was that?!" Friedrich turns to Kayn, and so was everyone.


    "I also don''t have a clue what it was, but I am sure that it didn''t have any good intention on us when it decided to trap us," Kayn knew for sure that if they decided at that time to turn back and look for another way out, that would be the end for them.


    Luckily, Natas was present to remind Kayn of the signs of danger.


    "Whatever it was doesn''t matter. What matters right now is we get back to the surface because we are still in its territory for sure," Cedric doesn''t want to stay in this underwater cave system any longer anymore after witnessing and experiencing that next-to-death scenario.


    "That, I agree," Roshan decided to turn serious. He is fully aware that if at that time things have truly gone wrong, he would have no other choice but to be the first one to step forward and save everyone''s life and make sure that they get out of this ce alive and well. It doesn''t whether he like it or not, because he has to still do it as it is his responsibility as the party''s tank.


    "Let''s continue swimming while we talk," Friedrich still wants to know what Kayn discovered.


    Kayn knew, so he decided not to hide. "The reason why I suspect that something was wrong was because I also knew that a tunnel was there the previous time,"


    "If you and I felt the same, there''s only one meaning to that ¡ª something isn''t right," Kayn wasn''t honestly referring to Friedrich but to Natas instead.


    Natas knew, so he nodded his head in appreciation for Kayn''s trust in him.


    "My next question is, should we go back tomorrow or not?"


    Hearing Friedrich''s question, everyone immediately stopped swimming and turned to look at Kayn.


    "As much as I want to say that we should stop this exploration and focus on preparing for the uing war, I can''t because we can''t stop," Kayn was also helpless. "But, anyone who doesn''t want to go tomorrow, can choose to stay. Even if I am the only one going, I will still go,"


    "I''ll think about it," Cedric responded before turning around and continuing to swim.


    Roshan and Kimberly also express that they are going to give their response tomorrow before turning around to leave.


    "I know that this is very important for you, but if my men choose to stay tomorrow, I will unfortunately also have to stay with them," Friedrich has a responsibility, and that is to take care of all of his men and make sure that they don''t die, just like Kayn whose responsibility is to achieve whatever goal he has bying into ''The Bridge''.


    "I understand," Kayn is not stupid enough to believe that no one was discouraged. Even he is slightly discouraged after going through that. But, his mental fortitude that''s been cultivated by experiencing countless life-to-death situations made him firm to not waver in his goal not long after.


    He won''t hold it against them if they don''t want to go with him tomorrow. At the same time, they also can''t me him if he remembers that this is the limit to the extent of favor he would be returning to them in the future.


    That''s just reality, and he can''t me anyone or himself for things he can''t control.


    It didn''t take long for Kayn''s group to reach the surface. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    As soon as they got out, Cedric and the others immediately inform Gnak to close the gate as quickly as possible in case that unknown being secretly followed them and uses that gate toe up to their camp. If ever that happens, everything that they are nning would be in ruins.


    "Did something happen?" Gnak asked as soon as he approached Kayn. He was only close to Kayn and Friedrich, so he didn''t bother asking the others and simply followed their orders.


    Kayn simply waves his hand in response and a huge stgmite-looking ''part of a monster''s body'' with blood still oozing out from the wound that was cut not long ago was taken out from his Storage Ring.


    The supposed ''part of a monster''s body'' was really huge and long, almost five meters in width and twenty meters in length.


    "This is what happened,"


    "Is that a tentacle?" Gnak immediately recognizes the ''part of a monster''s body''.


    "A tentacle?" Kayn uttered in surprise. Now that Gnak mentioned it, it does indeed look like a tentacle from an octopus or squid.


    "Yes," Gnak nodded. "We''ve been hunting octopus during our travels, and I swear this thing resembles an octopus'' or squid''s tentacles,"


    "Can you take that and confirm whether it''s really a tentacle?"


    "Of course,"


    Kayn threw a Storage Ring to Gnak for thetter to use in carrying the huge and obviously heavy tentacle.


    "Inform me as soon as you are done,"


    Once they were done with that, Kayn bid farewell as he and the others made their way to their huts.


    Along the way, Friedrich can''t help saying. "If what Gnak said just now is proven true, then we were definitely very lucky back then,"


    Any octopus or squid-like monsters are very infamous for being listed as one of the deadliest monsters ever recorded throughout history.


    Even back on Earth stories about them sinking down huge ships way before the arrival of the ''Tower'' already existed.


    And with the arrival of the ''Tower'', those stories just became events that took ce almost everywhere both on Earth and inside the ''Tower''. There were even recorded videos where they took down coastal cities.


    They are scary, huge, and very deadly, especially when they are in their habitat.


    "Luck?" Kayn does believe in luck. But he doesn''t believe that they were only able to escape back then because of luck. There should be another reason for that, especially if he considers the fact that the monster didn''t chase after them even after they cut one of its tentacles. "Maybe it was¡­"


    Kayn bid farewell to Friedrich and the others as he made his way to his tent.

 Chapter 184 Hunting For The Forest Spirit Seed Part 22

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    Chapter 184: Hunting for the Forest Spirit Seed Part 22


    The next day came and just like what Kayn expected, Roshan, Cedric, and Kimberly expressed their decision of not going again inside the underwater cave system.


    Evidently, the experience they''ve gone through yesterday shook them to the very core and until now they still haven''t recovered from it. On top of that, Gnak already finished his investigation and confirmed that it was an octopus tentacle. And he added that based on the earth element substance around the tentacles'' body, it most likely has adopted an earth element-rted Gift. There''s also the possibility that it is and octopus monster, which is even scarier.


    The mere thought of a monster with an earth element-rted Gift in an environment like the underwater cave system just further solidified Roshan, Cedric, and Kimberly''s intention of not going anymore.


    They were very apologetic about it, but it didn''t offer anyfort to Kayn as he stand alone in front of the gate.


    He wasn''tpletely alone though since Natas was still with him. Albeit thetter''s help is only limited to providing information and carrying items that aren''t considerably heavy. It is very different from the help that Friedrich and the others could provide to him.


    Gnak was also beside him. Unfortunately, the Goblin Chief''s help is also only limited to maneuvering the gate along with his men.


    "We can use the Springwater Source Bonsai to control the water around us and create an air pocket that you can use in order to be able to breathe underwater," Natas suggested. This was one of the reasons why they needed the Springwater Source Bonsain, to control water. And luckily for them, they have plenty to spare, and there''s even more if he considers Jude and Charles, who also plucked quite a few with them at that time.


    "Just you and me, again," Kayn smiles before turning to look at Gnak. "You can open the gate,"


    Hearing Kayn''s order, Gnak nodded his head in affirmation and right after informing his men to start opening the gate.


    As the gate slowly opens, Kayn steeled himself to face the dangers of the underwater cave system.


    "In case of danger, you don''t have to fully open the gate," Kayn kindly suggested.


    "You don''t have to worry about us. If worstes, we will do everything to make sure that the gate remains open for you to get out, even if that means sacrificing our lives," Gnak doesn''t mind the danger posed by that tentacle.


    Unlike Friedrich and the others, he owes his life and his people''s lives to Kayn. At least almost all of it. If it wasn''t for Kayn''s relentless effort, then he and his people would still continue living a life that''s no worst than being dead. It was also Kayn''s n and his own action personally that lead to the death of the Mountain Gori.


    "If you need it, I can assign some men toe with you. I guarantee that they will do everything to make sure that you get away safely in case you face a life-threatening situation," Gnak proposes once again.


    "I don''t need sheep to be ughtered," Kayn shook his head. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    He appreciates the thought of havingpany, especially in his situation right now, but having people around him whose sole responsibility is to sacrifice themselves for his life only means that when something bad happens, their capability to fight would be hindered and the first thought that wille in their heads is to jump in front and sacrifice their lives for him to get away, instead of fighting alongside him.


    All of a sudden, Kayn heard a familiar voice behind him.


    "As expected, you''d rather sacrifice yourself than ask help from others,"


    It was Gilbert. And behind him were Jude and Charles.


    "I thought you guys were still setting up the exploding surprise?" Kayn was surprised to see their presence here. This was the reason why he didn''t ask Gilbert and the others for help since they were still busy.


    "Gnak informed us of your predicament. As your friends, we three decided to rece Friedrich and the other if they truly decide not to go with you today," Gilbert exined. "And also, we made sure that we are a full party,"


    To Kayn''s surprise, he saw two other familiar figures walking behind the trio, they were Jericho and Jadiel.


    "Tell me, how did they convince the two of you toe along?" This time, he became shocked.


    "Well, they just told me that you require help and the real rtionship between you and the Green Horn Knights," Jericho approaches Kayn. "They also added on the te your real identity as the son-inw of the mayor of the Moon Dragon City back on Earth,"


    "I must say, they were quite convincing that I even had the thought of making the entire Herald Guild start serving you," Jericho chuckled.


    "Don''t get me wrong, I am not here to break off our alliance. As a matter of fact, I am here to offer you to renew it. I no longer want to be allied with the Green Horn Knights or the Green Horn City. I want to be allied with you,"


    He isn''t a fool. A mere Green Horn City is nothingpared to the Moon Dragon City back on Earth, especially if he considers Mayor Sebastian and his force. Although being allied with Kayn doesn''t necessarily mean that he is allied with Mayor Sebastian as well, at the very least he is connected to such a powerful figure and has the assurance that they''ll be able to protect their shared property even in the event that the Herald Guild is destroyed. Because as long as the Forest Spirit Origin Seed is protected, they can always start again and again and again.


    The Green Horn City and the Green Horn Knights won''t be able to guarantee such a thing to him and the Herald Guild.


    "Let''s talk about thatter," Kayn threw a Storage Ring to Jericho. "Start preparing yourselves,"


    Jericho caught the Storage Ring and immediately nodded at Kayn before walking away with the others to start preparing.

 Chapter 185 Hunting For The Forest Spirit Seed Part 23

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    Chapter 185: Hunting for the Forest Spirit Seed Part 23


    Jericho and the others quickly finished preparing themselves.


    Looking at everyone, Kayn starts identifying their roles in the party.


    Gilbert, as always, is the assassin and scout.


    Jude is the mage.


    Charles is a knight.


    And luckily Jericho is a marksman and Jadiel is a guardian.


    Their partyposition is basically close to beingplete and the only ss that they arecking is a priest.


    This was quite a problem since it means they have to be self-sufficient in finding ways to recover their wounds and heal the damages inflicted on them during every single fight.


    The main reason why Heroes with the Priest ss are more usefulpared to external aids like potions and medicines is that the former can be helpful in crucial moments. After all, one cannot take the risk of drinking a potion or taking medicines during a fight to recover. Their enemy would definitely take advantage of that opportunity tond a critical hit which could possibly end up taking their life away.


    "I came prepared," Jericho threw a Storage Ring at Kayn.


    Kayn caught the Storage Ring and opened it. To his shock, it contains hundreds of Magic Scrolls rted to healing and recovery.


    Magic Scrolls are a type of external aid item where different magic spells are imbued in them. It is like a piece of parchment that contains a mage''s magic spell in it and is just waiting for it to be released.


    What can be imbued in Magic Scrolls are all types of magic spells, which naturally includes the magic spells that priest use in healing. Of course, it also depends on the strength of the parchment that''s being used, which is also based on the level of the monster the leather came from.


    There are a whole lot of otherplicated details that are required that only the merchant ss would be able to understand.


    "You''re insane!" Kayn can''t help eximing. "How exactly did you get all of these?" He can''t help wondering how Jericho got this many Magic Scrolls.


    "We just finished moving out our entire warehouse yesterday. And it was just in time for Gilbert toe and visit me," He has a lot more in storage right this moment that he just didn''t buy along with him.


    "How long have you been saving them up?"


    "All this time," That''s right, he has been saving Magic Scrolls from the very moment he established the Herald Guild. "There was just no opportunity to use them, so it umted over time until I have countless of them in storage. You could say that I was preparing it in case a war happens and I have to defend the Herald guild with everything that I''ve got within me,"


    "Did you bring these for the uing war?"


    "Yes, I made sure to make them a priority,"


    "Then would it be fine if we use them?" After all, these Magic Scrolls are very practical as it is like bringing with them a life-saving item.


    "Just like what I''ve said, I have countless in storage, and just this amount won''t be enough to affect our guild entirely," Jericho is confident that they have enough Magic Scrolls that canst them even after they leave ''The Bridge''.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Okay," Kayn choose to believe Jericho.


    Kayn split all the Magic Scrolls so that everyone will have equal amounts of them.


    As soon as they were done so, the gate was finally opened.


    "Let''s go,"


    Without any hesitation, Kayn and the others dived inside the underwater cave system. This time, it was Jude that cast an <<Aqua Lung>> spell on everyone.


    ¡­..


    Since it was Gilbert and the others'' first timeing into the underwater cave system, Kayn exined to them everything as they swim to the location where they stopped their exploration.


    Of course, Kayn didn''t leave the part behind about a boss rank monster hiding and waiting at the path they are going.


    "Are there no other paths?" Gilbert was worried that this time the supposedly monster would choose to attack them once they get inside its territory.


    "There is, but we also have to pass by the boss''s room to get there,"


    Yesterday, they found plenty of other tunnels when they were out looking for the door to the boss''s room. They just didn''t get in any of them because that wasn''t what they intended to do.


    "Are you sure though that the boss would just let us pass?" Jericho can''t help wondering.


    "Honestly, we are going to take a risk to confirm whether that''s true or not," Kayn doesn''t know for certain. But if there was something he is sure about, that is it took some time before the boss notice them considering that there were still other paths open when they were exploring.


    It wasn''t only him that concluded it, Natas also believe it as well.


    That''s not strange, considering just how huge that cavern was. Just like on the third floor of Mountain Monkey''s Lair, they had to get close enough to the Mountain Gori for it to notice their presence in its territory.


    What he aims to know is what extent that is in order to determine the exact location of the boss. And from there, he will calcte a perimeter where they are outside the range of the boss''s detection. By doing so, they will be able to get in and out of the boss''s room without the boss noticing that they were ever there.


    "I don''t have a problem with betting my life, but I first want to know the chances that it won''t notice us once we enter its territory," Jericho wanted to confirm first.


    "A very good chance," Kayn assures.


    "Then I''ll believe you. If it turns out false, I will take ountability for my own action of believing you with my life on the line," Jericho expressed that he trust Kayn with everything this time.


    Jedial has no other choice but to follow his leader''s order.


    Gilbert, Jude, and Charles always believe in Kayn, so after he assures them, they feel at ease and peacefully continued with their swimming.

 Chapter 186 Hunting For The Forest Spirit Seed Part 24

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    Chapter 186: Hunting for the Forest Spirit Seed Part 24


    Since there were no monsters blocking their way in front, Kayn and the others were able to quickly reach the end of the tunnel where the huge open caverny.


    "So, this is the ce," Gilbert muttered to himself as he looks around, trying to see signs of tentacles that looks like stgmites.


    Everyone else also did the same as they stopped swimming and observe their surrounding.


    Just like everyone else, Kayn was simrly observing his surrounding as well. But he wasn''t looking for the boss''s tentacles, but the specific tentacle that they''d cut yesterday.


    As expected, the stgmite blocking the entrance of the tunnel yesterday can no longer be found in front of them.


    However, there is now a huge tunnel at its original ce. Clearly, this tunnel was drilled by the tentacles of that octopus monster when it tried to block the entrance.


    Kayn warns everyone. "Be careful, there was no tunnel here yesterday,"


    After saying so, he decided to enter the cavern before the others. Other than he wants to make sure that the area is safe, he also wants to see if there are stgmites nearby.


    Just a simple glimpse to his right was all it took for him to see a group of stgmites. But unlike the one they encountered yesterday, there was nothing special with these stgmites.


    "It is safe,"


    Hearing Kayn''s confirmation, everyone swam inside one after the other.


    The instant they entered the cavern, all of them started marveling at the beauty of the ce. It was like staring at the sky covered with stars at night. Though the thought that there''s an unknown danger lurking under the dark still remains in their mind.


    "Let''s go," Kayn doesn''t want to stay in one ce for long since there''s a possibility the boss monster is moving around to find prey.


    If he remembers correctly, not far from their location to the right, there is a tunnel leading to the center of the Slumbering Forest.


    After swimming for around five minutes, Kayn finally found the tunnel.


    "Are we going this way?" Gilbert asked.


    "Yes," Kayn nodded.


    Everyone immediately heaves a sigh of relief.


    Gilbert and the others didn''t waste any time as they quickly swam to enter the tunnel. And as if receiving heaven''s grace, their nervousness and tense body instantly disappeared.


    With the change in atmosphere, everyone peacefully swam to explore a new area of the underwater cave system.


    It didn''t take long for them to start encountering different monsters along the way.


    Although the members of the new party were rtively weakerpared to Friedrich, Roshan, Cedric, and Kimberly, they were still capable enough to easily take down the monsters.


    As they continued to swim, everyone started noticing something strange around the wall of the underwater cave system.


    "I don''t know why, but the walls around every tunnel look almost the same. It is as if they are carved by a driller or some sort," Gilbert expressed.


    Kayn and the others also agreed.


    Unlike the others though, Kayn has formed an even clearer assumption in mind on what kind of drill was used to make these tunnels ¡ª tentacles.


    Earlier ago, the tunnel that reced the stgmite also had the same pattern over its wall. Now, seeing that almost every tunnel is the same, he is suspecting that these tunnels weren''t supposed to be here from the start.


    The owner of that tentacle most likely drilled all of these tunnels. As for why, he has his own guess, but he isn''t one hundred percent about it yet. He''ll just think about itter once he has enough proof to back his assumption. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    All of a sudden, Gilbert and the others came to a halt right in front.


    "What is it?" Kayn who was still studying the surrounding walls went to approach Gilbert and the others.


    As soon as he saw what everyone is currently staring at, Kayn instantly became surprised.


    In front of them was another huge cavern.


    It wasn''t the same cavern that they came from though.


    "I think I know where this ce is," Jude interjected as he entered the cavern without any hesitation and started swimming up.


    Kayn and the others quickly followed behind to assist Jude.


    Jude stopped at the ceiling of the cavern and motioned his hand for the others to retreat a bit farther away from him.


    In the next moment¡­


    Boom!


    A loud explosion erupted as everyone was sent retreating a few meters away due to the huge force of the water''s current.


    As the bubbles cleared out, everyone soon saw a ray of light prating the cavern from the ceiling that Jude had blown up.


    Jude climbed up the ceiling before signaling everyone to follow him.


    Kayn and the others came up one after the other and were soon surprised to see dozens of handmade explosivesying nearby.


    "We should be close now to the north," Jude muttered while looking around. "And not far from here,"


    Jude leads everyone a bit farther to the north direction around a hundred meters.


    It was a small pond and around the small pond covered in dense greenery were more handmade explosives.


    Jude sted the small pond and soon after it revealed a tunnel.


    "Can anyone please tell me why we are doing this again?" Gilbert was confused.


    "Jude doesn''t want us to go through another cavern, I believe," Jericho expresses his assumption.


    "That''s right," Jude nodded. "This tunnel here should also be connected to that cavern, considering that it is very close,"


    "Let''s just get in to check,"


    Kayn leads everyone to enter the underwater cave system again.


    Following the direction of the cavern, they soon confirmed that the tunnel indeed leads to the same cavern as before. In other words, they just made a small detour.


    "As long as we do it this way, we should be able to navigate this ce safely," Jude exins to everyone the reason for the detour.


    The caverns were where the true danger of the underwater cave system lies as there is no telling if they would find another tentacle or perhaps another boss-rank monster. If it is the former, it means that the boss monster has already noticed them and is just waiting for the right time to strike. And if it is thetter, it implies that there is more than one boss monster in this ce, and obviously they can''t risk entering the cavern whilepletely not knowing what it is.


    However, they can eliminate those two risks as long as they make a detour to the surface every time they encounter another cavern.

 Chapter 187 Hunting For The Forest Spirit Seed Part 25

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    Chapter 187: Hunting for the Forest Spirit Seed Part 25


    Their goal of exploring the underwater cave system from the very start wasn''t to get rid of all monsters that inhabit the ce. Instead, they simply want to make a map of its tunnels, gather information on the monsters that inhabit it, and if they are lucky enough, find a Forest Spirit Seed. Needless to say, they are also hoping to find clues about the Forest Spirit Origin Seed.


    In other words, they want to understand what they are dealing with and prepare countermeasures against them.


    Not only could making a detour eliminate the dangers of the caverns, but it can also help them know the exact location of the caverns and also the tunnels from the surface.


    With that idea in mind, Kayn and the others continued with their exploration.


    Of course, with the new safe way to traverse the caverns, he immediately sent Jadiel to inform Friedrich and the others to ask for help.


    After receiving the new n, Friedrich and the others were more d to help Kayn. They immediately prepared themselves and got inside the gate once again.


    This time, as soon as they got to the cavern, they escorted Kimberly to the ceiling and she soon after blew it up to create a path for their detour.


    Using Jude''s detour n, everyone was able to make huge progress with the exploration of the underwater cave system at the end of the day.


    Nevertheless, they didn''t celebrate yet.


    They continued using the same method again and again in the past couple of days. And in the tenth day, they finished exploring almost the entire underwater cave system. But it was also at this time that they realized that other than the tunnels near the surface, there also exist other tunnels leading deeper underground.


    They tried to explore some parts of the underground region of the underwater cave system, but they immediately gave up the instant they encounter another cavern. The reason was simple ¡ª they can no longer apply Jude''s detour method.


    During those days, they cut more than ten tentacles from the supposedly boss-rank monster. It was practically everywhere, and it appear at random and with no known reason at all.


    Every single time they see one, they immediately cut it off. And strangely enough, the owner of the tentacles never attacks back at them. It is as if it doesn''t care about them cutting a part of its body, or perhaps it does care, just that it doesn''t matter for it because the tentacles they cut grow back the next day.


    How did they know? They saw a tentacle with the marks of two previous cuts.


    As they got more and more tentacles, Gnak''s study about the boss-rank monster hiding in the underwater cave system was also quickly progressing until he surmise that it was from a monster known as Kraken.


    It wasn''t only Gnak that came to that conclusion, both Kayn and Natas also realized after joining the former in his research.


    "Kraken¡­" Gilbert was in total disbelief. There''s just no way that a mythical creature of the deep ocean exists and is currently hiding underground in the middle of a forest. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    It was unbelievable!


    Although the Slumbering Forest is close to the ocean, just how in the ''Tower'' did a Kraken even reach underground?


    Moreover, why is a Kraken even inside ''The Bridge'' in the first ce?!


    "I believe this Kraken possesses the second key in unlocking ''The Bridge''," Jude assumes. Back then he mentioned that he felt another existence of a key in the Slumbering Forest. In the past couple of days that they were exploring, that feeling became stronger and he feels like it is very close to him whenever he encounters a tentacle of the Kraken.


    "So the second key is a monster? Is that what you are trying to tell me?" Friedrich felt a headache in his head. How exactly could they convince a monster, not to mention a Kraken, to help them free their kind from ''The Bridge''?


    "I am not a hundred percent sure yet. It could also be that the Kraken has been interacting with the second Key that''s why I felt its presence on it,"


    "Let''s just assume the second option," Friedrich would rather believe that to be the case.


    Gilbert and the others also nodded their heads in agreement as they also don''t want to believe that the Kraken is the second key.


    "That aside," Kayn changed the topic. "I''ve received news from Chastine''s party that Old Chief George and his army from the Green Horn City will be arriving in the Slumbering Forest in two days'' time,"


    "We better start preparing, then," Friedrich added.


    "Gnak''s men are already ahead in the schedule for that. The problem is Jericho informed me that there are still no signs of the Assembly of Freedom approaching the Slumbering Forest," Kayn shook his head in worry. "Although he did receive reports of thousands of Heroes and Viins entering the territories around the Slumbering Forest and even scouting the forest,"


    "Most likely they are the people that fell for the Quick Sand Operation," He was sure of that.


    "I am worried that if Old Chief George left the Green Horn City to participate in the stage we set up and the Assembly of Freedom doesn''t, then there''s a good chance that they will attack the Green Horn City instead,"


    The Assembly of Freedom is more than capable enough of doing that.


    "I am sure that they wille," Friedrich was confident. "Their goal is to kill Old Chief George, not to destroy the Green Horn City. Even if they destroy the city, as long as Old Chief George is alive, he can keep on creating another city,"


    "Fair enough," Kayn realized. That''s right! The Green Horn City is in fact Old Chief George. So, wherever Old Chief George goes, the Green Horn City follows. And besides, it was also mentioned in the report that he is bringing the majority of the force avable to use in Green Horn City. If what Friedrich said is really true, then the people arriving from Green Horn City should be everyone.


    "Since we are already done with our exploration of the underwater cave system, let''s rest for the remaining two days and wait for the arrival of Old Chief George," Kayn dismiss the meeting.

 Chapter 188 Hunting For The Forest Spirit Seed Part 26

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    Chapter 188: Hunting for the Forest Spirit Seed Part 26


    Two days quickly passed.


    In those two days, Kayn kept going back and forth between the camp and the Drowsy Vige to gather as many supplies as he would be needing in the uing war.


    At the same time, he also went grinding for experience points along with Gilbert, Jude, and Charles since they have to keep up with Friedrich and the others who are already level 50, especially him, as he is still far from the average level of everyone in the group. He might have been able to pull off an attack that was capable enough to kill a Mountain Gori, which was honestly great, but there''s still a lot of potential left for him that will allow him to execute something even greater.


    He is still not content with what he currently has, so he is doing something about it.


    In the end, he leveled up four times, making him level 30 now. In those four levels, he earned twenty-five more Stats Points which he set aside for future use.


    On the evening of the second day, everyone made sure to be present in what is now known as Evergreen Vige. It was Gnak''s Vige.


    The reason why Gnak named his Vige the Evergreen Vige is that he and his people are a collective group of green Goblins whose hope for renewal never died throughout the years of being trapped in the Mountain Monkey''s Lair.


    It was a fresh start, he said.


    "Tomorrow morning everyone from the Green Horn Vige will arrive. From then on, we will be in full preparation for the war against the Assembly of Freedom led by Chief Kylo," Kayn began his opening statement.


    "There have been dozens of news that Jericho has received," Kayn looks at Jericho who he also invited as he is their ally, thus thetter naturally has to be present tomorrow to greet the arrival of Old Chief George, or to be precise, Old Mayor George. "That members of the Assembly of Freedom has been scouting the territories around the Slumbering Forest,"


    "They have also spotted a camp which his men imed to possibly be the main base of operation of the Assembly of Freedom in the Slumbering Forest,"


    "As we have nned, they have epted our invitation to war!" Kayn eximed.


    "It wasn''t us that wanted this war, but we are more eager to have it than them," Kayn suddenly formed a mischievous smile on his face. "What they don''t know is the entire Slumbering Forest has already been turned into a trap. And an even greater surprise awaits them during the war,"


    The Kraken!


    He is confident that the moment they blow up the surface that covers the underwater cave system, it would instantly disturb the Kraken and cause havoc in the Slumbering Forest.


    Just like what he said not long ago, "Chaos is their friend. The more chaotic it is, the better it is for them,"


    Everyone was aware of what Kayn meant, so they also felt excited about it.


    "Tomorrow, I will have to relinquish mymand to Old Mayor George. Everyone will listen to his order, and whatever he decides to do, we must follow and execute it," Kayn truly doesn''t want it. But he has to do it whether he likes it or not. "I''ll still stay as the leader of this group, just that it will be limited to small-scale operations, which will also depend on what Old Mayor George assigns us,"


    "Am I included?" Jericho can''t help asking.


    "We''ll talk about thatter," Kayn has a special task for Jericho, and he''ll be informing thetter about it once the meeting is over.


    Everyone continued discussing different matters that are going to be required tomorrow. The meeting only ended when it was close to midnight.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "So, what do you want to talk about that you need to meet me in secret?" Jericho muttered as he walked inside Kayn''s hut.


    Inside the hut were Gilbert, Jude, and Charles, Kayn''s main party.


    Kayn motioned his hand for Jericho to sit down.


    "This is my main party," Kayn introduced to Jericho.


    "I know," Jericho naturally already knew.


    "But they don''t," Kayn chuckled.


    "Seriously?" Jericho was surprised as he looks at Gilbert, Jude, and Charles.


    "Well," Gilbert scratched his head. He was originally one of Friedrich''s men, but through his multiple interactions with Kayn, he slowly began leaning toward joining Kayn''s group. It was something he decided after thorough consideration. The only concern is, he is in an awkward position since he is still officially part of the first squad of the Green Horn Knights.


    "Kayn was originally part of my party, but now I decided to allow him to lead," Jude long already realized that his leadership skill is nothingpared to Kayn''s. So, for his and Charles'' benefit, he gave up on being a leader to Kayn.


    "I only serve the strongest, and in this room, I believe Kayn is the strongest," Charles has a rather simple way of choosing who leads the party. If one is strong, they deserve to be the leader.


    "So, what''s this meeting all about?"


    "You are a thief, so what do I need a thief in a meeting?" Kayn pushed a piece of paper to Jericho.


    "The Kingmaker?" Jericho was very familiar with this weapon since it was the weapon that the leader of the Assembly of Freedom uses. "Don''t tell me, you want me to steal the Kingmaker from the leader of the Assembly of Freedom?!"


    "We will steal the Kingmaker from Chief Kylo. We only need the assistance of the leader of the thieves," Kayn rified.


    "Are you insane?!" Jericho couldn''t be any more shocked than this. But inwardly, excitement was boiling hotter and hotter.


    "Looking at your face, I know you also want to do this," Kayn smiles.


    "Of course I do!" Who doesn''t want to steal the weapon of the leader of the enemy camp? Anyone not in the right mind would practically think of doing exactly that! He just didn''t think that Kayn would be one of those people.


    "Then we will begin our operation tomorrow," Kayn ended their secret meeting.


    Old Mayor George would still try to sort things out upon his arrival tomorrow. So, before the big event, he wants to pull a major stunt that can change the tide of war in their favor.


    Moreover, Natas informed him that it would be a lot better for him if he possess the Kingmaker when the war ends because there are other benefits that he can receive other than unlocking the Kingmaker sword.

 Chapter 189 189: The Clouds Of War

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    Chapter 189: The Clouds of War


    The next day, Kayn and everyone from the Evergreen Vige gathered together at the open area near the shore to await Old Mayor George''s arrival.


    It was a very huge event, but despite that, only a few necessary people were present to wee Old Mayor George. That is clearly because this is supposed to be a secret.


    Kayn''s group.


    Friedrich and the first squad of the Green Horn Knights.


    Gnak and the Goblins of the Evergreen Vige.


    Andstly, Jericho and some loyal Executives of the Herald Guild.


    As the light of the sun shone on the beach, a huge figure of a turtle could be seen quickly approaching from the horizon.


    "They are here," Kayn muttered.


    "This is my first time seeing the famous Old Mayor George ever since I entered ''The  Bridge''," Jericho whispers.


    "Seriously?" Gilbert couldn''t believe it.


    "Unlike you, I was unlucky and I went to the other side,"


    "That exins why you became a thief,"


    Jericho rolled his eyes and ignored Gilbert.


    It didn''t take long for the Guardian Turtle to reach the shore.


    "Holy!" Jericho eximed in surprise. "Why didn''t anyone tell me that there is a humongous turtle on your side? If you''d told me this from the start, we would have immediately sworn allegiance to the Green Horn City,"


    A Guardian Turtle.


    This was no different from the Kraken lurking under the Slumbering Forest.


    Though if onepared the fighting power of the Guardian Turtle and the Kraken, thetter would definitely win, there''s no doubt about that. But if one considers the fact that the Guardian Turtle has so many allies, the Kraken would no doubt lose the fight.


    "Is this your secret weapon against the Kraken?"


    "I am afraid I don''t n on sending my protector on a suicide mission," Jude unhesitatingly dismissed the idea.


    "Too bad," Jericho slightly felt regretful. Things would definitely be easy if they did.


    "If it reallyes to that, we will just send the Guardian Turtle to clear the path for us," Kayn muttered.


    "That, I will allow," Since that was the original n.


    In the next moment, a figure of an old man slowly walks down from the shell of the Guardian Turtle.


    It was Old Mayor George.


    Behind the mayor were other figures, including Chastine''s second squad of Green Horn Knights, and other more unfamiliar people. There were nearly hundreds of them.


    What caught Kayn''s attention, in particr, were the seven figures sticking closely to Old Mayor George.


    As he doesn''t want to waste time on guessing, he asked Friedrich who those people were.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "That''s Emmet, the leader of the third squad of the Green Horn Knights. He is a Knight just like me, but he specializes in wind element offense," Friedrich started introducing.


    "That other one beside him is Fabian, the leader of the fourth squad of the Green Horn Knights. He is a Healer like Chastine,"


    "That one behind the three is Chief Kody, the Chief of the Rockstone Town, one of the renown Towns in ''The Bridge'',"


    "The one he is talking to Chief Ken, the Chief of Seahorizon Town, another renown Town in ''The Bridge'',"


    "Those three that are silently following behind the two Chiefs are Chief Kash of Kash Town, Chief Harlem of Riverside Town, and Chief Perceval of the Welsh Forest Town,"


    "Those five Chiefs are famously known as Old Mayor George''srades in the earlier days of ''The Bridge''. The six of them formed the famous party known as the Six Independence Wings, as their main goal was to find a way to free everyone from ''The Bridge'',"


    "The Assembly of Freedom also uses that name as a reference in the earlier days, too. Albeit their real motive wasn''t for freedom, but instead to imprison everyone in this godforsaken ce,"


    Old Mayor George finally stepped on the sand as the stern look on his face fade away and was soon reced by a warm smile. "Everyone,"


    Gnak went to approach to wee the esteemed figure to his humble territory. "Wee to the Evergreen Vige, Old Mayor George,"


    "A Goblin? I didn''t expect that indigenous people of the ''Tower'' actually exist in ''The Bridge''," Old Mayor George epted Gnak''s handshake. "May our two races live in peace and harmony,"


    After shaking Gnak''s hand, Old Mayor George turns to look at Friedrich and the members of the first squad of Green Horn Knights before his sight eventuallynded on Kayn.


    Seemingly in an instant, the warm smile turned into a furious re. "You imbecile kid!"


    Kayn scratched his head awkwardly.


    "I told you to never leave my territory until you clear ''The ways of The Bridge''. Look at what happened to you! You¡­" Old Mayor George paused. "You grew strong? That''s a surprise. I guess you never truly needed people to shelter you. That idiotic Sebastian is really overprotective of his son-inw,"


    "He was just doing what he believes is the safest action for me in a foreign ce," Kayn defended.


    "It''s great to be overprotective, but sometimes they also must push the chick from the nest in order for it to learn how to fly," Old Mayor George approaches Kayn. "And you''ve not only learned how to fly but also to soar,"


    "What level are you right now?"


    "Level 30,"


    "That''s quite fast. In our days, it took us more than three months to reach that level,"


    "It''s even slower than what I expected,"


    "Sometimes you have to be contented with your current achievements. Otherwise, you might get lost in your road ahead,"


    "Is it because of them?" Kayn pointed at the people standing not far behind Old Mayor George. Thetter wasn''t the type who gives pieces of advice like a wise and kind old man. He felt that it was strange until he realize that the people behind Old Mayor George are his previousrades.


    "Yes," Old Mayor George felt helpless. He has to act like a wise and kind old man because of them. If he didn''t, they will argue with everything that he said.


    "Anyways, Gnak will be the one to tour you around his territory. You shouldmunicate with him for whatever you need," Kayn changed the topic.


    "Alright!" Old Mayor George nodded his head as he turned around and started conversing with Gnak about the arrangement for their group.


    Not long after the arrival of Old Mayor George''s group, dozens of huge ships were soon seen approaching from the horizon.


    Even without needing to ask, they were obviously the rest of the forces that Old Mayor George brought with him.


    Clearly, everyone can''t possibly fit on the Guardian Turtle''s back regardless of the fact that the monster was even biggerpared to five of those ships.

 Chapter 190 Operation Kingmaker Part 1

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    Chapter 190: Operation Kingmaker Part 1


    While everyone was busy amodating everyone from the Green Horn City, Kayn and his group secretly left the Evergreen Vige through the underwater cave system.


    They passed through the first cavern and made a right turn to go to the second cavern. And using the hole that Jude blew upst time, they climbed up the surface.


    The instant they got to the surface, they quickly switched their clothes to the ck clothes they have prepared and then covered them up with their respective disguise. After they were done, they left and made their journey to the northern region of the Slumbering Forest where Jericho''s men are waiting for them.


    Around two hours, they reached the Drowsy Vige and by going through the south part of the Vige they found a farmhouse that''s being managed by a farmer who nts wheat and corn.


    It wasn''t any ordinary farmhouse though as the farmer who owns it is one of the loyal Executives of the Herald Guild who didn''t attend the gathering a while ago because he was assigned to prepare for their operation.


    "Randy, is it ready?" Jericho asked.


    "Already finished an hour ago," Randy pulled away a huge cloth that was used to cover an object.


    What has revealed in front of everyone was a big carriage full of corn. The size of the carriage was almost the same as an eight-wheeler truck.


    "How many horses would it need to pull this huge thing?" Gilbert was curious.


    "Who told you we are going to use horses?" Randy shook his head as if to mock Gilbert''s ignorance. He walked to the side where another piece of cloth was covering something.


    As soon as Randy pulled the cloth, what appeared in front of everyone were huge oxen. To be exact, they were a species of ox monsters, the Mountain Oxes.


    "Are those monsters? You aren''t crazy or something, right?"


    "They are tamed," Kayn interjected. "Is this amon thing in ''The Bridge''?"


    He hasn''t seen anyone having a monster-drawn carriage ever since he entered ''The Bridge''. And because of the nature of their operation, they can''t afford to attract needless attention. This stunt would definitely attract people.


    "Only huge businesses in ''The Bridge'' use this kind of thing,"


    "To pull a supply of corns?"


    "Of course not" Jericho shook his head. "The corn is a disguise to hide this,"


    Jericho pulled a small lever and a small hole was opened that leads to a secretpartment inside the stack of corns. "We will hide inside,"


    "You see, whenever huge businesses deliver important goods for auction or for big transactions in this ce, they use basicmodities to hide the real valuables under them. Of course, it is possible to have horses pull this carriage, but that would take a lot of time to reach their destination. So, they would let tamed monsters do thebor first, and when they are close to the destination, they will immediately rece the tamed monsters with horses," Jericho exins the details. "I have men waiting on the road to rece these tamed monsters with normal horses. In that way, people will believe that we are really delivering corn to the vige and that we have been traveling for many days. That way, we will avoid suspicion,"


    "I trust you with your arrangement," Kayn nodded and quickly crawl in the entrance to the hiddenpartment.


    Jericho followed after to assure everyone that there was nothing wrong with it, then Gilbert, Jude, Charles, and Jadiel followed. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The instant everyone got inside, Randy pulled the pair of tamed Mountain Oxes and tied them to the front of the carriage. When he was done, he manned the carriage as it started moving in the direction of where they were going ¡ª Dazed Vige. It was a vige in the western region of the Slumbering Forest. The reason why they are going there is because that''s the location of where the suspected base of operation of the Assembly of Freedom is located.


    The majority of the report of sightings of the members of the Assembly of Freedom also came from the Dazed Vige, which further solidified the possibility that the Assembly of Freedom is gathering its forces over there.


    As the carriage began its journey, six men riding on horses each came up and acted as the supposed escort of the caravan. They were dressed in adventurers'' attire to perfect their disguise.


    "We will be arriving in the evening, so all of you can do whatever you want," Jericho informs everyone before choosing a corner for him to start sleeping.


    Seeing Jericho casually sleeping at the side, Gilbert and the others also did the same.


    Contrary to them, Kayn crawl out of thepartment and climbed on top of the piles of corn.


    Natas was over there sitting and wandering around the surrounding with his eyes.


    On the other side, Randy was peacefully manning the carriage.


    "Sir Kayn?" Randy was slightly surprised to see Kayn outside.


    "Don''t mind me, I just want to look around,"


    "Okay," Randy wasn''t worried that their cover would be blown up since Kayn was wearing a disguise. He could pretend as if he was a wandering swordsman who epted an escort mission with no trouble at all.


    The others were fine sleeping in the hotpartment while only relying on Jude for cold air, but he wasn''t. He wanted fresh air and a view of the sky above him.


    Hey on the top of the pile of corn beside Natas as he stared at the clouds slowly passing by.


    Eventually, Kayn fell asleep and the carriage continued to its destination.


    As the sun set over the horizon, Kayn was woken up by the sound of the men recing the tamed Mountain Oxes with ordinary horses.


    Randy notices Kayn waking up, so he quickly informs him, "Five more kilometers and we will reach our destination,"


    "Okay," Kayn looks around and immediately notices Gilbert and the others have also woken up. Without him knowing, they''ve reced the five men who were originally acting as the escorts.


    "Here''s your horse," Gilbert pulled a horse beside the carriage.


    "Is this part of the n?" Kayn epted the leash as he slowly got on the back of the horse.


    "Yes. We will enter the Daze Vige as escorts of this carriage," Jericho nodded.

 Chapter 191 Operation Kingmaker Part 2

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    Chapter 191: Operation Kingmaker Part 2


    After going through a strict inspection, the carriage was permitted to enter through the underground passageway.


    "Why are going through the underground passageway?" Kayn wonders.


    "We have to, otherwise they will suspect why we have a hiddenpartment," Jericho exins.


    "So they are thinking that we are delivering a valuable product and we are using the pile of corn to hide it just like what you''ve mentioned?"


    "Exactly!" Jericho nodded. "The path we are taking is to the underground entrance of the Wing Boots Auction House. No one knows aside from the higher-ups of the Herald Guild that this establishment is actually owned by us. We use it to distribute loots we got from our raids and operations, and also to gather valuable information from VIP clients,"


    Kayn understands the meaning of the second function of the auction house. It is amon urrence that multiple business transactions take ce in an auction house other than the auction itself. This other business transaction includes business talks, product trades, and even talks about illegal cooperation.


    The reason why he knew about this was because he also owned an auction house in the past and he mainly uses it for that as it gives him apetitive advantage in the market, especially those that he built in the Genesis'' territories.


    "We are here,"


    The carriage stopped in front of a warehouse-looking entrance.


    At the doorway were five men dressed as receptionists of the Wing Boots Auction House along with a man who seems to be the manager.


    "Greetings, sir Randy," The manager greeted.


    "The important item for this night''s auction is inside the hiddenpartment," Randy pulled another lever. This time, instead of opening the entrance to the hiddenpartment, it opened the walls around it.


    What was originally an empty hiddenpartment now has an item that Kayn has been looking for everywhere in the Slumbering Forest ¡ª Forest Spirit Seed.


    "I''ll exinter," Jericho could easily guess what Kayn was thinking.


    "I''ll be expecting that," Kayn was a bit disappointed at Jericho. Thetter actually has a Forest Spirit Seed yet he didn''t mention it to them. He was more than prepared to use the money to buy it or even trade other valuables if needed.


    Jericho patted Kayn''s shoulder. "Cheer up, I have a surprise prepared for you," That''s right, he has other ns for this Forest Spirit Seed. "Let''s enter the auction house first before I tell you what it is,"


    As they were all in disguise, hence Randy did all the transaction work with the manager for them.


    "They are the escorts I''ve assigned to protect the Forest Spirit Seed until the item finds a buyer. Don''t worry, they are capable people that the Herald Guild trust for this transaction," Randy exins.


    "We onlyply with what the Herald Guild orders us to do," The manager nodded.


    The moment the conversation ended, Randy bid farewell and the manager took the Forest Spirit Seed into the warehouse while under the protection of Kayn''s group.


    They walked into a medium-sized room and after pressing a few buttons, it slowly started moving up.


    This was a Mana Elevator. It uses mana to operate instead of electricity, which is a very costly expense, hence it is only used by rich people.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Who''s the leader of your escort group?" The manager suddenly asked.


    "I am," Kayn stepped forward.


    "You look¡­" The manager was suspicious but instead of hiding it, he uttered. "Are you wearing a disguise?"


    "Is there a problem with it?" Jericho interjected.


    The manager immediately understood that these people are most likely members of the Herald Guild who were sent to protect the Forest Spirit Seed in secret.


    With that understanding in mind, the manager shook his head and said, "No, there''s no problem with being in disguise, at all,"


    Kayn motioned his hand for Jericho to back away as he then asked, "Do you perhaps need something?"


    "Yes," The manager confirms. "I want you toe with me so that I can give you a tour around the ce,"


    Kayn immediately understood what it meant. In other words, the manager is going to brief him on what he needs to know about the Wing Boots Auction House.


    "I understand,"


    Soon, the mana elevator came to a stop and the doorway opened.


    On the other side was the actual warehouse where they store all the valuable products that are going to be auctioned tonight.


    Unlike the Forest Spirit Seed though, the products weren''t guarded. Instead, a guard that patrols the ce just casually looks at them every now and then to confirm that there''s no problem.


    This means that they are not the real deal in this auction event. Albeit, they were still very valuable. Not to mention, useful.


    "Your men will be staying inside that private warehouse," The manager pointed at the entrance of what seems to be a private room. "We store the main products of today''s auction event inside so that in case someone tries to rub us, the men assigned to protect them can evacuate along with the valuables,"


    "While these here, we don''t mind, since although they are still valuable and useful, they aremon or only slightly rare,"


    Kayn didn''t utter a single word and only responded with a nod of his head. As an escort, he only needs to know what he deserves to know. Asking questions would be suspicious, and talking a lot would make the manager feel strange since his only job is to protect the Forest Spirit Seed.


    "You can leave your men to guard the Forest Spirit Seed for the moment as youe with me," The manager opened the private warehouse and immediately back away.


    It seems like although he is the manager, there are things that he mustn''t know or see.


    "Lead the way," Kayn motioned his hand.


    Kayn followed the manager as thetter started informing him of the procedures and arrangements during different situations, which includes an instance where someone tries to rob them.


    It took nearly an hour for the manager to finish with the introduction and Kayn entered the private warehouse afterwards.

 Chapter 192 Operation Kingmaker Part 3

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    Chapter 192: Operation Kingmaker Part 3


    As soon as Kayn walked inside the private warehouse, he was immediately shocked at what greeted him.


    In front of him were dozens of Forest Spirit Seed stored inside what seems to be a specialyer of ss container.


    "How do you have so many?" Kayn was very curious.


    "We normally have more in stock," Jericho exins as he carefully took the one they were entrusted to protect. "Here,"


    "This is for me?" Kayn was surprised.


    "That was my original intention from the start. But because we have to use something to cover our operation, I used it. I hope you don''t mind,"


    "Not at all," Kayn gratefully epted the Forest Spirit Seed and immediately stored it inside his Storage Ring.


    "I would have given you more if I can. But this is the only Forest Spirit Seed I owned in this branch,"


    "You have more?!" Gilbert interjected with a surprised tone in his voice.


    "Of course. To begin with, our goal was supposed to be the main supplier of Forest Spirit Seed for the Thieves Guild Alliance. Although that goal has changed now, the supply we prepared for that is still present,"


    "How many branches do you have? And what do you mean that this is the only Forest Spirit Seed that you own in this branch?" Kayn can''t help feeling curious.


    "We have six branches around the Slumbering Forest since we have one in every vige around the forest. And each of these Forest Spirit Seeds is actually found by our members. Because they were the ones who found it and volunteered to give it to us, we only im to protect it while the ownershippletely remains to them. Of course, it is also entirely up to them to decide whether they want to auction it or not, and obviously, we only get amission on the sale while the rest of the money goes to them,"


    "In this way, our members would be eager to look for Forest Spirit Seed and surrender it to us without any hesitation and voluntarily,"


    "I''ll take note of that system," Kayn realized the importance of Jericho''s arrangement.


    "Anyways," Jericho changed the topic. "The reason why we are using the Wing Boots Auction House for our operation is because of this,"


    With a wave of his hand, Jericho took out a piece of paper with a list of names.


    After scanning the names for a bit, a single person''s name instantly attracted everyone''s attention.


    Chief Kylo!


    "That man actually dared to put his actual name on the list? Is he not afraid that our side will get a hold of this and prepare an ambush for him?" Gilbert felt amazed.


    "For him to do it naturally means that he isn''t afraid nor does he believe we are capable of doing it, especially if you consider the fact that the force of our side just arrived," Kayn was more than aware of Chief Kylo''s thinking.


    "So, this also means that the Assembly of Freedom has arrived in the Slumbering Forest for a long time now?" Jude looks at Kayn.


    "Most likely," Jericho was the one who responded instead. "It''s possible that another force in the Slumbering Forest helped them that''s why they were able to avoid our detection. And before you assume anything, there''s a possibility that it could be a member of the Thieves Guild Alliance,"


    "You''ve already informed us that there are members of the Thieves Guild Alliance that allied with the Assembly of Freedom," Kayn assures Jericho that he is not in trouble. The action of the others isn''t necessarily the action of the few. So, what the Thieve Guild Alliance did doesn''t reflect on the Heralds Guild.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I am d for your understanding," Jericho heaves a sigh of relief.


    "So, what''s your n?" Kayn was curious about how Jericho nned to handle the situation.


    "During the auction, every participant must leave their Storage Ring at the courtesy booth and can only bring with them one single item,"


    "Do they alwaysply?"


    "They don''t have a choice, because they can''t get inside if they don''t. And also, we inform them of the event a week before it starts, so we cannot take ountability if they bring a lot of items inside their Storage Ring as they have the choice not to bring them for this evening,"


    "So, you n on stealing Chief Kylo''s Storage Ring?"


    "Not exactly," Jericho is fully aware that such a thing is impossible. "We will force him to take out the Kingmaker, because obviously if he can only carry with him a single weapon he will no doubt bring the Kingmaker,"


    "That is if he brings that item along," After all, Chief Kylo is capable of using any type of sword, so he doesn''t necessarily have to bring with him the Kingmaker and could just choose to leave it in his house.


    "Then we go with n B. We will follow him after the auction event to find where he lives,"


    "Are you nning on assassinating him?"


    "There many strategies we can use once we know where he lives,"


    "Okay," Kayn choose to trust Jericho''s n. The only concern though is, "How do you n on stealing the Storage Ring? After all, we are in disguise,"


    "I know where they hide those Storage Rings. And I know a secret way to get there that only a few selected Executives of the Herald Guild know,"


    "How''s the security level though?"


    "It can be disarmed with my fingerprints,"


    "I guess you have everything nned out,"


    "Well, I don''t want to disappoint you,"


    With that, Kayn and the others stayed in the private warehouse until the auction event finally began.


    Not long after the start of the auction event, the manager who led them knocked outside the private warehouse to inform them to prepare themselves because they will be disying the Forest Spirit Seed soon.


    "Since you''ve given me your Forest Spirit Seed, what would we disy for everyone to see?" Kayn asked out of concern.


    "Randy kindly gave me permission to use his Forest Spirit Seed," Jericho walks to the cab where they have stored all Forest Spirit Seed.


    As expected, Jericho has all things sorted out before they even came to this ce.

 Chapter 193 Operation Kingmaker Part 4

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    Chapter 193: Operation Kingmaker Part 4


    After ten minutes, the manager knocks again to signal them to escort the Forest Spirit Seed to the stage for disy.


    "Gilbert, Jude, Charles, and Jadiel, the four of you will escort the Forest Spirit Seed. I and Kayn will stay here so we can use the air duct to escape from the eyes of the guards," Jericho assigned everyone their roles.


    Since Jericho knew the n well, Kayn allowed the former to take charge. Of course, he is still the one leading the operation, they are just following Jericho''s n.


    "Understood!"


    Gilbert, Jude, Charles, and Jadiel acknowledge and right after left the private warehouse.


    The manager was curious as to why the leader and the person who seems to be his right-hand man didn''t follow. But he didn''t want to pursue it any further for fear of offending the members of the Herald Guild. After all, they are just a subsidiary of the guild. Not to mention, he is merely a manager, as well. He can be reced easily if he identally offended one of these people.


    As soon as Gilbert''s group left, Kayn and Jericho quickly jumped into the air duct and started crawling to reach their destination.


    The location they have to go first was the security room. It wasn''t that there are CCTV cameras installed in the Wing Boots Auction House that they have to take care of first. In the first ce, such a technology doesn''t exist in ''The Bridge''. Inside the ''Tower'' it could, but not here.


    Jericho proposed the security room as an option due to its close proximity to the storage area for items entrusted to the courtesy booth. The reason behind this choice was quite simple ¡ª it enhanced the security measures and guarantee that no unauthorized individuals would try to attempt to steal the items.


    After a few ups, downs, and turns, Jericho finally stopped.


    "We are here," Jericho silently whispers. He motioned his hand for Kayn to keep quiet as he signaled him that there is someone below them.


    "Let''s wait for him to leave," Jericho muttered without a sound.


    Kayn gave an okay sign.


    As soon as the guard left, Kayn and Jericho immediately jumped down.


    Jericho quickly started checking through lockers one by one the moment theynded.


    "What are you doing?" Kayn asked while looking through the door to check if there was anyoneing.


    "Here,"


    Jericho threw a uniform at Kayn.


    Kayn caught the uniform and instantly understood what it was for. "Great idea!"


    Without wasting any time, Kayn and Jericho switched their clothes with the uniform of the guards of the Wing Boots Auction House.


    The moment they got out of the security room, they were already wearing a disguise that will prevent anyone from suspecting that they are outsiders.


    "Wasbing our hair necessary?" Kayn rolled his eyes.


    "Of course, we have to look decent in order for them to believe that we are guards," Jericho knew of this because he was the one who created the dress code.


    Along the way, Kayn and Jericho encountered a few guards. They all greeted them, so they also return a greeting.


    "Was that also necessary?"


    "It is a signal that means everything over that side is okay but you can go on and check to make sure,"


    "That long meaning for that simple gesture?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Don''t judge me,"


    "You made that?"


    "I made the Wing Boots Auction House,"


    "Fair enough,"


    Considering that it was also Jericho who created the system for the Forest Spirit Seed, it''s no longer strange that the other arrangements are also done by him.


    After walking for tens of meters, they finally reached a room with a sign that says ''Courtesy Storage'', clearly implying the courtesy booth.


    Although they are in disguise, they don''t need a get a key to unlock this room. That''s because Jericho is the master key himself.


    Jericho put his finger on a ss and right after some sort of mechanism started making noises. It was a soft noise, so they weren''t afraid of getting discovered because of it.


    The instant the door opened wide enough for them to fit in, Kayn and Jericho immediately jumped to enter the room and thetter swiftly closed it.


    Inside the room, Kayn could see dozens of racks with tens of Storage Rings meticulouslyid on soft small pillows. In front of each of the Storage Rings were numbers representing the identity of their owner.


    "What number was assigned to Chief Kylo?" Kayn immediately asked Jericho who possess the attendance sheet for the guest.


    "He is number 23," Jericho muttered before starting to look for the Storage Ring with thebel number 23. "There!"


    Kayn quickly grabbed the Storage Ring.


    "Are you sure that he won''t notice it?" Jericho was doubtful that Kayn knew of a method to open a Storage Ring without the owner knowing of it. It ismon knowledge that only the owner of the Storage Ring can open it.


    "Trust me," Kayn smiles. In the past, he also strongly believed that a Storage Ring can only be opened by its owner and that the only way for others to be able to open it is if the owner gave permission or if the owner is dead. But he was wrong.


    There actually exists a hidden mechanism in the Storage Ring that allows other people to open it even without the permission or the death of the owner. And this was only possible because of one secret w in one of the materials that are used in making a Storage Ring ¡ª the Space Ore.


    Space Ore is amon material that can be mined almost everywhere as long as mana is present in the area and is the main ingredient in making a Storage Ring.


    Honestly, the Space Ore itself can already store items even without them being processed into Storage Rings. It possesses the natural ability to create an empty space inside its body that can reduce an item''s size and store it inside. This means to say that if one store an item inside a raw or unprocessed Space Ore, everyone who possesses it can withdraw the item inside.


    The only reason why it bes impossible when it is crafted into a Storage Ring is because of a rune called Rune Stone of Obscurity, another material used in making a Storage Ring, which grants the item the ability to prevent others aside from its owner from seeing the content inside.


    Another rune material called the Rune Stone of Vignce grants the Storage Ring the ability to warn the owner that someone is trying to ess its property.


    Lastly, the Rune Stone of Expansion grants the Storage Ring the ability to expand the space inside depending on the strength of the Rune Stone.


    Now, imagine if one removes this Rune Stone of Obscurity and Rune Stone of Vignce.


    Not only would others be able to view the content inside the Storage Ring, but the owner also won''t be able to notice that someone tried to ess it.


    Needless to say, other than the person who crafted the Storage Ring, no one else would be able to tell where the Rune Stone of Obscurity and Rune Stone of Vignce are hidden.


    However, Kayn could tell. That''s because the only reason a Rune Stone is called a Rune Stone in the first ce is because runic patterns were cavern on the stone. If one carves it on an iron, it will be called Rune Iron. Rune Gold if it is on gold. And Rune Diamond if it is on a diamond.


    The important clue is the word ''Runic''.


    As long as one could find the Runic symbol for Obscurity and Vignce, one can make a line over them to destroy their ability.

 Chapter 194 Operation Kingmaker Part 5

    ?


    Chapter 194: Operation Kingmaker Part 5


    Kayn already knew the Runic symbol for Obscurity and Vignce. So, he quickly started looking for it around the body of the Storage Ring instead of the Space Ore itself.


    It couldn''t be in Space Ore yet because such a thing was only invented after people discovered the method he is using right now. At that time, if one carves a straight line in the Runic symbol for Obscurity and Vignce that is drawn onto the Space Ore, the entire Storage Ring would instantly be destroyed, thus making the method ultimately useless.


    Fortunately for him, that only happened in the future.


    It didn''t take long for Kayn to discover the Runic symbol for Obscurity and Vignce.


    He put down the Storage Ring on the table and immediately took out a dagger from his Storage Ring. After locating the Runic symbol for Obscurity and Vignce again, he carefully started carving a straight line in the middle of their symbol.


    The instant one of the Runic symbols was destroyed, it sent a small spark that marked its destruction.


    Seeing it, he quickly went ahead and carved a line on thest remaining Runic symbol.


    "It''s done," Kayn threw the Storage Ring to Jericho.


    Jericho quickly caught it and went ahead to confirm whether Kayn''s im was true or not.


    To Jericho''s shock, he was able to instantly open Chief Kylo''s Storage Ring and immediately saw the content inside.


    "Clothes, extra sword, extra armor, food, potions, medicines, coins, some poison, stacks of documents, a leader token of the Assembly of Freedom, and toilet products," Jericho sneered at thest item. "I guess even the Chief of the great and powerful Assembly of Freedom also brings along toilet products in case of emergency,"


    "Anyone does," Kayn took the Storage Ring from Jericho. "I guess this means that there''s a good chance Chief Kylo is bringing the Kingmaker with him right now,"


    "That is if he didn''t leave it in his house," Jericho said jokingly.


    "Let''s hope for the best," Kayn returned the Storage Ring to its original ce. Although he had destroyed both the Runic symbol for Obscurity and Vignce, Chief Kylo would definitely not be able to notice the changes. "Let''s go,"


    Kayn and Jericho immediately left the room and made their way back to the security room.


    Fortunately, there was no one inside when they got in. Nevertheless, they quickly returned the clothes they borrowed and swiftly jumped back in the air duct to make their way to the private warehouse.


    They only have a bit of time left before the auction ends. And that''s their only opportunity to steal the Kingmaker that Chief Kylo is carrying with him. Of course, that can only be possible if thetter really brought it with him.


    Since they were rushing, it only took Kayn and Jericho two minutes to return back to the private warehouse. In total, they spent less than ten minutes.


    Regardless, they didn''t waste time as they left the private warehouse and made their way backstage.


    The instant they were close to the backstage, they immediately slowed down their steps so that they won''t raise any suspicion.


    After looking around for a brief moment, they saw Gilbert and the others pushing a cart with the Forest Spirit Seed inside a container that isid on top of a pillow.


    The manager immediately saw them, but instead of questing where they went, he simply look away and return his attention to the stage.


    "How long until our turn?" Kayn asked the manager.


    "It will be brought out next," The manager responded respectfully.


    Just like what the manager mentioned, as soon as the item before them was sold, the host immediately signaled them to bring out the Forest Spirit Seed. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Kayn and Jericho carefully pushed the cart to the side of the host.


    While they were doing so, the host started speaking.


    "Now, for the next item tonight! The famous and mystical item that people throughout the entire ''The Bridge'' sought the most," The host pulled the cloth that''s now covering the item. "A Forest Spirit Seed!"


    A loud cheer immediately erupted the instant the Forest Spirit Seed was revealed to everyone.


    While the audience was busy on the Forest Spirit Seed. On the other hand, Kayn''s group focused on searching for Chief Kylo.


    He obviously couldn''t be with the masses, so they gave up on searching on the floor below and instead looked at the balcony of the VIP rooms.


    It was impossible to see who is inside the VIP rooms, but there is a way to know who is inside, and that is by listening to their voice and sensing their aura inside. At least that''s what the others would do.


    However, in Kayn''s case, he simply sent a signal to Natas and thetter flew up to check.


    After surveying for a bit, Natas came back down and pointed the room to the very right.


    Without any hesitation, Kayn sent a signal to Gilbert and the others who were waiting backstage.


    Gilbert and the others understood the meaning of Kayn''s signal and immediately left after informing the manager that they have to return to the private warehouse.


    As usual, the manager didn''t bother.


    "I''ll definitely give that manager a promotion once this is over," Jericho said in a remark.


    "Nah, he is perfect in his position. Just give him a raise, that would do," Kayn suggested.


    "You''re right," Jericho agreed.


    In the end, the Forest Spirit Seed was sold for fifteen million coins.


    As soon as it was over, Kayn and Jericho pushed the cart backstage.


    The manager quickly approached them and said, "Please follow me to deliver the item to room 20,"


    Hearing that, Kayn and Jericho glimpse at each other.


    "Alright," Kayn nodded.


    Following the lead of the manager, Kayn and Jericho went up to the VIP floor.


    They don''t know where exactly Gilbert and the others currently are, but they are for sure doing something.


    "You both stay here while I get inside to talk with the customer," The manager said before knocking on the door of the VIP room.


    Kayn simply nodded his head.


    The moment the manager got in and closed the door, the two immediately rush to the door of the VIP room with the number twenty-three.

 Chapter 195 Operation Kingmaker Part 6

    ?


    Chapter 195: Operation Kingmaker Part 6


    "Over here," Gilbert called out to Kayn and Jericho from the air duct.


    After looking around their surrounding and making sure that there is no one nearby, Kayn and Jericho secretly slip a Drowsy Mushroom under the door of VIP room 23, which immediately releases its toxin that causes people to fall asleep.


    They also did the same around the hallway to prevent other people from realizing that something is wrong upstairs.


    Everyone who gets up here would definitely fall asleep, thus preventing them from reporting the strange thing going on. Of course, this includes that manager.


    As soon as they were done with that, Kayn and Jericho jumped up to get inside the air duct.


    Before continuing to move, Jude cast an Istion spell to prevent making a sound as they crawl above the ceiling of VIP room 23.


    There were three vents in total above VIP room 23. Kayn split the group into two people each as the three groups respectively went on a vent.


    The moment they got close to the vent, they instantly took out their mask to cover their faces and obviously their nose.


    They also removed their uniform to switch to their ck suit.


    Waving his hand, Kayn took out a rope from his Storage Ring. He tied the rope to a bunch of Drowsy Mushrooms before slowly lowering it to the entrance of the vent.


    The others also did the same.


    Using this method, they were able to slowly cover the room with the drowsy toxic mist.


    Not long after, they started hearing the sounds of people dropping to the ground.


    "What''s happening?"


    They heard Chief Kylo asking out suspiciously as he walked closer to his men that fell asleep.


    In the next moment, Kayn and the others immediately dropped down from the air duct.


    The sound they made instantly causes Chief Kylo to turn in their direction.


    "Are you assassins?" Chief Kylo asked as he took out a sword from his waist.


    As expected, it was the Kingmaker.


    "You were right," Kayn said to Jericho.


    Seeing the reaction the assassin made after he took out the Kingmaker, Chief Kylo instantly understood that they came here not to assassinate him but to steal the Kingmaker.


    Some of Chief Kylo''s men were still unaffected by the drowsy toxic mist, hence they immediately went in front of their leader to protect him.


    "Kill them!" Chief Kylo immediately ordered before slowly backing away to the door.


    All of a sudden.


    Whoosh!<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    A dagger went passed Chief Kylo''s side.


    ck!


    The dagger hit the doorknob, which instantly causes it to drop to the ground.


    Because of this, it is now made impossible for Chief Kylo to open the door by simply twisting the doorknob. Although it is still possible for him to use it as an exit, but to do it he''ll have to destroy the door itself.


    If Chief Kylo really does that, it will instantly cause amotion on the second floor, which would immediately attract the guards to quicklye up here. Of course, that''s the intention behind it, to ask for help.


    However, because of the drowsy toxic mist that the Drowsy Mushrooms have already spread everywhere, some of them will fall asleep, or perhaps all of them will. In this way, Chief Kylo''s n of asking for help by causing amotion would be useless.


    Moreover, Chief Kylo will just expose himself to the drowsy toxic mist outside along with his remaining men.


    Of course, they don''t believe that it will make Chief Kylo fall asleep. But this would make it a lot easier for them.


    As Chief Kylo''s men charged at Kayn''s group, they simrly lunge forward in response.


    A sh was immediately issued.


    As expected. While the fight was taking ce, Chief Kylo grabbed this opportunity to st the door open.


    Boom!


    With the loud noise of the door being sted into pieces, the loud noises of the crowd down below instantly quiet down.


    "Guards, quickly go check the situation on the second floor and take care of whoever is causing the problem!" The host ordered.


    Not long after, dozens of footsteps could be heard going up to the second floor. But quickly after, sounds of bodies dropping down to the ground were heard.


    Simr sounds were also heard in front as some of Chief Kylo''s men started kneeling on the ground to resist the feeling of sleepiness.


    "This¡­" Chief Kylo was in disbelief. He realized that the assassin came here more prepared than he expected.


    Kayn waves his hand, quickly taking out dozens of Drowsy Mushrooms from his Storage Ring.


    Just when Chief Kylo thought that the man would throw the Drowsy Mushrooms at him, causing him to raise his sword to prepare to cut them, thetter instead threw it out the balcony.


    Following that were Gilbert, Jude, Charles, Jericho, and Jadiel throwing Drowsy Mushrooms out from the balcony one after the other.


    In the next moment, chaos broke down on the first floor as everyone panicked and started running as far away as possible from the Drowsy Mushroom.


    Seeing the chaos, the host also turned away from themotion on the second floor with the reason that those people up there has brought personal guards with them to protect them from possible dangers as he focused his attention on calming the people down.


    That was what Kayn''s group wanted to achieve. In this way, Chief Kylo can forget about asking the others for help and his only option left would be to face against them.


    In other words, they are forcing Chief Kylo to confront them instead of thinking of ways to escape from this ce. Because if thetter continues to do that, there''s a good chance that he will be able to achieve it, which would prevent them from stealing the Kingmaker.


    On the other hand, if Chief Kylo fights against them, they''ll have plenty of opportunities to make Chief Kylo drop the Kingmaker on the ground and they''ll swiftly swoop in to steal it.

 Chapter 196 Operation Kingmaker Part 7

    ?


    Chapter 196: Operation Kingmaker Part 7


    With no other choice left, Chief Kylo brandished his sword tounch an offensive attack.


    Whoosh!


    ng!


    Charles immediately blocked the attack while gritting his teeth.


    Even though Chief Kylo is fully exposed to the drowsy toxic mist around them, his strength actually remained unaffected.


    As a result, Charles can''t help slowly taking steps back as he was being pushed away.


    Needless to say, Kayn and the others didn''t just stay idle and watch on the sideline.


    Whoosh!


    Kayn hurled a pair of daggers with precision, targeting Chief Kylo''s hand that tightly grasped the Kingmaker sword.


    Seeing the iing pair of daggers, Chief Kylo immediately jumped back to dodge it.


    The instant the dagger passed by his front, he immediately hurled himself at Kayn.


    "Kill the leader and this bunch will be a headless chicken," Chief Kylo muttered with a smirk on his face. He already knew that the man in front of him is the leader of this thieving group.


    "As if it''s that easy," Kayn took out the Molten Ice Sword from his Storage Ring.


    The instant the sword was taken out, Chief Kylo immediately realized the identity of the person in front of him.


    "Kayn?" Chief Kylo was surprised. It hasn''t been a month yet and the young man who could only watch from the rear line is now in possession of a strength that''s capable of standing against his way.


    "Took you long enough to realize," Kayn smirked under the mask while at the same time brandishing his sword to defend.


    ng!


    A loud sound of metal hitting another metal echoed sharply.


    "Do you seriously think that you are now capable enough to defeat me?" Chief Kylo ridiculed. "Your way above your head if you think so,"


    Chief Kylo pushed his arm to throw Kayn away.


    Kayn instantly retreated. But using the momentum of his retreat, he pushed both of his legs on the wall to lunge himself forward as he brandished his sword.


    <<Molten Ice sh>>


    Swoosh!


    A fiery and freezing sword wave came rushing in Chief Kylo''s direction.


    <<Royalty sh>>


    Swoosh!


    Chief Kylo swiftly responded with the Kingmaker''s version of a sword wave.


    Boom!


    Swizzle!


    The <<Molten Ice sh>> was easily cut in half by the <<Royalty sh>>.


    Kayn long already expected such a result, so the moment he used the <<Molten Ice sh>>, he immediately rolled to the right and prepared himself for another attack.


    As a result, the <<Royalty sh>> collided with the wall, effortlessly piercing through and seamlessly transitioning from one room to the next. In the end, it stopped after hitting the wall of the sixth room.


    Gilbert and the others were shocked and can already imagine the result if they had received the attack head-on. Jadiel had the worst expression considering that he was a tank.


    Contrary to them, Kayn didn''t panic nor even showed the slightest change in his emotions.


    <<Sword Dance>><novelsnext></novelsnext>


    <<Temperature Reset>>


    <<Sword Dance>>


    A series of skills were used in a blink of an eye.


    "Take this!" Kayn eximed with a brandish of his Molten Ice Sword.


    <<Molten Ice sh>>


    WHOOOSH!


    This time, a fiery and freezing sword wave that carried thrice its original power came hurling at Chief Kylo.


    Chief Kylo doesn''t need to receive the improved version of the <<Molten Ice sh>> to understand how dangerous it is.


    <<Royalty Barrage>>


    Bang! Bang!


    A series of piercing strikes were quickly sent flying to the <<Molten Ice sh>>.


    It was useless though as they all just got evaporated upon touching the sword wave.


    Although that wasn''t Chief Kylo''s goal. He simply wanted to slow it down and buy him enough time to jump away.


    Whoosh!


    Simr to the <<Royalty sh>>, the <<Molten Ice sh>> soon collided with the wall and came crashing from one wall to another. Thoughpared to the <<Royalty sh>>, the <<Molten Ice sh>> didn''t stop on any wall and instead destroyed the wall of the Wing Boots Auction House and continued flying to the clouds.


    In contrast to the ceaseless momentum of the <<Molten Ice sh>>, the ongoing battle persisted without any indication ofing to a halt.


    The instant Chief Kylonded, he quickly raised the Kingmaker again to block three attacks from Gilbert, Charles, and Jericho.


    Chief Kylo parried Gilbert away, then he kicked Charles to the side, andstly, he turned his sword to make its body into a shield to block the bulleting from Jericho''s magic gun.


    However, what Chief Kylo didn''t expect was for another figure to suddenly hurl in his direction from the side.


    Gritting his teeth, Chief Kylo increases the speed of his swing to block the iing attack.


    Bang!


    As a result of an unstable swing, Chief Kylo''s hand that''s holding the Kingmaker shook and his fingers nearly let the sword go.


    Bang! Bang!


    It didn''t just stop there though as two more bullets unexpectedly hit the hilt of the sword. Because of that, a kic force was sent to Chief Kylo''s hand that caused him to slip into his grasp.


    Fortunately, Chief Kylo''s other arm was free, so he quickly swung it to catch the hilt of the Kingmaker.


    It was at this moment that Chief Kylo remembered that the goal of these people wasn''t to kill him but to steal the Kingmaker away.


    Too bad that it was already toote for Chief Kylo to remember that again.


    Whoosh!


    Boom!


    Chief Kylo''s back was hit by a searing pain after receiving a direct hit from Jude''s <<ze>> spell.


    Since his other hand hasn''t sped the hilt of the Kingmaker tightly yet, Chief Kylo instantly let it go when he was sted away.


    In the next moment, an invisible kick from Natas hit the hilt of the Kingmaker causing it toe hurling in the direction of Kayn who was currently running forward with everything that he got to catch the sword.


    Kayn easily caught the Kingmaker with his hands and without any hesitation, all six of them immediately jumped out to the balcony of the VIP room 23.


    Chief Kylo tried his best to catch them, but under the lead of Jericho who knows the Wing Boots Auction House like the back of his hand, they were able to quickly slip away.


    Thest thing that Kayn''s group heard was Chief Kylo''s loud roar that carries along the emotion of regret, rage, hatred, sorrow, and disbelief.

 Chapter 197 Operation Kingmaker Part 8

    ?


    Chapter 197: Operation Kingmaker Part 8


    Despite the fact that they''d lost sight of Chief Kylo following them, Kayn and the others still didn''t stop running away until they finally reached the agreed location where Randy and his men were waiting for them.


    "I am guessing from the looks on your face that you''ve seeded in your mission," Randy can''t help smiling. He doesn''t actually know what exactly Kayn and the others task in the Wing Boots Auction House, but it barely matters as long as they have seeded.


    "You''ll know why in the future," Jericho said in a response as he quickly removed the stuffy mask and disguise he is wearing.


    Kayn and the others also did the same as they threw their disguise to the trashbin nearby one after the other.


    "Let''s go," Kayn issued. He doesn''t want to stay long near the Daze Vige in fear that Chief Kylo would send all of his men to search for them.


    That''s highly likely to happen considering that Chief Kylo is the leader of the Assembly of Freedom and the fact that they''ve sessfully stolen one very important weapon from thetter that''s capable of changing the tides of war.


    Randy immediately understood the direness of their situation after hearing the tone of Kayn''s voice. So, he quickly hopped on the carriage as their group speedily left the territory of the Daze Vige.


    Along the journey, Kayn made a swift gesture, as he can''t help retrieving the Kingmaker from his Storage Ring.


    At this moment, he is alone inside the hiddenpartment. The reason is because he was the only one that Chief Kylo recognize, so he has to hide his identity. Aside from that, he is carrying the Kingmaker with him, so he is now considered an important value that''s being protected by everyone.


    Kayn stares at the Kingmaker as thoughts started popping up in his head.


    In the present, he already understood fully well just from the <<Royalty sh>> alone just how powerful the Kingmaker is. Not to mention, this sword is still in its sealed state. Meaning, there''s a definite chance for it to be even more powerful once he met all its requirements to unseal the weapon.


    Moreover, the Kingmaker is a very special and legendary weapon ording to Natas. To be exact, it is a soul weapon.


    In addition to that, just like every soul weapon, it is fully capable of bing stronger along with its owner. This means to say that its power can multiply along the way and be even more powerful than what it already is right now.


    And at this moment, he now possesses such a weapon.


    "What do you n on doing now that you possess it?" Natas can''t help asking.


    "Let me see," Kayn looked at the description of the Kingmaker.


    [


    <<Kingmaker>>


    Rank: Legendary (Sealed)


    Level: ???


    Durability: ¡Þ


    Passive Skills (Sealed State):


    (1) Cost of Loyalty.


    (2) Enhance all element attacks.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    (3) Global Nobility (Baron).


    (4) Buff Storage (0/10).


    (5) Debuff Storage(3/10) [Drowsy Mist Toxin, Flesh Dissolution, Undead Apple Charm].


    (6) Elemental Storage (5/5) [Fire, Water, Nature, Earth, Wind].


    Active Skills (Sealed):


    (1) Royalty sh: Releases a crescent sword wave that contains all elements inside the Elemental Storage. There''s a 1% chance to apply all Debuffs inside the Debuff Storage on the target, and a 25% chance to apply Buffs inside the Buff Storage. Cooldown: 120 seconds.


    (2) Royalty Barrage: Releases dozens of piercing strikes that contain all elements inside the Elemental Storage. There''s a 1% chance to apply all Debuffs inside the Debuff Storage on the target, and a 25% chance to apply Buffs inside the Buff Storage. Cooldown: 120 seconds.


    (3) Royalty Crossing: Releases a star shape sword wave that contains all elements inside the Elemental Storage. There''s a 1% chance to apply all Debuffs inside the Debuff Storage on the target, and a 25% chance to apply Buffs inside the Buff Storage. Cooldown: 120 seconds.


    (4) Elemental Barrier: Surrounds the user with a barrier that resists 50% of all elements inside the Elemental Storage.


    (5) Sword Dance: Increases the strength of the next attack by 200%. Cooldown: 180 seconds.


    Description: A legendary sword that contains the powerful spirits of all its Masters in the past. To the new generation Master, you can live whatever way you want the moment you earned the recognition of the Kingmaker.


    ]


    "As expected of a Legendary-rank weapon," Kayn was very shocked at the Kingmaker''s description.


    "Even my legendary Excalibur can''t hope to be content with it at its infant stage," He heaves a sigh of empathy for one of the famous Legandary-rank weapons on Earth.


    "Believe me or not, but there are actually only two other swords that can hope to contend against the Kingmaker," Natas expresses. "The Floormaster and the Deadlysinner,"


    "The Floormaster is still nowhere to be found. In fact, even we Gods never got to see it throughout the millennia we''ve existed inside the ''Tower''. If it wasn''t because the ''Tower'' told us of its existence, we would have long believed it is a myth,"


    "The Deadlysinner," Kayn doesn''t need to ask Natas where that sword is as there is only one person who is known to possess that sword ¡ª World Leader Nichs.


    "As for the Deadlysinner, Nichs has it. It possesses the seven deadly sins, thus granting its owner the ability to wield them," Natas was slightly shaken at the capability of the sword Deadlysinner. "Of course, there still exist other types of weapons in the same league as the Kingmaker, Floormaster, and Deadlysinner,"


    One such weapon was the Sitan''s Ring that Rowan Starlight possessed.


    With a wave of his hand, Kayn swiftly stored the Kingmaker back in his Storage Ring.


    Until the war is over, he doesn''t n on taking or using the Kingmaker. This is to make sure that no one would be able to steal it from him.


    Furthermore, he also wants to see its unsealed description first before thinking of using it. That''s because soul weapons carry with them a lot of risk to their masters. There even exist numerous soul weapons that prevent their masters from using other types of weapons regardless of their type.


    If the Kingmaker is the same as those soul weapons, even if it is very powerful, he won''t bother thinking of using it. He''d rather find the Excalibur again and use it despite the fact that it couldn''t hope topare to the Kingmaker.

 Chapter 198 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 1

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    Chapter 198: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 1


    It was the afternoon of the next day that Kayn''s group finally arrived at Drowsy Vige.


    As soon as they arrived, Jericho, Jadiel, and Randy quickly bid farewell to everyone to take care of important matters of the Herald Guild pertaining to the iing war.


    On the other hand, Kayn, Gilbert, Jude, and Charles made their way to return to the Evergreen Vige to check on the progress of their allies and to also report to Old Mayor George what they''d achieved in their secret operation.


    Of course, this doesn''t include giving the Kingmaker to Old Mayor George. If thetter demands it, Kayn will do everything in his power to keep it. After all, he can''t let Old Mayor George do the same as the person he swore to defeat. Take for example, taking advantage of the <<Cost of Loyalty>> Passive Skill of the Kingmaker.


    Although Old Mayor George is not the type of person like Chief Kylo, there''s still a chance that he will fall for the temptation of the Legendary-rank weapon and cause him to deviate from his original fate.


    Kayn absolutely can''t let that happen since Old Mayor George serves even greater good to everyone on Earth and inside the ''Tower'' if he follows his original fate contrary to deviating from it.


    Because Kayn and the others were still very tired fromst night, they constantly transitioned from walking to resting as they continued on their journey to the Evergreen Vige.


    In the end, it took them nearly four hours to reach their destination.


    "Kayn!" Friedrich immediately called out after seeing the young man walking out of the cave entrance of the Evergreen Vige. Behind him were Gilbert, Jude, Charles, and Gnak. "Where were you all this time? Everyone was looking for you for a whole day yesterday because Old Mayor George needed you for something,"


    "Did Gnak not inform you?" Kayn raised his eyebrows.


    "Was he meant to inform us?" Friedrich turn to look at Gnak who was following Kayn.


    "I thought that I should only tell them where you all were going if they ask me. They didn''t ask, so I didn''t tell them," Gnak quickly exin to defend himself.


    Kayn could only sigh helplessly. He can''t believe that there would be a time when Gnak can''t be counted on. He can''t really me thetter though because he is also correct. Instead, he can only me himself.


    "I''ll exin to Old Mayor George," Kayn looks around. But because he can''t find Old Mayor George, he can only ask Friedrich. "Where''s the old man?"


    "Let me take you to him,"


    Friedrich led the way.


    Gilbert, Jude, and Charles wanted to rest more, so they left Kayn on his own. Thetter can obviously handle this himself, so they aren''t required toe with him. On the other hand, Gnak also bid farewell as he still has more things to do.


    Even without needing to ask, Kayn could instantly understand that everyone is afraid to face Old Mayor George. It was natural, considering that he treats others differently from him who is the son-inw of Mayor Sebastian.


    As a matter of fact, seeing them back down, he also starts considering whether to face Old Mayor George or not.


    Sadly, he has no other choice and he was already considerably far away from the huts. So, it would be considered very rude if he backs out now.


    Not long after, Kayn and Friedrich reached the tent where he saw Old Mayor George being preupied with discussing different strategies with the rest of the necessary personnel of the Green Horn City.


    Everyone from the seven people that caught his attention yesterday was present in the room and all of them immediately stopped when he entered. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    In an instant, everyone''s attention is now on him.


    It was quite awkward at first, but he quickly shook it off and he started walking toward Old Mayor George without any hesitation.


    Along the way, he only greeted Chastine as she was the only person he knew inside the tent aside from Old Mayor George and Friedrich.


    "Where were you yesterday?" Old Mayor George asked with a stern tone in his voice.


    "Well," Kayn waved his hand, immediately taking out the Kingmaker from his Storage Ring. "I went out to take this,"


    A loudmotion immediately erupted inside the tent as everyone stared at the Kingmaker.


    There was only one question inside everyone''s mind right now, "How on Earth is the weapon of Chief Kylo, the leader of the Assembly of Freedom, now in the hands of Kayn?"


    "You¡­" Old Mayor George was no exception as he too felt very shocked. "But how?"


    Kayn waves his hand again to store the Kingmaker inside his Storage Ring before responding. "We went to Daze Vige because we received news that Chief Kylo was going to attend an auction event in the establishment of one of my allies. We fought with him, and after so much struggle, we seeded and stole the Kingmaker from him,"


    "How about Chief Kylo?"


    "He''s probably looking for me all over Slumbering Forest as we speak," Kayn wasn''t bothered by that fact because he expected that to happen.


    "Well done!" Old Mayor George patted Kayn''s shoulder. "Rest assured, I won''t take the Kingmaker from you since it is your spoil of war,"


    "Thank you," Kayn slightly bowed his head to express his genuine appreciation.


    Contrary to Old Mayor George though, everyone else immediately started expressing their disagreement and disapproval of Kayn keeping the Kingmaker to himself.


    "Why should we let a young man keep such a powerful weapon? If there''s anyone we can entrust with it, it should be you!" Chief Kody eximed loudly.


    "That''s right!" Chief Ken seconded the suggestion.


    "A kid plus a powerful weapon. History has always proven that is a very bad idea," Chief Kash added.


    Chief Harlem and Chief Perceval remained quiet, but it was very evident on their face that they also don''t agree with Old Mayor George''s idea.


    It wasn''t only them who opposed it, Emmet and Fabian also expresses their respective concerns.


    As for Friedrich and Chastine, they remained silent as they believe in Old Mayor George''s decision of entrusting the Kingmaker to Kayn. Of course, this was only possible because they have seen Kayn''s ability and he has proven he has the capability to have such a powerful item.


    "Silence!" Old Mayor George roared.

 Chapter 199 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 2

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    Chapter 199: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 2


    "Silence!" Old Mayor George roared.


    In a heartbeat, the entire tent turned to a point of pin-drop silence.


    "You can speak one at a time. We are no longer immature kids to st out our opposing remarks at the same time. Not to mention, you failed to recognize the fact that he stole the Kingmaker with his own effort," Old Mayor George looks at Chief Kody. "How would you feel if someone steal the Rockstone Town from you despite the fact that you did all the efforts to establish your territory?"


    "I won''t take it easy," Chief Kody lowered his head in realization.


    "Exactly! Moreover, this young man is just a kid. He isn''t even supposed to be involved in this war of ours, yet he came to the enemy''s territory and stole a valuable weapon that can change the tide of war from them. Now, tell me, will you take away the Kingmaker from him?" Old Mayor George looks everyone dead in the eyes.


    "Even I don''t dare do it, not only because he is the son-inw of the Mayor of the Moon Dragon City, but also because he deserves the Kingmaker by getting it with his own efforts,"


    "Wait a minute," Chief Kody interjected. "Did you just say that this young man is the son-inw of the Mayor of the Moon Dragon City?"


    "That''s right!" Old Mayor George nodded.


    "Then I don''t have any problem," Chief Kody immediately looks at Kayn in a different light.


    It wasn''t only Chief Kody, so was Chief Ken, Chief Kash, Chief Harlem, and Chief Perceval.


    As for Emmet and Fabian, they can only look at Friedrich and Chastine with a why-didn''t-you-tell-us-about-it look on their faces.


    Seeing this, Kayn can''t help shaking his head. He realizes that this was Old Mayor George''s aim from the start after the others opposed his decision.


    He doesn''t know if the others understood it, but all he knows is they are people that he should stay as far away as possible. If he didn''t possess such status, there''s no doubt that these people would harbor ill intentions toward him after knowing that he has the Kingmaker.


    Of course, it is his fault that he revealed the weapon out in the open. But there''s no use hiding it anyway because Chief Kylo would definitely announce that he stole it from him with the obvious intention of making his side turn against him.


    By doing this, he negated such a possibility early on before the start of the war.


    Evidently, Old Mayor George understood this, so he went along with Kayn''s n and made sure that it won''t happen during the war.


    Most likely, Old Mayor George would summon him in the evening to talk about the Kingmaker.


    "Let''s talk this evening," Old Mayor George whispers while everyone was preupied with themselves.


    Kayn casually nodded his head before walking behind Old Mayor George.


    Not long after, Old Mayor George interrupted everyone from their personal talks as they soon continued with their discussion about the n for the uing war.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ¡­..


    In the evening, Kayn entered Old Mayor George''s hut as thetter summoned him.


    As much as he was opposed to it as he wanted to sleep because hecks enough rest today, he doesn''t have any other choice since it is undeniably an important matter.


    "Who knows about you having the Kingmaker aside from everyone inside the tent?" Old Mayor George asked while motioning his hand for Kayn to take a sit.


    Kayn sat on the sofa and looked at Old Mayor George. Behind thetter was Friedrich, his most trusted man.


    "Gilbert, Jude, Charles, Jericho, and Jadiel," Kayn didn''t leave a single person''s name behind.


    "I understand Gilbert, Jude, and Charles, but I am worried about Jericho and Jadiel. Do you really trust the people from the Herald Guild?" Old Mayor George expresses his concern.


    "If only you knew how trustworthy they are, you will not ask me that question," Kayn thought inwardly. Needless to say, his true response was, "I believe that they are trustworthy,"


    "In that case, should I invite them to the next meeting?" After all, the Herald Guild deserves to know the n.


    "I''ll inform them if that is what you wish," Kayn didn''t disagree nor agree.


    "Anyways," Old Mayor George stood up and walks to the sofa opposite from Kayn to sit down. "What do you n on doing with the Kingmaker now that you have it?"


    "I want to research it first before deciding on what to do with it. That''s because the first time I witnessed one of its abilities, it causes such a catastrophic ending for a lot of people who volunteered to surrender,"


    "Was that a Passive Skill?" Old Mayor George assumes Kayn already checked the description of the Kingmaker.


    "Yes," Kayn nodded. "The Passive Skill is called <<Cost of Loyalty>>. Anyone that swears on the Master of the Kingmaker is forbidden from ever betraying them. Otherwise, they will be in the control of the Master of the Kingmaker,"


    Although Chief Kylo isn''t officially the Master of the Kingmaker yet, neither is him, as long as one holds the Kingmaker, they will automatically be considered the temporary Master.


    "What a scary ability," Old Mayor George slightly shivered at the thought. He already imagines the possibility of someone unknowingly swearing loyalty to Chief Kylo but because he betrayed him he ended up being under thetter''s full control and got turned into a crazy animal.


    "It is called the Kingmaker for a reason,"


    The name of a weapon generally reflects its given ability. Kings are people who rule kingdoms, and throughout history, their greatest downfall is mostly because of the betrayal of their people. This Kingmaker simply solved that problem by making the people who betrayed its owner pay a price for their unhonourable action.


    "Other than that, what are the other Passive and Activie Skills of the Kingmaker," Old Mayor George was genuinely curious about the weapon as it is his first time encountering something very powerful and one of a kind.


    Without holding back, Kayn started informing Old Mayor George of the abilities of the Kingmaker. He doesn''t mind at all since he trusts thetter and he also trusts Friedrich who''s listening as well.

 Chapter 200 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 3

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    Chapter 200:  The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 3


    The next day, the n that Old Mayor George talked about yesterday was immediately being executed by everyone.


    Hundreds of people were being sent out of the Evergreen Vige to do various different tasks in preparation for the war. They were either going out alone or in groups.


    As for the leaders, they weren''t spared from the same task as they also left the Evergreen Vige to manage their own share of responsibility. Though, unlike the majority of people, their job was to make sure that everything isplete and supervise everyone.


    Unlike them, Kayn and the others stayed in the Evergreen Vige along with Old Mayor George and everyone from the Green Horn Knights.


    "I am sorry about yesterday. I definitely gave off a bad impression at our first meeting," Emmet put his hand forward.


    "It doesn''t matter, everyone would react like that in your situation," Kayn epted Emmet''s handshake politely. Though it doesn''t mean they are good. He simply doesn''t want any unnecessary trouble.


    "The same goes for me," Fabian also wants to make peace with Kayn, especially after hearing that he is the son-inw of the Mayor of Moon Dragon City. It would definitely serve a lot of use in the future if he has connections with thetter.


    Kayn epted the apology of both Emmet and Fabian before sitting on his chair.


    Unlike everyone else, the missions of the members of the Green Horn Knights arepletely different and are crucial for turning the tides of the battle. That is why every one of them is gathered here together in front of Old Mayor George.


    Other than the members of the Green Horn Knights, Kayn, Jude, Charles, and also Jericho and Jadiel is also present in the room since they are no different from the members of the Green Horn Knights as of now.


    "There''s a total of six Viges around the Slumbering Forest," Old Mayor George pointed to their location on the map. "Luckily for us, we only have to worry about five because Jericho''s Herald Guild already took care of the matters in the Drowsy Vige,"


    "Just doing my job as Kayn''s ally," Jericho nodded his head.


    "Your mission is to pick from the five Vige and then destroy anything that''s rted to the Assembly of Freedom over there during the war. It doesn''t matter what method you use, as long as it doesn''t involve killing innocent lives or needlessly killing people, I permit it,"


    "Does it include destroying the Vige?" Gilbert can''t help asking.


    "As long as every innocent life has been evacuated, I say, why not?"


    "Alright,"


    The best way to destroy the secrets of the Assembly of Freedom hidden in those five Viges is to simply destroy the Vige. In that way, they don''t have to waste time searching, and they just made sure that they didn''t leave anything unsearched.


    "There''s still a few days left before our side will officially announce a war with the Assembly of Freedom. In those remaining days, you can do whatever you want to achieve the operation search and destroy,"


    Pushing the map forward, Old Mayor George immediately added, "You can pick whichever Vige you want,"


    Kayn, Friedrich, Chastine, Emmet, and Fabian quickly started picking a Vige for their group.


    On the other hand, Gilbert silently approached Old Mayor George to tell him his own concern. No one knows what they were talking about other than the two of them as everyone was busy picking.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    In the end, Kayn''s group picked the Dazed Vige as they were somewhat familiar with the territory already. Friedrich''s group picked the Dream Vige, Chastine''s group for the Slumber Vige, Emmet''s group choose the Dormant Vige, and Fabian''s group was left with no other Vige other than the Hush Vige.


    "Since all of you already picked a territory, you can proceed any time you want," Old Mayor George returned to his table as he still has documents he needed to take care of.


    "By the way, Gilbert," Old Mayor George suddenly called out. "I ept your letter of resignation,"


    "Resign?" Friedrich looks at Gilbert in confusion.


    "I am sorry Friedrich, I want to join Kayn''s party starting from now on," Gilbert felt apologetic at Friedrich.


    "Why didn''t you tell us?"


    "I didn''t feel the need to since it was already obvious," Considering he alwayses wherever Kayn''s group goes.


    "Well, I guess you''re right," Friedrich long already expected that such a day wille as he was always observing Gilbert''s actions. He knew thetter was eventually going to join Kayn''s group, just that he didn''t expect it to be today and in this kind of manner.


    "I am sorry about doing this in the middle of such an important mission,"


    "It''s okay," Friedrich could only sigh. It wasn''t okay, but they can handle it.


    "Actually," Old Mayor George gave Friedrich a piece of paper. "I have someone in mind that you might be interested in recing Gilbert''s spot,"


    "I''ll consider it after the war," Despite saying that, Friedrich still epted the document.


    Once that small scene ended, everyone immediately prepared themselves to leave the Evergreen Vige.


    However, as the operation was meant to remain a secret from the masses, known only to the participants and Old Mayor George, they utilized the hidden staircase located beneath Kayn, Friedrich, and Chastine''s hut to descend into the depths of the Evergreen Vige. From there, they proceeded towards the entrance of the underwater cave system, aiming to discreetly exit the vige.


    Gnrk assisted them while making sure that no one else can enter the entrance until everyone leaves the Evergreen Vige.


    Those that weren''t present in the construction of the door were shocked to discover that it exist. Albeit it was only for a brief moment as all of them prepared themselves to dive inside.


    Kayn naturally warned them of the dangers as he lead them to the hole they are going to exit from.


    Fortunately, the Kraken lurking around the underwater cave system didn''t bother them this time around, so they were able to safely traverse to their destination.


    After getting out of the underwater cave system, they quickly made their way to the Drowsy Vige first as Jericho intends to help everyone covertly sneak their way inside their assigned Vige. In this way, they won''t have trouble thinking of how to do it and will also have a ce to stay as they execute their mission.


    Everyone was grateful for Jericho''s assistance as they went their separate ways along with the guidance, support, and escort of members from the Herald Guild.

 Chapter 201 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 4

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    Chapter 201: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 4


    The one who took Kayn''s group to the Daze Vige was still Randy. But this time, thetter is going to be part of the operation instead of just waiting at the sideline.


    They went through the underground passage and straight to the warehouse-looking entrance of the White Boots Auction House.


    The same manager and five receptionists that greeted them thest time weed them at the entrance. But this time, because Kayn and the others were no longer wearing a disguise, the six people acted very respectfully.


    Contrary to the others though, Kayn still wears a disguise, but this time it''s different since Chief Kylo probably recognizes already his previous disguise.


    "Greetings, Chairman Jericho," The manager bowed his head ny degrees along with the five receptionists behind him.


    "How''s the situation with this branch after that assassination attempt?" Jericho pretended to ask in concern.


    "It''s not looking good. The majority of our VIP clients expressed their dissatisfaction after nearly dying at the hands of Chief Kylo and the group of assassins,"


    "How did our Wing Boots Auction House respond?"


    "Master Khalid made their purchase half the price and those that didn''t buy any were given coupons that allows them to buy an item in the next auction for half the price,"


    "How about those people from the first floor? Were there any of them affected?"


    "All of them were affected. Master Khalid simply gave them money to satisfy their so-called emotional and mental damages,"


    Jericho nodded in satisfaction. Master Khalid is the person he put in charge of managing this branch of Wing Boots Auction House in the Daze Vige. He is one capable merchant that''s why he specifically choose him.


    "Where is he right now?"


    "He is busy taking care of the damages that''s why he sent me here," The manager could only look at Chairman Jericho awkwardly. Master Khalid was supposed to be the one to wee Chairman Jericho here, not him, who is just a lowly manager.


    "Tell your men to carry our stuff as you led us to our quarters,"


    "Alright!"


    The manager immediately ordered his men to bring all the baggage that Kayn''s group brought with them as he then led them through the mana elevator to get to the penthouse of the Wing Boots Auction House.


    In every Wing Boots Auction House, the penthouse would always be left empty in case Jericho unexpectedlyes to visit them.


    Kayn''s group reached the penthouse and after making the manager leave, they quickly started preparing to gather information around the Daze Vige about the Assembly of Freedom.


    Instead of leaving using the mana elevator that they''d used to get up, Jericho led them to a secret tunnel that leads to another mana elevator that only members of the Herald Guild and the higher-ups of the Wing Boots Auction House knows about.


    The exit to this mana elevator was a restaurant just right beside the Wing Boots Auction House. All personnel of this restaurant are members of the Herald Guild who disguise themselves as staff from this restaurant.


    "Don''t be surprised, every establishment in the one-kilometer vicinity of the Wing Boots Auction House are our property," Jericho exins as he led everyone to the back entrance of the restaurant. "We use them for strategic operations like what we are doing now,"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Here," Jericho gave everyone one gold emblem each with the logo of a pair of wing boots. "We are going to separate from here to gather information. Use this emblem if you want to ess the resources of the Herald Guild or the Wing Boots Auction House. Just show them this and they will know what they have to do,"


    Kayn and the others nodded their heads before going in separate ways.


    The others picked their location based on thepass, and Kayn picked south.


    He doesn''t know what the others'' reason for picking their location, perhaps it is random, but for him, he choose the south because he saw from the penthouse window that the ce seems to be the red district of the Daze Vige.


    Where else would be the best ce to start searching for information about the Assembly of Freedom other than the ck area, right?


    Kayn soon reached the red district. It was a ce that was surrounded by taverns, brothels, bars, bathhouses, casinos, and other illegal-rted establishments.


    The first ce on Kayn''s list to visit was the tavern, as it is the ce where people in this line of work gather together to recruit people, talk about their job, and possibly also eptmissions from the bartender.


    As soon as Kayn walked inside a tavern, everyone''s eyes instantly got turned in his direction. He was already used to this, so he casually walks to the counter to order a drink.


    His action just now shows that he is someone with experience in this kind of matter. He might have entered this ce with an unfamiliar face, but nobody would think now of treating him as easy prey.


    "What drink do you want?" Ady bartender asked the moment Kayn sat on his chair.


    "Devil''s Shot,"


    "Coming right up,"


    Instead of brewing a drink, the bartender took out a bunch of documents under the desk and gave them to Kayn.


    Devil''s Shot is a codename for epting missions in this kind of establishment. It is the opposite of asking for an angel''s shot, which means they are asking for help. Though in some establishments they recognize the Devil''s Shot as an actual drink thatbines one part sambuca, one part vodka, and three sshes of tabasco sauce. It is through this that one can know whether they are in the right ce or not.


    "Give me a ss of Tonic Extraction,"


    "About what?" The bartender grabbed a ss and a cloth as she pretended to clean it.


    Tonic Extraction is another codename that means give me information.


    "Assembly of Freedom,"


    Hearing the name, the bartender''s eyes immediately turned sharp as she started looking around from left and right.


    "Follow me to the backroom,"


    This means that she is going to lead him to someone who knows about it.

 Chapter 202 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 5

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    Chapter 202: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 5


    Although the bartender is a stranger, Kayn still didn''t hesitate to follow her to the back room. That''s because if he hesitates, it would mean that he is not familiar with what he is doing and has probably heard everything from somebody else. This would make the bartender change her mind about having a transaction with him, and what he came here to do would all be for nothing.


    The backroom wasn''t just one room, it was a hallway with dozens of doors on both walls. Each of those doors clearly has a person inside who has the information that he needs.


    Kayn looked around curiously while following the bartender.


    In the next moment, the bartender stopped in front of a room with the number nine, which has a symbolic representation of liberation, a synonym for the word freedom.


    "The man inside has what you need," The bartender informed before leaving to return to her duty.


    Kayn didn''t waste any time as he entered the room.


    Inside the room was a man with only the right hand and an eyepatch to his left eye. If he was to guess, this man probably received an attack to his left, which exins the missing left arm and left eye.


    Of course, there''s also the possibility that the man is just faking it. It is a verymon performance in this line of work. By pretending to have irreversible wounds, they can drive up the price of the information using the excuse that they went to great lengths to get them.


    "Are you done examining me?" The man asked with a serious tone in his voice.


    "Yes," Kayn didn''t hide his intention before sitting on the chair opposite the man.


    "What about the Assembly of Freedom do you need?"


    "Everything that you know,"


    "I am afraid that I can''t do that," The man pointed to the sign above him.


    Looking at the sign, Kayn read that every customer can only ask for five pieces of information per day.


    "If you want to know more, you have to return the next day, and the day after that. It would probably take you around a month to finish, and maybe by then I would have more information about the Assembly of Freedom, which would again take you another, I don''t know, probably forever," The man rolled his right eye. "All I am saying is, ask the right question,"


    Kayn didn''t mind the sarcastic response of the man as he understand that he offended thetter by scrutinizing him the moment he entered the room.


    "Okay," Kayn now understood the rules. "What are you asking for each piece of information?"


    "You can ask first along with the offer, if I am satisfied with it I''ll tell you. If not, then I won''t respond,"


    "Fine," Kayn realized that this establishment is very protective of their informant. They have meticulously considered the possibility of someone buying information from them and then selling it to another establishment. Not only that, by limiting the information a customer can ask, they can also differentiate the fake informants from the real ones because a fake won''t know everything that the original informant knows.


    "Give me the location of five of their bases around or nearby the Daze Vige. You probably know more than five, so I''ll leave it up to you to decide based on what I am paying you," Kayn waves his hand and took out five thousand coins. This means he is giving one thousand coins for each location. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Greed was instantly seen in the man''s eyes. In his mind, he understood that the person in front of him is a big client. The reason is that information is normally priced from fifty coins to five hundred, only the rich one gives more than that.


    "In that case, I''ll give you the location of their important bases," The man waves his hand and immediately took out a map of the Daze Vige and its territory outside.


    "I got these pieces of information after ¡ª"


    "Cut the useless talk and just give me the information I need!" Kayn interrupted. He doesn''t want to hear the sympathy card that they usually use in order to earn more on what they supposedly call a tip.


    "Alright," The man realized that he can''t fool the man in front of him.


    The man started circling the location while describing what those bases were.


    "This one is for their food. The second one is for their weapons. The third one is where they store their ves, which I don''t know where they intend on using them,"


    Kayn naturally knew after reading the description of the <<Cost of Loyalty>>. Those ves are clearly going to be forced to swear loyalty to Chief Kylo so that he can use them as crazy soldiers during the war. Unfortunately, now that he has the Kingmaker, those ves won''t any longer be used for that.


    "The fourth is where they gather for a meeting. And thisst one, as a special treat for paying me a lot, is the house of Chief Kylo,"


    "That''s how you earn a tip," Kayn toss a Storage Ring which contains another thousand coins.


    "I''ll take note of that for the next time," The man smiled widely.


    Since already have what he needed, Kayn immediately left the room. He followed the same path he took to get inside and not long after he returned to the tavern.


    "Are you done?" The bartender asks.


    "Yes," Kayn nodded his head as he returned to his seat. He put the stack of documents that he is still carrying from the devil''s shot on top of the table and said. "Pick me a mission that''s rted to my Tonic Extraction,"


    "This one," The bartender pushed a piece of document in front of Kayn.


    "Thank you," Kayn pushed one hundred coins to the bartender. "This is my payment and tip for your service,"


    Kayn immediately left the tavern.


    As he was leaving, he can''t help but notice a few men standing up from their respective seats and following him outside.


    He already understood what was going on. But he didn''t panic nor did something to flee from their nose. As a matter of fact, he was d that this happens. In this way, he can ask for more information from these people after he incapacitates them.

 Chapter 203 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 6

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    Chapter 203: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 6


    After five minutes, Kayn left the alley with more information about the Assembly of Freedom. Behind him were those people who thought that he was an easy target.


    "Idiots," Natas can''t help muttering as he glimpses at his back. No matter where one would go, there would always be a ragtag group of people who thinks with their first instead of their head. If he was in their shoes, he would choose to report his finding instead of going after the target, especially considering that he has no information or clue about who he is up against.


    "No need to say that. If it wasn''t for them, I wouldn''t know the exact location of some of the Executives of the Assembly of Freedom," Kayn smiled.


    Turns out those people were of a considerably high rank in the Assembly of Freedom. They were inside the tavern exactly for people like him as they believe anyone who asks for information about their organization could only be the people from Old Mayor George''s side.


    Unfortunately for them, they picked a fight with the wrong man.


    In the end, after torturing them with the best method he knows, they coughed out the coordinates of their Executives. In total, he got two locations. One was to spare them from the torture, and the other was to spare their lives.


    Of course, there''s another reason why he spared them.


    "I''ll stay here and follow them once they are awake to find more information, while you go and do your own thing," Natas bid farewell to Kayn "Happy hunting!"


    Kayn left with a mischievous smile on his face.


    Later in the afternoon, multiple reports of ces being burned down to the ground spread all over the Daze Vige. The cause of the fire remained unknown, but what people were told or heard about was that those structures belong to the Assembly of Freedom and the reason they were destroyed is that a war is about to begin.


    Every single resident of the Daze Vige can''t help starting to worry about it to the point that the Chief has to gather everyone out in the za to assure them that it wouldn''t affect their Vige exining that the war would most likely take ce inside the Slumbering Forest.


    It was at this moment that a dagger flew straight to the head of the Chief of the Daze Vige.


    The man was unable to react in time as the dagger prated deep into his brain. His body dropped down from the podium with eyes still wide open.


    In an instant, every resident that was gathered in the za broke out in panic as they started running everywhere.


    Unlike the residents though, Kayn''s group and the members of the Assembly of Freedom who were also present in the za stood their ground.


    In the next moment, a fight broke out which ended with everyone from the Assembly of Freedom dying gruesome deaths.


    "How many have we killed and destroyed?" Kayn asked Gilbert.


    "We''ve killed 127 of their men, 3 were Executives and destroyed 12 of their bases," Gilbert reported.


    The Chief they''ve killed just now was one of the Executives of the Assembly of Freedom.


    This means to say that the Daze Vige is the territory of the Assembly of Freedom, which finally exins the reason why it took some time for the Herald Guild to find out that they''ve already entered the Slumbering Forest.


    "I should have thought of that," Jericho sighs as he approaches the Chief to check if thetter was really dead or not.


    After making sure that the Chief of the Daze Vige was dead, everyone quickly left. They each went in different directions as they have their respective targets to kill.


    Kayn''s next target was another Executive of the Assembly of Freedom who is currently pretending to be one of the librarians in the library.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Before going inside the library though, he first has to change his clothes to fit appropriately with the environment.


    Kayn stopped near a boutique and bought some clothes that makes him look like a schr. He uses their changing room to change as it was convenient this way.


    He exited the boutique dressed in a white polo shirtbined with ck trousers and a set of ck leather boots. His hair was also properlybed to the back, giving him a schrly vibe around him.


    The library wasn''t far from the boutique, just across the street. So, he didn''t have to walk that far.


    Upon entering the library, he instantly senses that the atmosphere of the ce is quite tense. It is definitely strange since this kind of ce usually gives a cold and silent ambiance.


    After looking around for a bit, Kayn finally found the librarian''s counter. He approached the counter and saw a man manning the booth.


    "Do you need help in looking for a book?"


    "Actually, no, I am looking for someone,"


    "May I know who it is?"


    "Yes, his name is Cade,"


    "You mean one of our librarians, sir Cade?"


    "That''s the one,"


    "I think he is upstairs, near the window,"


    "Okay. And by the way," Kayn waves his hand, immediately taking out a dagger from his Storage Ring. "You should work better on your acting,"


    Whoosh!


    The man was immediately killed.


    Kayn immediately jumped to the other side of the desk andid the man in an inconspicuous corner.


    He jumped to return to his original ce and after dusting himself, he looks around his surrounding to make sure no one spotted him.


    "What was I thinking," Kayn shook his head. A library barely has anyone, at least most of the time. "Now, I should look for Natas,"


    His action just now confirmed that the library is a den full of members from the Assembly of Freedom. Of course, it is still possible for innocent people to be here, but he''s not hoping for that considering that it is a mess outside right now.


    This also means to say that anyone who enters the library at this time would immediately bebeled suspicious. So, he has to get his act together and pick a book to read.


    There were countless bookshelves around this library. So, as he looks for a book to read, he consequently looks for anyone present.


    Every time he finds one, he approaches for help with something. And the instant he confirms they are members of the Assembly of Freedom, he kills them on the spot before quickly hiding their bodies in a corner.

 Chapter 204 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 7

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    Chapter 204: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 7


    Kayn soon cleared the first floor and second floor of the library.


    As expected, every single people present in the library were members of the Assembly of Freedom who are hiding from the mes of war currently taking ce outside.


    Apparently, because this is a library, people would not think of looking for members of the Assembly of Freedom inside.


    Unfortunately for them, this was the ce those men Kayn had beaten up at the alley of the tavern went after waking up.


    "Where could possibly Natas be," Kayn is still searching for Natas as thetter didn''t show up after he entered the library.


    It wasn''t troublesome though since he is still progressing smoothly. The only problem is he still hasn''t found a clue where Cade is right now.


    "Natas is mostly likely with Cade right now. So, as long as find him, I''ll also be able to find the fourth Executive of the Assembly of Freedom," Kayn pulled out his dagger from the head of the man he just killed.


    "Time to go to the third floor," Kayn looks up to thest remaining floor of this library.


    It didn''t take him long to find the stairs to the third floor.


    He quickly went up, but just when he was about to reach the floor, dozens of arrows shots in his direction.


    Bang! Bang!


    Kayn swiftly evaded all the arrows. Afterward, he looks up to see where it came from.


    Two men holding a crossbow each were blocking his way.


    "Assigning to marksmen to block my path? He shouldn''t be stupid," Kayn smirks.


    In the next moment, Kayn hurls himself forward.


    Whoosh!


    Two arrows were shoot in Kayn''s direction.


    He easily evaded the arrows, and with a three-hundred-sixty-degree turn, he threw a pair of daggers at the two men.


    The two men weren''t expecting Kayn''s move, so they were unable to evade the attack on time.


    Kayn passed by the two men as their dead bodies started rolling down the stairs.


    ng!


    Kayn immediately raised his Molten Ice Sword to block two swords aimed at him. He immediately raised his right foot to send a kick to the man on the right side.


    Bang!


    Afterward, he slid forward to slip away from the stalemate before stabbing to his rear.


    He quickly pulled out his sword which is now covered in blood and swing it at the man he just kicked.


    ng!


    The sound of metal hitting against metal was heard as the man blocked Kayn''s attack. But what the man didn''t realize was that it was exactly what Kayn wanted him to do.


    Kayn waved his left hand and a dagger immediately appeared. "This is the reason why you should master two weapons,"


    He stabbed the man''s heart before kicking him forward to the two men rushing at him.


    "You guys just won''t stop," Kayn looked down below and saw the sword of the man he just killed. A thought immediately pops into his head.


    He flicked the hilt of the sword using his feet and as the sword flew in front of him, he kicked its hilt once again to send it flying to the man on the left.


    Bang!


    It was a clean and direct hit to the head.


    Quickly after, he lunges forward to engage with the man to the right.


    Whoosh!<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    In just a brief moment, Kayn killed six men who tried to ambush him.


    He looked around his surrounding, waiting for the next wave of attack. But after waiting for tens of seconds, no one appeared.


    "Was that all of them?" Kayn felt slightly disappointed. He was expecting dozens of people waiting and lying in ambush, yet not even half of that number appeared.


    "I guess I''ve killed most of them on the first and second floor," Now that he thinks about it, he had killed close to fifty people beforeing up to the third floor. Normally there would only be thirty or forty men around each Executive, so these six people should be thest remaining in his squad.


    Walking around the rows of bookshelves, Kayn soon notices a shadow that moved very swiftly to his right side. "Is he an assassin?"


    Since he already found a clue to where Cade is, he immediately followed the direction of where the shadow was going.


    Whoosh!


    All of a sudden, two daggers went flying in Kayn''s direction.


    "You mess with the wrong person," Kayn easily parried the pair of daggers without affecting his movement.


    "It seems like I won''t be able to catch him if I continue with this method,"


    While running, Kayn started looking for alternatives to catch up with the shadow.


    "That''s it,"


    In the next moment, Kayn jumped on top of the table in front of him. Uponnding, he jumped once again in order to get on top of the bookshelves.


    From there, he started jumping from one bookshelf to the other.


    After a few jumps, Kayn notices that he is getting close to the shadow.


    Aside from the shadow, he also notices Natas following very closely.


    "Kayn?" Natas quickly saw Kayn.


    Without needing to ask it, Kayn immediately understood that the shadow is Cade.


    "Let me make you stop running," Kayn waves his hand, immediately throwing two daggers in the location of where Cade was going.


    Bang!


    As expected, Cade immediately stopped running in order to jump back in time to evade the pair of daggers.


    Whoosh!


    Before Cade couldnd on the ground, a sword wave came in his direction.


    Bang!


    Cade quickly turned around and raised his two daggers to block the attack.


    Boom!


    Kayn was slightly surprised to see that his sword wave exploded upon making contact with the daggers on Cade''s hand.


    Although a sword wave is made out of mana, its prating power isn''t something to underestimate about.


    The only exnation as to why it instantly exploded was because Cade isn''t just using two ordinary daggers.


    As an expert with daggers, Kayn easily understood the reason why. "You used magic diamonds to make your daggers?"


    Magic diamonds are diamonds that have been exposed to mana for a very long time. They basically possess ten to twenty times the natural ability and attributes of ordinary diamonds. Hence, their price is always astronomical.


    With those factors into consideration, magic diamonds are one of the best materials used in making weapons and equipment as they possess natural resistance to damage and when sharpened, they be one of the deadliest and sharpest objects.


    Cade simply smile in response.


    "I would definitely not let you go," Kayn instantly became interested in Cade''s dagger and ns to steal it for himself.

 Chapter 205 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 8

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    Chapter 205: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 8


    Without wasting any time, Kayn hurls himself toward Cade to finally engage inbat.


    Cade, however, doesn''t want to. So, he immediately runs away.


    "I won''t let you escape," Kayn kicked the bookshelf in front of him.


    Bang! Bang!


    One bookshelf after another started falling forward.


    Since Cade was about to make a turn at the end of the hallway, Kayn hopes to block the former''s way with this method.


    At the same time, he jumps on top of the falling bookshelves and started running on top of them to quickly catch Cade and at the same time make it easier for him to continue chasing if his n fails.


    When thest bookshelf was about to fall, Cade immediately slide below it in order to pass through.


    Seeing it, Kayn smiled widely. "I know you would do that,"


    <<Sword Dance>>


    <<Temperature Reset>>


    <<Sword Dance>>


    "Have a taste of this!"


    <<Molten Ice sh>>


    WHOOOOSHHH!


    A sword wave carrying a strong destructive force along with a searing and freezing element swiftly shoots at the other side of the falling bookshelf where Cade is expected to exit from.


    The figure of the cluessless Cade was soon seen.


    Boom!


    A loud explosion erupted as the sword wave hit its target. But it didn''t just stop there as it continued on its path forward.


    When the dust finally settled down, Kayn saw Cade''s figure still standing. However, this time, thetter has lost his left arm.


    "I didn''t expect you would still be alive," Kayn halted in his tracks.


    Blood was oozing out like a waterfall from the severed arm of Cade.


    Cade immediately gathered fire element mana on his right hand and afterward push it on his severed arm.


    "Ahhh!" Cade roared out in pain.


    "Are you an idiot?" Naturally, Kayn didn''t wait for Cade to finish as he jump forward tounch his attack.


    <<Outburst>>


    Boom!


    Kayn was suddenly sent sting away, causing him to retreat a few tens of meters backward.


    "I was only intending to escape, but you force my hand to fight you," Cade is now enraged after losing his left arm.


    "Which hand? I mean, it is obviously your right hand since you''ve lost your left. I guess you could say your hand left," Kayn chuckled. He isn''t feeling the slightest bit of fear despite the fact that Cade has activated <<Outburst>>.


    "I don''t like your joke!" Cade hurls himself forward while brandishing his dagger.


    Seeing this, Kayn raised his sword to block.


    Boom!


    Kayn''s sword and Cade''s dagger shed with each other.


    Just looking at the two, it is very evident that Kayn is losing in terms of strength as he keeps on retreating backward.


    Nevertheless, Kayn''s expression remained the same as always. As a matter of fact, his lips are slowly forming into a smile.


    "You shouldn''t have gotten close," Kayn muttered.


    In the next moment, Cade suddenly felt a sharp pain on the left side of his stomach. Looking down, he saw a dagger embedded inside his body.


    Quickly following after, he saw a foot thrusting the dagger.


    Bang!


    Immediately, Cade was sent away with a kick to the hilt of the dagger that prated his stomach.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Cade could only grit his teeth in pain. Not only did he lose his left arm, but a dagger is also stuck in his body now.


    That wasn''t yet the end though¡­


    Boom!


    The dagger exploded.


    Cade was once again sent flying away. His body soon crashed onto the bookshelves that Kayn had turned into a small hill.


    As the dust settled down, Kayn saw Cade once more remaining standing still. Unlike thest time though, nearly half of thetter''s body was gone from the explosion of the dagger.


    Looking closely, Cade''s innards are hanging out from his body.


    It was a very disgusting a gruesome scene. But Kayn didn''t feel the same.


    "What was that?" Cade weakly uttered before coughing out blood from his mouth.


    "Just a trick under my sleeves," Kayn slowly approaches Cade. He knew thetter can no longer do anything to him.


    "You¡­ will¡­ regret¡­ this¡­" Cade finally dropped to the ground.


    "I don''t think so," Kayn wasn''t bothered by a dead man''sst word.


    Kayn quickly picked up the pair of daggers from Cade and checked their description.


    [


    <<Shardde>>


    Rank: Elite


    Level: 40 - 50


    Durability: 90%


    Passive Skills:


    (1) Enhances all attacks.


    (2) Extreme sharpness.


    Active Skills:


    (1) Shards: Creates dozens of replicas of the dagger that the user can use to attack. Cooldown: 180 seconds.


    (2) Mana Extension: Extends the length of the dagger by twice its original size. Cooldown: 60 seconds.


    (3) Dagger Dance: Increases the strength of the next attack by 150%. Cooldown: 180 seconds.


    Description: A dagger that''s been crafted using magic diamonds by a talented merchant.


    ]


    "Worthy of its rank," Kayn is delighted with his new weapon.


    Now he has three weapons, the Molten Ice Sword, Melting Icicle Dagger, and Shardde.


    The Shardde would definitely be a great addition to his arsenal.


    Kayn searched Cade''s body for some more loot before finally leaving with Natas.


    "What you get other than the pair of daggers?" Natas asked curiously.


    "More information on the location of their remaining Executives," Kayn is excited to continue with his hunting.


    "Are you still going alone or are you bringing the others this time?" Natas felt concerned.


    Kayn might have been able to kill Cade fairly easily, but that was only because thetter was trying to run away instead of fighting.


    That was why Kayn was able to deal huge damage to Cade before the beginning of their fight, which gave him a great advantage.


    If Cade went ahead and fought against Kayn from the very start, then things would have yed out differently from this time, especially if Cade activated his <<Outburst>> with two arms.


    "I understand what you mean," Kayn naturally knows it after those two sses with Cade. Although thetter only had one arm, his strengthbined with the <<Outburst>> was no joke.


    He definitely can''t underestimate the rest of the remaining Executives of the Assembly of Freedom in the Daze Vige. Considering now that four of them have died, they would obviously be more than prepared for their arrival. So, going alone would be a stupid idea.


    "This time, I''ll take the others with me. And also, the progress we''ve made so far should be enough for today. We will continue tomorrow," Kayn decided to gather everyone and call it a day.

 Chapter 206 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 9

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    Chapter 206: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 9


    Kayn left the library to quickly look for the others and tell them to call it a day.


    Continuing today would be a bad idea because the members of the Assembly of Freedom would no doubt charge recklessly at them after the damage they''ve inflicted on their side so far. In that way, things would be unpredictable.


    Moreover, everyone should be feeling exhausted now after moving everywhere in the Daze Vige to look for the bases of the Assembly of Freedom and fighting against their members.


    In addition to that, the sky is about to darken. Just like their side, the majority of the members of the Assembly of Freedom should be out there somewhere preparing for the uing war and would be returning in the evening.


    Of course, the third option hasn''t been confirmed yet, that''s why it is much better to retreat and see if that''s really the case.


    If it''s really proven, then the next day they''ll hunt for those members of the Assembly of Freedom outside the Daze Vige instead of continuing their operation inside. In this way, it will be them who are unpredictable and they''ll also ruin their ns and at the same time gather information about what they are trying to cook up.


    "How was it, your battle with the Executive?" Gilbert can''t help asking.


    "It was fairly, but it was because he was running away," Kayn waved his hand to show the new dagger he got.


    "Is that made out of magic diamond?" Gilbert was slightly shocked.


    "Yes,"


    "I am so jealous," Gilbert could only hope that he was the one who defeated that Executive. "On my side, I only got useless items that aren''t different from scraps,"


    "Did you bring them?"


    "I burned them,"


    "Likewise," Jude interjected.


    "I got a few, but they''re nothingpared to my sword," Charles added.


    "If you need any items, just pick from the Wing Boots Auction House. No need to pick up the trash they''re carrying," Jericho suggested to everyone.


    "Do we only have to show the emblem you''ve given us?"


    "Yes,"


    "Alright!"


    Everyone immediately felt excited.


    Contrary to them, Kayn remained serious.


    At this moment, they are now inside the penthouse, resting and just having a casual conversation.


    "Why so serious?" Jericho approaches.


    "I am looking outside to see how the Assembly of Freedom is doing,"


    Although they are on the top floor of the Wing Boots Auction House, he could actually still see a fair bit of view down on the ground. This was only possible because his level has considerably increased.


    "How''s it looking?"


    "Nothing much," It is quite easy to identify the members of the Assembly of Freedom now as they are searching almost everywhere. As for the ordinary residents, they either left the Daze Vige earlier ago or are currently staying inside their respective houses.


    "Let me see," Jericho took out a telescope from his Storage Ring.


    "You had that all this time?" Kayn was slightly in disbelief.


    Jericho chuckled as he ignored Kayn.


    "They''ve gotten bolder. Searching every house as if they own the Daze Vige,"


    "I guess killing the Chief didn''t affect them that much,"


    "I just received news that they''ve already selected a new Chief. And after investigating him, we found out that he is a member of the Assembly of Freedom, and a very active one,"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Is he an Executive?"


    Jericho shook his head. "No. But he is aiming to be one,"


    "He picked the wrong time,"


    "Indeed," Jericho passed the telescope to Kayn and added. "In case you need something like the telescope, don''t hesitate to ask the Wing Boots Auction House for assistance,"


    "I''ll take note of that," Kayn received the telescope and he immediately started using it.


    Jericho left to join in everyone''s conversation.


    This time, Kayn''s view of the ground became five times better than a while ago.


    All of a sudden.


    Boom!


    A series of explosions sounded as a few businesses around the Wing Boots Auction House got consumed by huge mes.


    "What happened," Jericho hastily returned.


    Gilbert, Jude, Charles, Jadiel, and Randy also rushed to the window to see the situation down below.


    "I guess a few of your businesses were attacked by the Assembly of Freedom," Those buildings that exploded just now were the ones Jericho said this morning belong to the Wing Boots Auction House.


    "They dare!"


    Jericho opted to leave but was quickly stopped by Kayn. Jadiel and Randy also blocked their chairman''s path.


    "They''re just trying to test the waters,"


    "Are you sure?"


    "Yes, look," Kayn pointed at the burning buildings.


    Those buildings that got attacked were only small businesses. For example, a mere store that sells newspapers.


    "Are they perhaps sending a warning,"


    "Yes, and they also want to see how you will react to their attacks," Kayn confirmed. "They probably heard the chairman of the Wing Boots Auction House hase to the Daze Vige for inspection onst night''s attack. And not long after your arrival, multiple of their bases has also unexpectedly suffered an attack. They want to know if you''re rted to it or not by basing on your reaction,"


    "So, what do you suggest we should do?"


    "You can''t pretend that you aren''t aware of their current situation. So, you have to respond openly to get their attention,"


    "How?"


    "Remember what you said before you left just now?"


    Jericho could easily discern Kayn''s thoughts as he remarked. "You don''t mean to suggest that we should eliminate the recently appointed Chief, do you?".


    "That''s right!" Kayn looks at Jericho, Jadiel, and Randy, the three members of the Herald Guild present right now. "Their leader, possibly Chief Kylo himself, would definitely show himself once you do that. Once that happens, you can tell him upfront that the recent attack on their bases isn''t your doing,"


    "What then?"


    "You''ll join them,"


    "What?!" Jericho was instantly rendered shocked at Kayn''s suggestion.


    "Don''t forget, your other identity is the vice-guild leader of the Thieves Guild Alliance. As far as I know, almost everyone from that alliance chooses to be on the side of the Assembly of Freedom. So, it wouldn''t be strange if you express your intention of joining them. Just use the excuse that you want to find the thieving group that ruined the auction eventst night. They''ll definitely like that reason, considering how unreasonable they are,"


    "Okay," Jericho agreed. This is no doubt a crazy n, but he isn''t afraid of doing it, and in fact, he believes that it would actually work.


    With that being said, Jericho, Jadiel, and Randy quickly left the penthouse to start preparing for Kayn''s n.

 Chapter 207 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 10

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    Chapter 207: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 10


    Just like Kayn''s n, the Wing Boots Auction House immediately announced their retaliation for the supposedly unprovoked way of sending a warning of the Assembly of Freedom to their property.


    The newly appointed Chief of the Daze Vige, whose dream to be an Executive of the Assembly of Freedom was burning ever so brightly after getting the position, was instantly extinguished as his body dropped to the ground lifeless.


    News of the death of the newly appointed Chief of the Daze Vige swiftly spread throughout everyone in the territory, causing further panic and chaos in the residents'' minds.


    Contrary to them though, the Assembly of Freedom felt enraged at the action of the Wing Boots Auction House.


    However, because it was them who initiated the attack without enough proof, they had no choice but to request a meeting with Jericho, the chairman of the Wing Boots Auction House, to talk about the reason why they killed the Chief they appointed.


    Although they know already the likely reason why, this is the only proper excuse they can use for Jericho to ept their request.


    As expected, Jericho epted, and the leaders and Executives of the Wing Boots Auction House and the Assembly of Freedom in the Daze Vige gathered together in the town hall to talk about the recent misunderstanding.


    Unbeknownst to the Assembly of Freedom though, Kayn''s entire group was also present in the meeting as they disguised themselves as Jericho''s bodyguard.


    Regretfully, Chief Kylo wasn''t present in the meeting as they thought, which made them think that perhaps he is very busy dealing with more important matters than this one.


    Instead, it was someone else who Kayn and the others had met not so long ago who came to rece Chief Kylo ¡ª Wicked Marite Wesley.


    "There''s no need for us to talk about our action and your action because we both know that it was nothing more than a misunderstanding," Wesley initiated the meeting.


    "Good to know that both of our sides are on the same page," Jericho was d that he is not talking to someone who thinks that he is an idiot.


    "That aside, the Assembly of Freedom does want to know if the Wing Boots Auction House, or should I say, Herald Guild, is not involved in the recent attacks in our bases. After all, it coincides quite timely with your arrival," Wesley calmly expresses their side''s main concern.


    "I don''t think you''ll believe me if I say we aren''t involved, so how about let''s put it this way," Jericho shed both of his hands together on top of the table. "Let my Herald Guild join the Assembly of Freedom,"


    "That is surprising," Wesley didn''t expect that this would be Jericho''s response. After all, they just burned down some of their properties. If it was him, he would not take this lying down and would aggressively ask forpensation. Albeit there''s only a small chance for that to happen since they''ve already had their revenge, but it is what he expected Jericho would do.


    "What made you decide of joining the Assembly of Freedom?"


    "Well, the majority of members of the Thieves Guild Alliance already expressed their intention of joining your side. And considering my position, it would be quite awkward if we continue remaining neutral,"


    "Fair enough,"


    "And besides, our Herald Guild doesn''t have that leverage to say to the two sides that they shouldn''t involve us,"


    "Alright," Wesley fully understood. In other words, fence-sitters aren''t wee in the uing war between the Assembly of Freedom and Green Horn City. "Before I pass this request to Chief Kylo, can you tell us what you Herald Guild could possibly offer to our side,"


    "As much as I want to show you what our Herald Guild can offer, I don''t want to unless your side shows us first a bit of your sincerity,"


    "And why is that?"


    "Because it doesn''t change the fact that you attacked us first,"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I guess you''re right," Wesley found Jericho''s request quite reasonable. "What do you want us to do?"


    "Very simple, we just want a tour,"


    "A tour? Why?" Wesley felt suspicious.


    "To see if we''ve made the correct choice of joining your side," Jericho sarcastically uttered. "Of course, it is to know what your side needs,"


    "Are you saying you want to inspect us so that you can determine what value you can offer to the Assembly of Freedom,"


    "Exactly," Jericho flicked his fingers. "How else can our Herald Guild secure a high enough position in the Assembly of Freedom?"


    "You''re a member of the Thieves Guild Alliance, you should be able to get a high position automatically, right?"


    "I am, not the Herald Guild,"


    "I see," Wesley realized his mistake.


    "You see, just joining the Assembly of Freedom wouldn''t satisfy our greed. Because that means we are ordinary allies, and in most cases, we be cannon fodder. No Guild Leader in their right mind would want that, right? We want to be what I personally call, friends,"


    "Friends?" Wesley stroke his chin as he felt intrigued by the term. "Okay, how about this? Tomorrow, I''ll personally guide you on a tour of our bases,"


    "Sounds perfect to me,"


    "Alright, then meeting dismiss," Wesley pushed a te of candies to Jericho. "Would you want to taste some of my personal favorites,"


    Just when Jericho was about to reach out to grab one candy, a dagger suddenly sted the te into pieces, which nearly hit Wesley''s hand. Albeit it did make a small cut on his arm from the broken pieces that shot out.


    Wesley quickly turned to look at the person who threw the dagger at the te.


    It was Kayn.


    Of course, Wesley doesn''t recognize Kayn and only knows that thetter is one of Jericho''s bodyguards.


    "Wicked Marite Wesley. I know who you are very well. You use food to charm other people and take control of them,"


    Hearing Kayn''s words, Wesley smiled as he turns to look at Jericho. "You should give that person a promotion because he just saved your life,"


    "I don''t understand. Didn''t we already agree that we will be allies?" Jericho was very confused at Wesley''s attempt to sabotage him.


    Wesley pulled away before muttering. "It has never been bad to try, right? And this is my own way of testing other people whether they really have the rights to be recognized by us. If you had eaten that candy, it would mean that you aren''t as capable as you think you are"


    "Does this mean I passed?"


    "My test. We''ll see about the others," Wesley chuckled. "Anyways, see you tomorrow,"

 Chapter 208 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 11

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    Chapter 208: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge''  Part 11


    The next day quickly came.


    As expected, Wesley came to the Wing Boots Auction House early in the morning to begin the tour of the bases, at least remaining bases, of the Assembly of Freedom around the Daze Vige.


    Kayn and the others already prepared themselves yesterday on what to do as they went on the tour with Wesley.


    "You''re alsoing?" Wesley looks at Kayn as thetter strikes the best impression on him among all the bodyguards yesterday. "Did you get your promotion? If not, why not join my team,"


    "I did," Kayn rejected kindly as he doesn''t want to get on the bad side of Wesley during the tour in case thetter tries to do something.


    "You did?" Wesley slightly felt regretful. "What''s your position now?"


    "Captain,"


    "Is that right?" Wesley looks at Jericho.


    "As of now," Jericho responded. "Until he fully adapts to his current position, he''ll stay as a captain,"


    "You heard him, quickly adapt so that you can stand in the same league as the Executives of the Herald Guild," Wesley chuckled. "Anyways, follow me as I show you what we''ve prepared so far,"


    With that being said, the tour begins.


    The first few locations they visited were those bases inside the Daze Vige.


    It was only at this moment that Kayn and the others realized just how many more bases of the Assembly of Freedom they missed yesterday.


    Although it wasn''t that bad since they''ll certainly not miss them the next time.


    Other than that, they also realized that the number of men stationed in those bases have significantly increased in numbers. Moreover, they''ve also assigned a few elite members. This was obviously because of yesterday''s attack.


    This finding confirmed that the majority of the Assembly of Freedom in the Daze Vige indeed went out to prepare something yesterday and had only returnedst evening.


    "I know that they''re scattered everywhere, but that''s only for now," Wesley exined. "Thanks to the attack of the unknown group yesterday, our people now have more buildings to use as our base after the residents evacuated and left the Daze Vige,"


    "Are you intending on upying the entire Daze Vige for your operation?" Jericho felt slightly worried that his men won''t be spared and his businesses in the Daze Vige would also be implicated.


    "Worry not, since you will be joining the Assembly of Freedom soon, that means that your bases are also going to be our bases. Albeit it doesn''t mean we will send our men to upy them. Your property would still entirely belong to you and we will not touch an inch of it, except for those that we already destroyed. You don''t mind, right?" Wesley curiously asked.


    "I do,"


    "Just kidding," Wesley chuckled. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Was that meant to be a joke?"


    "Sorry to offend you. Of course, we won''t since that would obviously affect your arrangement of having everything within one kilometer of the Wing Boots Auction House on your property. I don''t quite understand what your strategy is, but we don''t mind your actions,"


    "It is for safety,"


    "Well, it certainly didn''t prove its usefulness when our leader was attacked and the thieving group was still able to escape sessfully," Wesley sarcastically remarks.


    "Just like how you were able to see our arrangement, other people are also capable of doing the same,"


    "Are you saying that they are smart like me,"


    "I didn''t say such a thing," Jericho chuckled.


    "I like you! Your way of talking is almost in the same league as mine,"


    "Believe whatever you want,"


    "I certainly will," Wesley startedughing. But then he suddenly stopped when everyone reached the gate of the Daze Vige. His tone changed as he said. "This time, I will be touring you around the real base of the Assembly of Freedom,"


    "As in the real base? Or just the real base in the Daze Vige? I heard you have other bases in all the territories surrounding the Slumbering Forest,"


    "The real base as in the real base,"


    Hearing that, Jericho can''t help glimpsing at Kayn, asking thetter if they should continue with this act or not.


    As much as he wanted to believe that everything is going smoothly, the thought that there is a chance for things to go south would still asionally pop up in his mind. It is definitely because he is beside Wesley, someone who is in the same league as the leaders of the Green Horn Knights of the Green Horn City.


    Contrary to Jericho, Kayn waspletely calm, and the thing that Wesley said didn''t affect him a single bit.


    "Don''t worry Chairman Jericho, I''ll always be by your side if things don''t go as nned," Kayn said in a discreet matter.


    "You don''t have to worry, it won''t," Wesley interjected.


    "I sure hope so. Otherwise, your actual base in the Slumbering Forest would be suffering some damage to it before the war against the Green Horn City even begins," Jericho muttered in a threatening tone.


    "We know, that''s why I personally volunteered myself to be your tour guide in order to make sure that doesn''t happen," Wesley said in a stern voice. Of course, he knows that there''s a possibility for things to go south. After all, members of the Assembly of Freedom are crazy people, including him. Butpared to him who''s still capable of thinking rationally, the majority don''t and most of the time they only think of themselves. One wrong action and everyone in Jericho''s group might identally get massacred. Supposed that happens, everyone in the Herald Guild would no doubt attack them. Not to mention, their rtionship with the Thieves Guild Alliance would also be affected as their vice-guild leader got killed during their alliance talk. In addition to that, they will pass the information of the Daze Vige being their actual base to the Green Horn City''s side for revenge for the death of their guild leader.


    He certainly doesn''t want that happening, especially not at the time that Chief Kylo had left him in charge of their base.

 Chapter 209 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 12

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    Chapter 209: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge''  Part 12


    The territory before the Slumbering Forest in the west direction is a innd called Slumber''s Gateway. This name was derived from the fact that this in ends in the Slumbering Forest.


    However, what lies in front of everyone right now was no longer the seemingly never-ending view of a grasnd, beautiful flowers, and a clear-as-ss river. Instead, multiple buildings that were inspired by the industrial revolution era stood tall everywhere.


    The Slumber''s Gateway has be an industrial city.


    Looking above, they could see multiple chimney-like objects spewing thick fog of ck smoke to the clouds, which seems to blend in well with the already dark sky hanging above everyone''s head.


    Loud noises also echoed as they slowly approached the city, causing them to feel slight difort in their ears.


    "I apologize. It wasn''t always this way back at the very beginning. Just that this time, because of the recent attacks in the past two days, we got slightly left behind in the schedule," Wesley exins.


    This wasn''t the question though that they wanted to know.


    Rather, they want to hear when exactly this city was constructed.


    "How long has this city been here?" Jericho decided to personally ask the question that everybody wanted to know.


    "Around a week or so now. We actually came to this ce as fast we can after receiving the news that the Green Horn City picked the Slumbering Forest as the ce to fight the war,"


    "Was it for early reconnaissance?"


    "Yes, since we believe the Green Horn City already knew of the Slumbering Forest before deciding to send us the deration of war,"


    "I am guessing that you don''t want to have the disadvantage in the terrain?"


    "Yes," Wesley nodded. "Anyways, we are here now,"


    What appeared in everyone''s sight was an even louder, darker, and more depressing sight of what it feels to be like in an actual industrial revolution era.


    Smoke.


    Dust.


    Pollution.


    Loud Noises.


    Angry and stressed people.


    Everywhere.


    That was the scene that appeared in front of Kayn and everyone.


    On top of that, it was crowded with more than thousands of people moving from one ce to another as their sweat sshed on the people near them.


    "I don''t really want to go there," Jericho was hesitant.


    "You don''t have to worry, we won''t be walking during the tour," Wesley assures.


    "Is riding a horse going to fix the problem?" Jericho rolled his eyes.


    "Just wait a bit," Wesley looks around. "Speak of the devil,"


    All of a sudden, a loud beeping noise could be heard in front of everyone.


    As the sound slowly approaches, the people around quickly started parting ways.


    Not long after, a moving object that seems to look like a car stopped in front of everyone.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "But how?"


    "It''s not really an actual car if that''s what you are thinking. Instead, it''s more like a train since it is powered by coal,"


    "Do you have more like this?" Jericho''s interest was instantly piqued.


    Not only Jericho, but even Kayn''s interest also rose sharply after seeing an industrial revolution model of a car.


    Instead of calling it a car though, it''s more proper to call it a motor wagon. Though it uses coal instead of gasoline, probably because gasoline doesn''t exist in ''The Bridge'' and there''s no way of replicating it using the materials found in this ce.


    As for how exactly it works, he doesn''t have the slightest clue. Probably only their merchants would know about that.


    "Hoped on," Wesley jumped on the motor wagon while motioning for Jericho toe up.


    "How about the others?" Jericho didn''t dare toe up if he is going to tour around the city of the Assembly of Freedom all on his own.


    "Who said that we only have one of these?" Wesley smiled.


    Hearing that, more beeping noises could be heard behind the one in front of them.


    "Okay," Jericho finally came up to the motor wagon.


    "You, captain,e along as well," Wesley pointed at Kayn.


    Kayn didn''t say anything in response and simply went up to sit beside Jericho.


    "The rest of you, wait for the others as you''ll be following behind,"


    As soon as Wesley finished saying that, the chauffeur of their ride started driving.


    ¡­..


    The entire tour took close to three hours to end despite the fact that they were riding on a motor wagon.


    It wasn''t because the city was huge. Instead, the traffic caused by the countless people moving around from one ce to another resulted in their ride barely being able to move.


    Moreover, fights would asionally break out along the route to the point that Wesley had to kill a few of them to settle down everyone who was trying to create chaos.


    Kayn and the others realized that for these people, words don''t work. Instead, one has to show them cruelty and blood. Because only after someone dies would everyone return to work.


    This city was the best and literal reflection of how the world would be like if these people run and managed every single rule,w, and regtion.


    The order would be reced by chaos.


    For one to be obedient, they''ll have to be met with brutal management.


    Andstly, only when one of the other parties dies would everything settle down.


    A cruel and dark world, that''s what it is.


    While watching the scene, Jericho couldn''t help feeling d that he had joined Kayn''s side. Because if the entire ''The Bridge'' would be like this the instant the Assembly of Freedom wins the war, then it won''t be different from the end of the world.


    As a matter of fact, having a higher status here might mean that they''ll have better lives, but it is ultimately nothingpared to the lives they are already living. In other words, they''ll just be sacrificing a better life and their freedom for more power and control.


    As a businessman and a guild leader, this is a trade that he doesn''t agree with no matter which angle he views it from.


    In his mind, he only has one thing he could say to everyone who decided to join the Assembly of Freedom ¡ª you guys must be idiots!

 Chapter 210 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 13

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    Chapter 210: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge''  Part 13


    Thest ce that Wesley took them was a building that seems to be the headquarters of the Assembly of Freedom in the Slumbering Forest.


    In front of them was a very tall building with almost a hundred floors.


    Honestly, from the first moment they entered this city, this building had already caught everyone''s attention as it was the tallest around. Even taller than the chimneys surrounding it.


    As they got inside the building, they were instantly greeted by a sight that was different from the scenario going on outside.


    There was absolute order and a sense of harmony between everyone.


    Moreover, it wasn''t crowded. There is more than enough space for people to move around without hitting another person.


    They walked through the hallway and were introduced by Wesley to the function of the rooms they passed by.


    Going from one floor to the other, they were shown that not a single space in the entire building wascking purpose.


    In the end, their opinion about the inside of the building was that it is the only ce where they can find the simplest form of human decency, which is a  basic trait that exists almost everywhere aside from this ce.


    Regardless of the interesting things inside, the building was still not spared from the onught of ck fog being released from the chimneys around them, which ultimately ruined its view from the penthouse.


    "How is itpared to the Wing Boots Auction House?" Wesley can''t helpparing.


    "It can use some improvements," Jericho turns to look at Wesley before adding inwardly. "On every aspect of your human being,"


    Inside his mind right now, Jericho couldn''t be any more sarcastic and scornful with Wesley. This person might be smart, but hecksmon sense in his brain. Not only that, he is excessively vain. If Wesley is in his right mind, he would definitely notpare the situation of the Assembly of Freedom and what it could bring to ''The Bridge'' to practically everything. Because regardless of which aspect it is, they couldn''t bepared to anything.


    They are the worst!


    "Anyways," Wesley walks to the sofa and satfortably. "How was the tour?"


    "It enlightened me a lot," Jericho sat on the opposite sofa. That''s right, it enlightened him that he made the best choice for his Herald Guild.


    Kayn and the others quickly positioned themselves behind Jericho. They might have remained silent all this time, but all of them have the same opinion as Jericho.


    These people are crazy!


    "I am d to hear that," Wesley smiled in triumph for his actions which lead to such an oue. "Since we are on the topic of the tour, why don''t you tell me now what you could possibly give to the Assembly of Freedom to be our supposed friend,"


    "Well,"


    Jericho entertained Wesley with what Kayn and the others were led to believe is called bullshit.


    The great chairman of the Wing Boots Auction House who is also the guild leader of the Herald Guild went on with his nonsense talk until afternoon, which is when Wesley finally became satisfied with what he heard.


    "Let me guide you back to the Daze Vige," Wesley stood up from his seat.


    "Alright," Jericho couldn''t help feeling d inwardly that everything is finally done.


    Using the same motor wagon, they traveled from the headquarters to the entrance of the city.


    Once again, they had to deal with the chaos and madness everywhere.


    Never mind Wesley being one of the higher-ups and possessing a special position in the Assembly of Freedom, a considerable amount of people would still dare to offend him along the way.


    In the end, Wesley had to add more people to the total number of people he killed today before they reached their destination. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Everyone disembarked from the motor wagon and went on foot as they continued their path to reach the Daze Vige.


    This time, their journey was smooth, peaceful, and unhindered.


    They reached the entrance of the Daze Vige very quickly as Wesley then bid farewell to everyone to return to their city.


    Ten minutes or so after Wesley left, Kayn finally asked the question that came up on everyone''s mind the moment they saw the city.


    "How on Earth did we not notice such a huge city close to the Daze Vige?" Kayn looks at everyone.


    "I don''t know," Gilbert was also clueless.


    "Almost every informant we asked gave us only their bases around the Daze Vige," Jude expresses.


    "This only means one thing," Jericho suddenly realized. "No one other than the members of the Assembly of Freedom was able to get out alive once they see their city,"


    "I guess you''re right," Kayn was still feeling slightly doubtful about it.


    The loud noises around the city should be loud enough for everyone in the Daze Vige to hear. Not to mention, they must have made even louder noises during their construction.


    "Wait,"


    Now that he thinks about it¡­


    Kayn suddenly realized something as he looked behind him.


    No sound.


    No smoke.


    No anything.


    "This is very strange," Kayn was suspicious of something. "Say, why don''t we try to sneak outside the city and try to find out the reason why?"


    "Wait," Jude suddenly felt something. "Another key is nearby,"


    "Another key?" Kayn instinctively looks in the direction of the city.


    Without any hesitation, he started running in the direction of the city.


    Everyone also followed after Kayn as something came up in everyone''s head after hearing Jude''s words.


    Because of their speed, they quickly reached the ins.


    However, to their shock, the huge city that once stood tall in front of them not so long ago was already gone.


    What reced it now was the seemingly endless greenery of the Slumber''s Gateway.


    Although there were traces of the city being there not so long ago though as they''ve noticed dozens of patches of destroyed and charrednd, clearly from burning something in those structures with chimneys on top.


    "The key is gone," Jude realized after losing the feeling of the third key.


    "It isn''t that no one noticed the city. In the first ce, the city wasn''t even constructed here," Kayn doesn''t want to believe it, but it is the only possibility they have to exin the reason for the sudden disappearance of the city. "The city can move,"

 Chapter 211 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 14

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    Chapter 211: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 14


    The city can move.


    "How is that even possible?" Gilbert was inplete disbelief.


    "It is possible," Jude interjected. "As long as they have one of the keys with them, they can make a city move,"


    Gilbert immediately realized that they''d also made a temporary settlement on the back of the Guardian Turtle. So, it''s very possible for other people to do the same or even more if they are given the same opportunity as them.


    Of course, they''re not sure yet if their key is a living being. Perhaps it is a weapon that''s capable of moving a city from one ce to another.


    "We aren''t sure of how they do it yet, so let''s not report it to Old Mayor George," Kayn decided to postpone informing anyone else about their findings just in case this might lead to unnecessary chaos on their side once they find out.


    "Are you sure about that," Jericho didn''t like that idea from Kayn.


    "I am certain about this one. In fact, I want you, Jadiel, and Randy to keep this information to yourselves only," Kayn turned serious. Jericho and his men weren''t supposed to know about the existence of the keys yet. This was a total ident that nobody wanted to happen.


    "I wonder what you meant about the keys," Jericho wanted to know more about the existence of the so-called keys.


    "We''ll talk about it once we get back to the penthouse," Kayn doesn''t want to exin the existence of keys in an open area in case someone is nearby and hears it.


    "I''ll be expecting that," Jericho took special note of that as he doesn''t want to be clueless about what seemed to be a very important matter.


    Everyone quickly returned to the Wing Boots Auction House.


    At this moment, the damages they causedst evening have already been repaired. There are no longer any holes, and the entire ce seems to have undergone refurnishing.


    After checking the ce out, Jericho talked with a man named Master Khalid about their next auction event.


    Jericho expressed his disagreement, but Kayn suggested otherwise as they could use it for something simr if there''s another chance.


    Once they were done with that, everyone went to the penthouse to begin discussing the existence of keys and their other findings.


    "So you''re telling me that the reason why we still haven''t found the exit of ''The Bridge'' was because we haven''t found the keys yet?" Jericho felt stupified at the thought.


    "Just like every door, to unlock it one must possess a key," Kayn exined in a simple manner.


    "And we have one with us, right?" Jericho looks at Jude. "Is it the Guardian Turtle?"


    "Yes," Jude could only lie as he doesn''t want Jericho to find out yet that he is the key instead of the Guardian Turtle.


    "Who else knows this aside from me?"


    "The first squad and the second squad of Green Horn Knights and Old Mayor George,"


    "I see, only the trustworthy people," Jericho finally realized why he wasn''t informed about it. "Rest assured, I will prove to you that I can help you with looking for the keys,"


    "We know, that''s why I am telling you this," Kayn naturally believes now that Jericho could provide a lot of resources to them.


    "By the way, you mentioned another key. Does that mean there already exists a key in the Slumbering Forest other than the Guardian Turtle?" Jericho thought of something. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "The Kraken,"


    "What?!"


    Jericho, Jadiel, and Randy looked at each other in shock.


    "Are you serious?" Jericho doesn''t want to imagine it.


    "I know it is hard to believe, but there''s a very good chance it is true," Jude expresses.


    "In that case, how do you n on persuading a Kraken to help us get free from ''The Bridge''?"


    "We will think about that after the war is over," Kayn informed them of his n.


    Evidently, they can''t do that with the war just around the corner. After all, there''s no telling if the Assembly of Freedom would take advantage of that opportunity to bring damages to their side.


    Moreover, now that the Assembly of Freedom possess another key, there''s the possibility that they also know of the existence of one more key in the Slumbering Forest.


    If they don''t want anyone elsepeting against them for the keys, the only way to do that is to defeat the Assembly of Freedom.


    "Is the key the reason why you are not telling Old Mayor George yet?"


    "Not really," Kayn shook his head. "I am worried about the others,"


    He doesn''t trust the people that Old Mayor George trusted, especially after what happened back during the meeting. Of course, that''s not the main reason why he felt that. In fact, that''s just him holding a grudge against them.


    The real reason he doesn''t trust them is simply because they''ve barely interacted and after what he went through in the second life, he is very meticulous when ites to deciding who to trust and not to trust.


    Only after interacting with them for a fair bit of time and earning Natas'' approval would he start considering trusting them. And that''s not even trusting them yet. He still has to see a few more things before that finally happens.


    "If we suddenly return, it would definitely raise suspicion among those people. They''ll want to know answers, and even if Old Mayor George can do something to prevent them from knowing the truth, they''ll still have doubts inside their minds until they are finally satisfied," Kayn doesn''t want that to happen as that means there''s a gap between each of their allies.


    "I guess you''re right," Jericho believes now that Kayn''s decision of not informing Old Mayor George yet is the correct thing to do. "But we will have to eventually tell him,"


    "We will tell him during the war,"


    "In that case, he might not have enough time to think of countermeasures,"


    "That''s why we will do it instead,"


    "How?"


    "By continuing with our acting,"


    "You''re really putting me in a lot of serious trouble, Kayn," Jericho sighs.


    "We will do it together," Kayn started telling everyone his new idea for the next meeting with Wesley. Thetter would definitelye again to inform them of the response of the Assembly of Freedom to their request to join their alliance.

 Chapter 212 The War That Decides The Fate Of The Bridge Part 15

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    Chapter 212: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 15


    Two days passed, and Kayn''s group continued destroying one base of the Assembly of Freedom after another. Of course, they still went for it at random so that Jericho''s Herald Guild won''t be implicated.


    Needless to say, they have the choice to not do it until Jericho''s Herald Guild got epted into the Assembly of Freedom. However, if they truly did that, it would make things very suspicious and would no doubt make Wesley think that the reason for the attack to suddenly stop is because the real perpetrators are currently waiting to be epted to their side


    Instead, what they did was that they ordered some men of the Thieves Guild Alliance that got into the Herald Guild to fake a pursuit of them.


    These people already went through a thorough investigation and it was confirmed that they are members of the Assembly of Freedom.


    In other words, other than cleaning the Daze Vige of men from the Assembly of Freedom, they are also cleaning out the rats inside the Wing Boots Auction House and Herald Guild from any more heretics that believe their vision of the future is better than their current situation.


    On the third day, Wesley returned to the Wing Boots Auction House early morning with supposedly good news from the Assembly of Freedom.


    "I have good news for you, Jericho," Wesley approached with a smile. "And for you too, my dear captain,"


    "Don''t call me that," Kayn was disgusted.


    Wesley chuckled in response.


    "It better be news that the Herald Guild got epted in the Assembly of Freedom," Jericho acted like he was hopeful.


    "That''s right! You''re in!"


    "Are you serious?"


    "Here''s the proof," Wesley handed a piece of document to Jericho.


    After epting the document, Jericho openly went to approach Kayn for assistance.


    "Did something happen in the past two days I wasn''t here," Wesley was very surprised.


    "I promoted him to be my personal assistant,"


    "That''s wonderful! Now you''re getting closer to standing on the same level as us. I seriously can''t wait for that day toe," Wesley expressed how happy he was.


    However, Kayn noticed a murderous intenting from Wesley''s eyes. Thetter is definitely nning something and it surely doesn''t mean good for him.


    Kayn shook the thought out of his mind as he''d be dealing with that in the future. For now, he has to focus on the document.


    "Is this real?" Jericho pretended to ask.


    Kayn knew a lot about Circus, which is the main organization behind the Assembly of Freedom. So, he knows if the document is true or fake.


    "There''s only one way to find out," Kayn gathered fire element mana on his arm.


    "What are you doing?!" Wesley became fully alert at Kayn''s action.


    In the next moment, Kayn touched the document with his hand that was covered with fire element mana. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Contrary to expectations, the document didn''t burn to dust. Instead, it shone a ck-colored light as if to resist the fire element mana.


    "I know there was something very strange about you!" Wesley finally understood why Kayn caught his attention. This man knows a lot about the Assembly of Freedom.


    "It is real," Kayn informed Jericho.


    "So, the real document doesn''t burn?" Jericho felt curious.


    "No," Kayn shook his head. "The real document won''t be destroyed with this simple method,"


    "How?"


    "They probably use Dark Oak to make their important documents. As we know, Dark Oak has a trait that allows them to naturally resist any type of mana,"


    "That''s right!" Wesley confirmed. Since the reason why they picked the Dark Oak to make their document is already revealed, there is no use hiding it anymore. "And if you add a few Runic patterns to it, it bes nearly indestructible. Of course, that''s only the case if you use simple methods. If you st it with, say, <<ze>> spell, it would instantly get burned to dust. Its only purpose is to test the legitimacy of the document, not to resist destruction,"


    "After all, there are times when we must destroy evidence, if you know what I mean," Wesley wink at Jericho meaningfully.


    "I''ll take note of this special material," Jericho has learned a better way now to avoid counterfeits with his important documents.


    "Anyway, I reckon you went to visit the city in the past two days? At least you tried, but you realized that it was surprisingly gone," Wesley changed the topic.


    "We did," Jericho didn''t bother hiding it. "I didn''t mind it though because I was busy dealing with those people who were trying to destroy all of your bases in the Daze Vige,"


    "I heard," Wesley smiled. "It was unnecessary though as I believe that men that I assigned are more than capable of handling them,"


    "I understand that you''re confident with your people, but you see, despite that, every base they decided to attack was still destroyed. And two of your newly appointed Chiefs of the Daze Vige didn''t evenst a day in their office. That''s not even enough time to warm the leather of their chair," Jericho sneered.


    "That''s because I thought they will continue attacking alone," Wesley epted his mistake. In truth, it isn''t that he didn''t expect their enemy wouldn''t attack their bases in a group. But he assumed that they''ll only do that once they lost one or two of their own from a careless attempt. Turns out that they weren''t stupid enough to underestimate the capability of the Assembly of Freedom.


    "I might not have been able to save one of your destroyed bases, but I did get a clue," Jericho handed Wesley an emblem.


    "Green Horn Knights,"


    "That''s right,"


    "No wonder they are so difficult to catch," Wesley finally understood everything.


    "And I heard that they''re not only attacking this side of the Slumbering Forest, but they''re attacking everywhere except for the Drowsy Vige,"


    "I do wonder about that, but it''s probably because it is the headquarters of the Thieves Guild Alliance in the Slumbering Forest. And as you know it, they are our allies,"


    "Exactly!" Jericho smiled. "So I have a n in hopes of stopping them from attacking,"


    "You just joined the Assembly of Freedom and you already can''t wait to make contributions," Wesley chuckled.


    "I want to strike while the iron is still hot,"

 Chapter 213 The War That Decides The Fate Of The Bridge Part 16

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    Chapter 213: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 16


    The n that Jericho and Wesley discussed was a trap that Kayn prepared.


    Although it wasn''t a trap meant to kill more of their members. Instead, it aims so that they will be informed of who the allies of the Assembly of Freedom are.


    While the Assembly of Freedom knows fully well who the allies of the Green Horn City are, thetter barely knows who they have to deal with.


    "So, you want our allies to upy the other viges and make it their headquarters?" Wesley was intrigued by the idea.


    "Once the Green Horn Knights realized that the territory is now being protected by one of the allies of the Assembly of Freedom, they''ll have no other choice but to back away. Otherwise, there''s a good chance that they''ll get trapped in two different directions," Jericho exined.


    "Good idea!" Wesley agreed. "I''ll immediately inform Chief Kylo about it and we''ll see what he ns to do about it. If all goes well and it gets implemented, I''ll make sure that the Herald Guild would take credit for it,"


    "Let''s share the credits," Jericho suddenly suggested.


    "What?" Wesley was instantly surprised. "Are you sure?"


    "My assistant here informed me that it is best if we get close to you since your position in the Assembly of Freedom isn''t ordinary, especially if you consider the fact that Chief Kylo entrusted you in his absence,"


    "Your assistant would surely take you to better heights," Wesley looks at Kayn. "That is if he remains alive,"


    "He will, and I''ll make sure of that," Jericho rode along with the act.


    "Hopefully," Wesley smiled.


    Contrary to Jericho, Kayn knows fully well that Wesley doesn''t seem to like that someone is trying to help Jericho. Perhaps Wesley has other ns for Jericho, and his action is preventing him from doing that.


    That''s perfect, as he doesn''t want Wesley to get near Jericho considering that he has the ability to charm others.


    "By the way, there is a ball for every important member of the Assembly of Freedom tonight in our city. Aside from giving you that document, I am also here to invite you to attend the ball. You can bring two people with you as your guard, but make sure they dress appropriately," Wesley once again changed the topic.


    "What do I have to take note of," Jericho wanted to know if there was any special meaning to this ball.


    "You''ll be meeting our allies, and the theme is a masquerade,"


    "In other words, I will have the chance to meet with our allies, except that I won''t know who they are exactly?"


    "Yes,"


    "I like that," Jericho also doesn''t want people to know that he is pretending to be allied with the Assembly of Freedom as this would definitely cause misunderstanding among the people on the side of Green Horn City.


    "Although you''ll have every freedom to tell them of your identity,"


    "Lucky them,"


    "You''ll most likely change your mind once you are in the ball," Wesley was certain that Jericho would want to establish connections with the other allies once he got to know them.


    Jericho understood the underlying meaning behind Wesley''s words. So, he turns to look at Kayn meaningfully. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Just a quick question, I hope you don''t mind," Kayn interjected.


    "What is it?" Wesley suddenly realized something that he didn''t think of asking all this time. "Can you tell me your name?"


    "I am Nyak,"


    "Quite a strange name you got there. But who cares, no one is racist here," Wesley nodded his head as if to greet his newly found friend. "So, Nyak, what do you want to know?"


    "Are you involved in the cooking of the food?"


    "As much as I want to, Chief Kylo specifically banned me in every kitchen around the city except for mine. Although I can cook if I really want to anywhere, I''ll have to make sure that I don''t feed it to anyone in the Assembly of Freedom, especially our important allies," Wesley could onlyugh helplessly as that is exactly what he wanted to do.


    "That''s a relief,"  Kayn obviously doesn''t want to attend a ball where Wesley is one of the designated chefs. Supposed that happens, they''ll be putting their minds at risk for thetter''s control.


    "I''ll just bring my own snacks," Jericho understood the dangers of Wesley.


    "Believe me, you''re not the only one," Wesley was already used to it. "Anyways, I have to go to prepare myself for the ball. I''ll see you there tonight,"


    "Alright," Jericho nodded.


    Jericho and Wesley bid farewell.


    After Wesley left, Kayn immediately gathered everyone to the penthouse to decide on who else woulde to the ball.


    "I suggest Jadiel shoulde. He is a tank, and we could definitely use his protection in case something goes wrong," Jericho looks at Jadiel.


    "I do like that idea, but," Kayn glimpses at Jude beside him. "We have another matter we need to know,"


    "Is about the key?" Jericho understood.


    Kayn nodded. "Jude has his own way of detecting the existence of keys. As long as we get close enough to the key, he''ll be able to know what exactly it is,"


    "But would the key not notice," Jericho believes that it is a big risk to bring the only person who can detect the existence of keys with them.


    "It will," Jude already exined to Kayn before that if he can notice other keys, those other keys can also notice him. "But it won''t know for sure,"


    That''s right. Although the other keys can notice that there is another key nearby them, they won''t be able to recognize who or what it is.


    "So this means that I, Kayn, and Jude will being to the ball?"


    "No," Kayn shook his head. "You, Jadiel, and Jude will being to the ball,"


    "How about you?" Jericho felt curious about what Kayn would be doing. Such an important matter like the ball is definitely not something thetter would want to miss.


    "I''ll be sneaking in the ball with the others,"


    "I thought so," Jericho chuckled.

 Chapter 214 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 17

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    Chapter 214: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 17


    As Jericho, Jadiel, and Jude were preparing themselves for the ball thising evening, Kayn, Gilbert, Charles, and Randy left the Wing Boots Auction House and sneaked their way outside the city of the Assembly of Freedom.


    Because of the uing ball, the city didn''t leave the Slumber''s Gateway this time around.


    However, they quickly realized that it wouldn''t be easy to sneak inside.


    "It would be next to impossible to cross this wide-open area without getting noticed by their guards stationed around the walls," Gilbert expressed their dilemma.


    "Not really," Kayn waves his hand, immediately taking out the ghillie suit that Gilbert lent to him in the past. "We can use this to sneak our way to the city,"


    Even then, it is still not certain whether it is possible to sneak inside the city or not. But at the very least, they now have a way to solve their current problem of getting close to the city.


    Gilbert quickly gave Randy a ghillie suit as he is the only one who doesn''t possess any.


    Afterward, Kayn''s group started crawling toward the wall of the city.


    As expected, with the ghillie suit that automatically adjust its color to blend in perfectly with the surroundings, they were able to easily avoid the detection of the guards on top of the city''s wall.


    They soon reached the wall, but because the ghillie suit can''t adjust its color to blend in with the wall due to the fact that it isn''t made out of grass, they had to remain in a crawling position as they look for a way to get inside.


    "Should we split up?" Randy suggested.


    "That would be a good idea, right?" Gilbert turns to Kayn.


    In the end, the decision is always up to Kayn to decide.


    "Let''s split into two groups," Kayn pointed at Randy beside him, "I and Randy, while you and Charles,"


    "Alright!"


    Everyone instantly agreed.


    "We''ll meet up again here in one hour,"


    Kayn and Randy slowly started crawling on their way in the opposite direction from where Gilbert and Charles were going.


    After ten minutes of crawling, Kayn and Randy notices that there was not a slight change in the structure of the wall. It was like a never-ending in sight of steel.


    Although they did start noticing that there are certain locations on top of the wall with no guards stationed around.


    However, the walls still had no holes in them that they can use to sneak inside.


    "We can climb with ropes on those locations at night, I believe," Randy suggested.


    "Let''s take note of that," Kayn nodded. As of now, their main goal is to find a sewer or somewhere else where the city throws its waste away. That''s the best location they can use to sneak inside with a low chance of anyone detecting them. And with the city being one that is based on the industrial revolution, there should be plenty of those.


    As for Randy''s suggestion, it is honestly very good, but the possibility of getting in without anyone noticing is very low, especially if one considers the fact that the city''s security would no doubt increase during the ball. And if they try it now, there''s an even bigger chance because it''s daylight. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Kayn and Randy continued on their path as they look for a better way to sneak inside.


    After close to an hour of crawling and their hopes of finding a better way to sneak inside slowly fades away, they finally found a hole that seems to be the sewage of the city.


    The problem though is that, unlike the normal sewage where it passes underneath the wall, the one in front of them was in the center of the wall. The good part though is that there are multiple of them.


    "In the end, we still have to climb on the wall to reach it," Randy looks at the top of the wall. "It''s not even far from the top of the wall, so we should be able to,"


    "I know," Kayn understood. Going on top of the wall has now be one of their best options as well if they go with it on this side of the wall.


    "There''s no certainty where those sewage tunnels would lead us, and I don''t like its prospect due to the building behind the wall," Randy looks at the dozens of chimneys spewing out ck smoke to the clouds.


    "As much as I want to continue crawling ahead to look for better ways, we are about to hit the one-hour mark. Let''s make our way back and discuss with the others after hearing their findings on their side,"


    "Okay,"


    Kayn and Randy crawled back their way to return to their agreed spot.


    Upon arriving, Kayn and Randy instantly saw Gilbert and Charles patiently waiting for them while conversing with each other.


    "So, what did you guys find?" Kayn immediately changed their topic.


    "Just a in steel wall, nothing else," Gilbert uttered in a disappointed tone.


    "Seriously?" Randy couldn''t believe it.


    "We believe that most of their tunnels leading inside the city are underneath the city itself," Gilbert started exining about the chard spots they found a few days ago when the city left the Slumber''s Gateway.


    "I see," Kayn realized. "So this city is almost impossible to sneak in,"


    "Almost?"


    "Well, we found some sewage tunnels," Randy exined the progress in their investigation.


    "In the end, the best way to sneak inside is going on top of the wall?"


    "Most likely," Kayn nodded.


    "We can do it at night when they won''t notice us climbing the walls. Though there''s a good chance they''ll spot us once we are on top," Randy expressed.


    "We can just kill them before they can alert the others," Gilbert suggested.


    "That''s the problem. If we kill them, they''ll immediately notice that someone has gotten inside because there will be missing guards,"


    "We sneak in fast,"


    "There''s a lot of possibilities we can discuss here, but the best way to know which one to pick is to wait until evening," Kayn believes that it is useless for them to continue with this conversation as it would lead them to nothing. In the end, they''ll have to wait and see before deciding on anything. "Let''s stay here until evening. You can do whatever you want in the meantime,"

 Chapter 215 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 18

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    Chapter 215: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 18


    When night slowly approaches, the surrounding around the city started getting darker and darker as the daylight was steadily getting consumed by the growing darkness caused by the fading sun over the horizon.


    As the shadow of darkness touched below the walls of the city, four grappling hooks were immediately thrown on top of the walls and embedded themselves on hard objects to prevent them from returning back to the ground.


    The growing shadow of the darkness seemingly slowly consumed the walls, and along with it was Kayn''s group using it to hide as they silently climb up the top.


    Using the darkness as cover, Kayn''s group soon reached the top of the wall where there was nobody guarding nearby.


    The evening was still quickly approaching, so Kayn''s group didn''t waste time as any moment now the guards on top of the walls would no doubt increase as measures for the uing special ball for the gathering of important members of the Assembly of Freedom.


    Using the same rope, they started descending down to the other side of the wall.


    "It wasn''t that difficult after all," Gilbert can''t help saying in a remark.


    "This is the result of patience," Randy responded.


    "Not really," Kayn shook his head. "We were just in the right ce at the right time,"


    That''s right! This sess is the product of timing.


    "Anyways," Kayn began observing their surrounding to prepare for the next thing to do.


    At this moment, they''vended on the back of what seems to be a warehouse. It was huge, thus being the perfect location to hide.


    "What do you think this warehouse is for?" Gilbert can''t help wanting to know.


    There was a door to the back of the warehouse, and since they still don''t have a n on what to do next, he went inside in hopes of helping everyone.


    Charles quickly followed Gilbert as he also wanted to help.


    On the other hand, Randy went to the side of the warehouse to see where they are right now. He had made a map of some parts of this city after the first visit. That map should still be of some use as long as he finds somendmarks nearby.


    Seeing everyone is gone, Kayn turned to look at Natas by his side.


    During the time they were waiting, Natas had actually gone inside the city to gather information that they can use once they are finally inside. And unbeknownst to everyone, it was actually Natas that specifically suggested going here instead of the other unguarded parts of the wall.


    "So, why did you suggest that we go from this location?"


    "Gilbert should be able to tell you soon," Natas doesn''t want to ruin the surprise.


    Speak of the devil.


    "Kayn, I think you shoulde here inside and check," Gilbert motioned his hand to call out for Kayn.


    Even without needing to ask, Kayn can already guess that Gilbert has found something very exciting.


    Randy has also returned, so he didn''t wait for Kayn and got inside the warehouse.


    Kayn followed suit while expecting something that can help them with their current situation.


    After walking through the long hallway of the back entrance, Kayn can''t help noticing a bunch of men lying on the ground. They were all dead.


    "You cleaned the ce?" Kayn wanted to know if they hadn''t identally left any ce uncleared.


    "We searched every nook and cranny to make sure not leave a single one alive," Gilbert assures everyone.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Not long after, they finally reached the object that''s been making Gilbert excited along the way.


    It was a motor wagon. Four of them to be exact.


    "It seems like Gilbert just helped us find a way to sneak ourselves inside the ball," Kayn can''t help smiling.


    As evening came, guests for the ball started arriving one by one. In response to this, hundreds of motor wagons came to pick each of them up from the entrance of the city and take them to the venue of the event.


    The chauffeur of four of those motor wagons was Kayn''s group.


    After picking up the guests assigned to them, or more like the guests they''ve stolen after killing the four actual chauffeurs, they then followed the other motor wagons to the venue of the ball.


    When Kayn''s group reached the venue, the initial four motor wagons has now be two, and the four guests they were supposed to escort to the venue has disappeared.


    It''s quite evident already happened to those people, especially considering they are allies with the Assembly of Freedom.


    Dressed in a tuxedo and wearing a mask that fits the theme of the ball, Kayn and Gilbert exited their motor wagon.


    They walked to the entrance of the building and gave the receptionist the names of the two men they were currently disguised as.


    And just like that, they got inside the venue of the ball.


    Not long after, Charles and Randy followed inside.


    "Let''s go look for Jericho and the others," Kayn ordered everyone.


    As they were already aware of what Jericho and his group are wearing for tonight''s ball, it didn''t take them long enough to find where they are.


    "So, how''s the ball?" Kayn muttered as he walked behind Jericho.


    "Kayn?" Jericho asked in surprise. "I didn''t expect that you''d get in so fast,"


    "It wasn''t hard," Kayn started exining the process of how they sneaked inside.


    "How about the others?"


    "They''re with me," Kayn pointed at the others who are hiding within the crowd using his eyes.


    Gilbert, Charles, and Randy raised their respective cups to Jericho the moment thetter looks in their direction.


    "Have you already met with Wesley?" Kayn can''t help asking.


    "We already did, at the entrance. We talked about the n you propose to me, and he said that Chief Kylo agreed with it," Jericho smiled.


    "Great," Kayn felt delighted about it. "We will send some of your men to inform the others once the n is implemented,"


    "Alright," Jericho acknowledged.


    "Anyways, where''s Jude?" Kayn looks around and seems to not find Jude.


    "He''s on the food counter," Jericho pointed at the person who was currently grabbing as many portions of food from the table.


    "I didn''t expect him to be a foodie,"


    "He isn''t. It is for Jadiel," Jericho turns his head around again to point at Jadiel who is now munching on every te that Jude has prepared for him.

 Chapter 216 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 19

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    Chapter 216: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 19


    Jadiel''s action has attracted a lot of people''s attention, but no one bothered the former since it wasn''t rted to them.


    Moreover, it seems like it wasn''t only Jadiel who is eating to his heart''s content.


    After surveying briefly, Kayn notices other people doing the same. All of them have one thing inmon though ¡ª they are all of the Guardian ss.


    And strangely enough, there seems to be an unspokenpetition between them on who will stop eating thest.


    "Is Jude supposed to be Jadiel''s waiter?" Kayn turns to look at Jericho.


    "They need one, otherwise they''ll have to waste time going back and forth between the food counter and their table," Jericho understood that the situation right now is ridiculous. "It was Jadiel who started it, trust me. Someone came to us and provoked him,"


    "Do you happen to know who they are?"


    "I noticed that they are part of the Thieves Guild Alliance, so probably one of Jadiel''s enemies in the alliance," Jericho could only think of that possibility.


    "I call somebody else to assist Jadiel," Kayn quickly called out for Randy.


    "What''s up?" Randy hurriedly asked.


    "Can you rece Jude for the moment?"


    "Is it really necessary?" Randy doesn''t feel like it.


    "Apparently, yes, for Jadiel," Jericho could only awkwardly look at Randy.


    "I¡­" Randy really wanted to reject the request, but he doesn''t have anything better to do at the moment nor is he feeling confident in what Kayn intended to do next. "I guess I can,"


    "I''ll give you something in return," Jericho promised.


    "Alright!" Randy felt motivated as he approaches Jude to inform him that Kayn needed him.


    Hearing this, Jude didn''t waste any time and went to Kayn.


    "Are we going to start looking?" Jude expressed his excitement.


    "It''s the perfect time to do it," Kayn nodded.


    What they intend to do next is to look for the location of the key.


    And as of this moment, the real important people for the ball still haven''t arrived yet, which is the perfect time to look for it as there''s barely any guard around the building.


    Once those peoplee, this building would be full on lockdown from everybody else, including those people that are invited to the ball. Hence, making it difficult to move around.


    "Who''sing with you?" Jericho expresses his intention to join.


    "You''ll have to unfortunately stay here since Wesley would obviously look for you," Kayn rejected.


    "Can I not?"


    "Depending on the circumstances, you might be able to sneak from the party. Just find us once you have the chance," Kayn motioned his hand to Gilbert and Charles. "Remember, your task is to distract Wesley and the other important people. It is also a very important job to do,"


    Jericho nodded. "I''ll meet up with you guys once I am done on my end,"


    With that being said, Kayn, Gilbert, Jude, and Charles left the room where the ball was being held and went in the direction of the bathroom.


    The instant they got to the bathroom, they immediately jumped up into the air duct to leave the ce.


    They got out from the back of the building where there was a duct that was being used for throwing trash away. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Everyone didn''t mind it as they got out of the trash bin.


    "Are you certain that it is not in this building?" Kayn turns to Jude.


    "I''ve already confirmed. This building is only intended for hosting parties and gatherings, nothing else," Jude nodded.


    "So, which ce do you suspect the most?"


    "Their headquarters or somewhere in the center of the city," Jude felt the existence of the key from that location the most during their travel to the ball earlier ago.


    "That would be difficult, right?" Gilbert felt worried.


    "Definitely," Charles can already guess it.


    "Wait a moment, the key is moving," Jude suddenly felt something.


    Kayn, Gilbert, and Charles immediately became alert.


    "Where is it going?"


    "It is approaching us,"


    "Is it possible that it noticed us,"


    "It could be, but I don''t believe it is a person or a monster," Jude was confident with this because if it was a person, he would have sensed it moving around all the time. And if it is a monster, then it would definitely be the same size as the Guardian Turtle, which would confirm their assumption that the Assembly of Freedom had constructed their city on top of a monster. However, he would definitely notice that the instant he approaches the city. Not to mention, the city would have started moving just now.


    "I believe it is an item," Jude expressed his assumption.


    "So, it is an item with the capability to move a city, right?" Kayn felt relief. Although that means it is a very powerful item, this also implies that it won''t be able to inform anyone that there''s another key near it.


    "That''s right,"


    "Since it is approaching us, then most likely this item is with someone who is about to join the ball,"


    With that being said, everyone sneaked their way close to the entrance of the building. In this way, they would be able to see better the instant that item appears.


    "Would it be possible for the owner to hide the item inside his Storage Ring?" Kayn realized something.


    "It should be," Jude nodded. "After all, I didn''t immediately notice the item when we first visited this city,"


    "No wonder," Kayn understood. This means that if they want to steal this item, they''ll have to make sure the owner doesn''t store it inside his Storage Ring, or else there''s a big chance that he''ll try his best to prevent them from stealing it. "We''ll make our n once we see the owner of the item,"


    Gilbert, Jude, and Charles acknowledge.


    They continued to wait for half an hour before they spotted a group of carriages arriving at the entrance of the building.


    "This person should be very important considering that he didn''t use a motor wagon," Gilbert notices the important detail.


    "That should be them," Jude muttered.


    "Keep your eyes wide open, everyone," Kayn turned serious.


    The moment the group of carriages stopped in front of the building, they immediately noticed Wesley getting out of the building along with a group of people that seems to be Executive of the Assembly of Freedom.


    Not long after, a man that everyone knows quite well stepped out of the carriage.


    Chief Kylo.

 Chapter 217 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 20

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    Chapter 217: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 20


    "Don''t tell me that man has the item we are looking for?" Gilbert looks at Jude.


    "I hope not," Jude wished that isn''t true.


    "Does this mean we''ll have to steal an item from the same person again?" Charles can''t help feeling excited at the thought of stealing from Chief Kylo again.


    "Most likely," Kayn could only sigh in pity for Chief Kylo. Thetter had his Kingmaker stolen not so long ago, and yet now another one of his items is about to be stolen again.


    "Should we inform Jericho on what to do?" Gilbert suggested.


    "Go on," Kayn nodded. He absolutely has to inform Jericho and the others inside on what to do since this involves Chief Kylo.


    "I''ll go," Jude volunteered. "I want to see up close what kind of item it is exactly,"


    "Okay," Kayn agreed. "We wille inside the building again once they got in,"


    With that, Jude went back to the air duct to return to the ball.


    On the other hand, Kayn, Gilbert, and Charles choose to stay behind as they still n on gathering more information.


    Over at the entrance of the building, Wesley greeted Chief Kylo as the two of them started conversing with each other.


    There was no way for Kayn''s group to know what they are talking about, so they can only guess that they are talking about the ball.


    Kayn and the others moved closer to the entrance of the building in hopes of seeing who else is inside the carriage.


    There was a group of carriages, yet only Chief Kylo disembarked. That''s very suspicious.


    "Could it be that those carriages only have guards in them?" Gilbert can''t help thinking.


    "It''s possible," Kayn has the same thought.


    As long as no one else disembarked from those carriages, it would confirm that the other carriages are mere escorts because of the importance of the item that Chief Kylo is bringing with him.


    Seemingly like Chief Kylo wanted to introduce someone to Wesley, the former walked to one of the carriages and opened its door.


    The instant the carriage door opened, a woman dressed in all ck while wearing a white mask stepped out.


    As if sensing someone watching, the woman turned to look in the direction of where Kayn''s group are currently hiding. Luckily for them, they''ve long already ducked down to hide.


    "Do you happen to know who that woman is?" Kayn turns to Gilbert.


    "I don''t," Gilbert shook his head.


    "She''s carrying a staff with her," Charles quickly pointed out.


    "Could that perhaps be the key?" Kayn was surprised before quickly realizing something. "Charles, go and inform Jude that there''s a possibility that we have to change our ns,"


    "On it," Charles replied while already crawling in the direction of the trash bin they havee from.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Not long after Charles left, Wesley, Chief Kylo, and the unknown woman finally walked inside the building.


    The moment they got in, the entrance of the building was immediately locked by the receptionist at the door.


    "Let''s return," Kayn gave Gilbert the signal to return back to the air duct.


    Without wasting any time, Kayn and Gilbert quickly jumped back up to the air duct and made their way to return to the bathroom.


    After making sure that the bathroom was clear, they quickly dropped down and swiftly went inside one of the cubicles so that they can change their clothes into their previous outfit that fit the theme of the ball.


    "Let''s go,"


    Kayn and Gilbert left the bathroom and quickly went to find Jericho and the others.


    As of this moment, everyone''s attention is fully glued to the main guest of tonight''s ball ¡ª Chief Kylo and the unknown woman.


    The duo is currently walking on the path that the Executives under themand of Wesley had created for them as they slowly make their way to the stairs at the end.


    "There they are," Gilbert pointed at Jericho who is still standing not far from the food counter.


    ¡¤?¦Èm At present, Jadiel and everyone else that was having an eatingpetition had long already stopped as their attention was also attracted by Chief Kylo and the unknown woman.


    In order to not raise suspicion, Kayn and Gilbert slowly made their way to where Jericho was at.


    Not long after they arrived, Kayn gathered Jericho, Jude, Charles, Jadiel, and Randy together as they started nning on the next course of action.


    Honestly, they are extremely daring to actually think of making a n on how to steal an item right under the target''s nose. Moreover, they are doing it while a lot of their target''s allies are nearby them.


    "Jude, can you please confirm the key is that staff right there?" Kayn ordered Jude.


    Jude nodded in affirmation as he made his way closer to the staff.


    It didn''t take long for Jude to return. "Luckily for us, it is,"


    "Now that we''ve confirmed it, we will follow the n we just discuss," Kayn signaled to everyone to proceed with their agreed n.


    In the next moment, everyone went on their separate ways to do their own thing.


    Kayn went on to approach Chief Kylo and the unknown woman''s direction. But he wasn''t aiming for the two. He stopped just when he was about to get close.


    With a wave of his hand, Kayn took out a handful of gunpowder from his Storage Ring and started sprinkling them nearby.


    Since gunpowder is practically simr in size to grains of sand, and not to mention it blend in perfectly well with the floor due to its steel color, thus nobody was able to notice it.


    From his location, Kayn slowly made his way to the entrance of the building while sprinkling gunpowder everywhere.


    Over at the opposite side, he could see Gilbert doing the same thing and seemingly in aplete synchronization motion as him as they reached the entrance of the building almost at the same time.


    Kayn nodded at Gilbert as they both slowly moved in the direction of the bathroom. Of course, they still continued sprinkling gunpowder everywhere.

 Chapter 218 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 21

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    Chapter 218: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 21


    Just when Kayn and Gilbert were about to get close to the bathroom, they soon caught a glimpse of Randy and Jadiel walking close to them. The duo came from the area close to the window.


    Randy and Jadiel were also doing the same thing as Kayn and Gilbert, except the two sprinkled gunpowder on the corners instead of the center of the ballroom.


    "Let''s see the progress of the others," Kayn led everyone to the bathroom.


    As soon as they got inside the bathroom, they immediately noticed a few dead bodies stacked on top of each other inside a single cubicle while Charles could be seen cleaning his sword by the side.


    "Good job cleaning up rats," Kayn nodded at Charles. "Are Jericho and Jude still setting up Drowsy Mushrooms in the air duct?"


    "Yes," Charles confirmed. "It is more than a maze than we expected,"


    "You heard Charles," Kayn looks at Gilbert and Randy. "The two of you, help them finish their task quickly,"


    Gilbert and Randy nodded in acknowledgment as they jump into the air duct.


    "Are you sure that this would really work?" Charles was a bit doubtful about it.


    "Yes," Kayn was confident about his n. "The moment we lit the gunpowder to produce fire, the smoke they produce would swiftly go up toward the air duct. And around that time, the drowsy toxic mist should have significantly built up everywhere above everyone''s head already,"


    "Then when the time is right, we will open the vents and release the drowsy toxic mist, which would blend inpletely well with the smoke produced by the fire down below,"


    Kayn recounted the n so that Charles would rest assured.


    After five minutes or so, Gilbert, Jude, Jericho, and Randy jumped down from the air duct.


    "Give it a few minutes, and they should create more than enough drowsy toxic mist to bring everyone inside the ballroom to sleep," Jericho smiled at the thought. "By then, we can kill everyone here easily,"


    "Remember, that''s not our goal," Kayn informed everyone again of their exact intention. "Our n is to simply cause disturbance and chaos so that we can try to sneak behind that unknown woman and steal the key she is carrying. Killing the allies of the Assembly of Freedom is just a bonus,"


    "Moreover, we can''t underestimate the people who are present at the ball. Some of them would fall prey to the drowsy toxic mist but don''t expect that all of them would," After all, the people present here are powerful and influential individuals. The majority of them should possess enough capability to resist the drowsy toxic mist just like Chief Kylo.


    "I know, but that''s when the real fun would begin, right?" Jericho can''t help feeling excited about the prospect of their n.


    "It''s just a guess," Kayn wasn''t feeling one hundred percent sure about this one factor he added to their n. However, if he is correct, then things would be messy within the alliance of the Assembly of Freedom.


    Time quickly passes as Kayn and the others converse with each other to further refine their entire n forter.


    When the five-minute timer was up, everyone immediately put on their serious face as they wore their respective mask and changed their clothes. Of course, Jericho didn''t join in with them as he has to pretend that he is one with the Assembly of Freedom along with Jude and Jadiel who he brought along.


    The trio left the bathroom first as Kayn prepared themselves to follow soon after.


    "We should be good to go," Gilbert said after he took a glimpse outside the bathroom.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    An entire operation is being executed inside a small bathroom.


    Kayn has never truly done one of these things in his entire life. This is his first time.


    And whether it would seed or not is about to be seen in just a moment.


    Gilbert gathered fire element mana in his hand. As soon as it reached hot enough, he immediately pushed it to the gunpowder they sprinkled down below.


    Whoosh!


    Gunpowder is very easy to ignite. Just a touch of fire and it wouldbust in an instant and spread on every corner with gunpowder.


    The same thing happened the instant Gilbert touched the gunpowder. It lit on fire and in just a blink of an eye, the fire traveled speedily to the areas that had gunpowder.


    In less than thirty seconds, the sound of chaos echoed outside of the bathroom as the fire spread almost everywhere, especially in the corner and the center of the room.


    Those locations were spots that have objects that could easily get on fire. That''s the reason why they were specifically targeted by Kayn''s group.


    And when the one-minute timer came up, sounds of multiple loud explosions sounded.


    Boom!


    Bang!


    sses, steel, and cement got sted everywhere nearby with the explosions.


    Those explosions were caused by the small boxes of explosives that Jadiel and Randy secretly hid on the corner.


    Because of the preparation the Assembly of Freedom has arranged for this special event, multiple mages immediately appeared to try and stop the fire and at the same time save their important guest.


    Simrly, the bodyguards the guest brought with them also came and helped. Although they focused on protecting their masters.


    Moreover, the guest themselves were also powerful individuals, thus they possess enough capability to protect themselves, especially considering that this was just a small fire, albeit it did span around the entire room because of the gunpowder.


    Every single time the fire was extinguished, it would instantly release a thickyer of smoke that goes up to the air duct above everyone''s head.


    ¡¤?¦Èm As more and more fires were extinguished, theyer of smoke thickened. Nevertheless, because of the air duct, it didn''t be a hindrance to everyone''s sight as they quickly got absorbed by the air duct.


    All of a sudden¡­


    Boom!

 Chapter 219 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 22

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    Chapter 219: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 22


    BOOM!


    A loud explosion sounded as the entire steel air duct above everyone''s head got sted into pieces.


    Parts of the air duct started raining everywhere, causing everyone to instinctively choose to prioritize protecting themselves.


    Bang!


    Boom!


    Bang!


    Along with the parts of the air duct that fell were the Drowsy Mushrooms that Kayn''s group had spread almost everywhere falling down to the floor.


    "Drowsy Mushrooms!"


    One of the most cautious guests present immediately warned everyone.


    Upon hearing the existence of Drowsy Mushrooms, everyone''s face instantly changed to a look of horror.


    Seemingly in an instant, everyone took out a mask to cover their noses and mouth in hopes of preventing themselves from inhaling the drowsy toxic mist.


    That''s right, people brought masks with them. It wasn''t that they expected something like this to happen, again. It is just that after hearing what happened to Chief Kylo, everyone thought of bringing a mask with them to protect themselves from the dangers the Drowsy Mushrooms could bring.


    Just like what everyone expected, the drowsy toxic mist that had built up quite densely inside the air duct quickly spread everywhere the instant the barrier preventing it from entering the ballroom got sted into pieces.


    The worse part is, the thickyer of smoke that was created from extinguishing the me seemingly puffed out everywhere along with the explosion in the air duct.


    Unlike the drowsy toxic mist where it is still possible to see their surrounding, the thickyer of smoke from the fire doesn''t. Hence, everyone''s vision became limited.


    With their limited vision, it made everyone think only about saving themselves, especially the guards of the guest as they changed their priority to protecting their masters instead of cooperating with everyone to stop the chaos.


    Using the smoke and the drowsy toxic mist as cover, Kayn''s group entered the ballroom from the bathroom.


    "Start dancing everyone!" Kayn ordered.


    In an instant, cries of pain sounded as the guests and their guards started being killed one by one inside the smoke.


    The sound of bodies dropping to the ground was soon heard, and not long after, the names of the supposed perpetrators behind the deaths got called out.


    "Simon, don''t do this!"


    "Eric, stop! Please spare me, Eric! I know that I offended you, but it was all in the past! Ahhh! Eric!"


    "Crystal, no!"


    ¡¤?¦Èm After hearing those screams, everyone instantly realized that this entire ce has now be the best opportunity to execute their revenge.


    As one already knows, the Assembly of Freedom is an organization where all despicable, guilty, vengeful, unreasonable, and viinous people gather together. And with their character, it is very easy to guess that they''ve probably made enemies almost everywhere, which includes people within their group.


    Now, what would happen if ever they are presented with the best opportunity to enact their payback for those who wronged them?


    It''s quite obvious already what that would bring about.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Chaos!


    As soon as the me of revenge was lit up, everyone immediately followed suit as they quickly looked for the people that they wanted to eliminate for what they''d done to them in the past.


    Contrary to the majority of people, the actual members of the Assembly of Freedom quickly retreated to the stairs that led to the second floor of the ballroom. There were already some of their allies there who luckily escaped from the chaos.


    Wesley specifically ordered all the Executives to protect Chief Kylo and the unknown woman and also to watch the stairs so that nobody would try to enact revenge on them.


    As for those people that already retreated to the second floor the instant the chaos broke out, Wesley took special note of them as they are those that don''t harbor any ill intent toward the Assembly of Freedom.


    "This is very familiar," Chief Kylo can''t help chuckling while watching the chaotic sight. "Those people down there should be Kayn''s group,"


    "Kayn? As in the thieving group that stole the Kingmaker from you?" Wesley felt surprised.


    "This was the same thing they did to me during the auction event. Air duct and Drowsy Mushrooms. I will never forget about that," Chief Kylo has carved the scene that happened to him deep inside his memory so that no matter how old he is, he will always remember it.


    "Please remind me next time to only hold parties and special events at ces where there are no air ducts around," Wesley can''t help rolling his eyes. "Anyways, what do they want this time?"


    Hearing that, Chief Kylo can''t help glimpsing at the staff his partner is carrying with her. "Store the key in your Storage Ring. I believe that''s what they intend to steal from us,"


    "Understood," The unknown woman responded with a soft voice.


    As soon as the staff was stored inside the Storage Ring, Jude immediately informed everyone that the key has disappeared.


    "Everyone, retreat!" Kayn didn''t hesitate to order.


    Without any hesitation, Gilbert, Jude, Charles, Jericho, Jadiel, and Randy retreated to the bathroom.


    "Time to go for n B," Kayn informed everyone of their adjustment.


    "Okay," Jericho nodded his head before signaling for Jude and Jadiel toe with him.


    The trio quickly separated from the main group as they made their way to the stairway where the Executives of the Assembly of Freedom are positioned.


    "Damn it!" Jericho got out of the smoke and revealed his presence to the Assembly of Freedom. "I was invited for a ball, not a massacre,"


    "Chairman Jericho, please don''t let your guard down," Jadiel quickly raised his shield to block an iing dagger. That dagger was something that Kayn had hurled at them in order to make their action more believable.


    ng!


    "I know," Jericho turns around before starting to shoot blindly toward the smoke with his gun. "Die, die, die! How dare all of you fall for this stupid scheme!"


    "Air st!" Jude cast.


    Boom!


    A wide area nearby them was instantly cleared out from the thick smoke.


    In the next moment, as if the mages of the Assembly of Freedom got inspired by Jude, dozens of <<Air st>> spells were cast in order to clear all the smoke.


    "Chairman Jericho," Wesley quickly approaches Jericho. "I am d to see that you''re safe and sound,"

 Chapter 220 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 23

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    Chapter 220: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 23


    "Stay right there, Wesley!" Jericho eximed at Wesley while pointing his gun. "I don''t trust anyone yet, especially not in this kind of situation,"


    "I don''t know why this happen, but believe me when I say that the Assembly of Freedom doesn''t have anything to do with this," Wesley tried to exin.


    "Of course, you don''t," Jericho sneered. "But that doesn''t change the fact that you might kill me the moment I let you get close,"


    "Why would you think I would do that?" Wesley doesn''t have such an intention.


    "Because everyone is doing it right now," Jericho pointed at the scene that has been revealed in front of everyone''s eyes as soon as the smoke got cleared out.


    "Alright," Wesley could only choose to back away in order to give Jericho''s group some room to breathe and a piece of mind. He can''t me thetter for reacting that way, especially considering the situation is not appropriate to think of trusting anyone else other than their own small group.


    Unbeknownst to Wesley, this was actually done purposely by Jericho as Kayn doesn''t want to risk the chance of the former taking advantage of the situation to kill Jericho once they allow him to get close.


    With the chaos around them, it isn''t strange for everyone''s mind to get affected. Let alone the unreasonable and chaotic minds of the members of the Assembly of Freedom.


    Wesley naturally knew of this, but he isn''t insane enough to really do it. Moreover, he doesn''t hold any grudges against Jericho.


    However, as Wesley looked around the other allies that have escaped the chaos and are now upstairs, he noticed that all of them have instinctively created a space in between them out of fear that the others might try to kill them. In other words, they don''t believe that it is safe anywhere.


    This was the actual reason why Wesley choose to give up approaching Jericho.


    "Can you open a path for us to go up?" Jericho requested.


    "Please open a small path for Jericho''s group to go upstairs,"


    All Executives quicklyplied as they created a small pathway that Jericho''s group quickly used to get to the second floor.


    As Jericho''s group went up, Chief Kylo observed them from head to toe to get a grasp of this ally.


    The instant Jericho''s group got to the second floor, they immediately expressed their relief that they''d finally escaped from the chaos.


    Looking down below, despite the smoke getting cleared by the <<Air st>> spells, the chaos still continued.


    Left with no other choice, Chief Kylo ordered all of his men present in the ballroom to stop the chaos from issuing any further and causing more casualties in their group.


    Not long after, the infighting within the allies of the Assembly of Freedom finally ended.


    Fortunately for them, only a few people actually died, with the most deaths being the bodyguards instead of the important guests.


    In the end, the Assembly of Freedom only suffered a few losses that they could easily recover after a few days.


    However, that wasn''t the end though.


    As soon as everything was cleared, and everyone received an exnation of what exactly happened and how it all led to this, Chief Kylo immediately sent everyone away.


    Hundreds of motor wagons arrived in front of the venue of the ball to escort the important guests to another building that seems to be a hotel.


    Chief Kylo exined to the important guests that they''ll have to stay the night in the city in case those people would try toe back and assassinate them.


    Everyone agreed with it and choose toply as it was for their own good.


    Just how wrong they were¡­


    When the motor wagons were about to reach the hotel, multiple explosions erupted around the buildings along their path.


    Boom!


    Bang!<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Shards and debris from the buildings around got sted across the street everywhere.


    Although, unlike the situation in the ballroom, the chaos was solved right away as the Assembly of Freedom already expected something to happen. Moreover, they have increased their numbers for this escort mission.


    "Change of ns, we are going to the headquarters!" Wesley ordered everyone to change the direction of their motor wagons.


    Everyoneplied and turned in another direction.


    Along the way to the headquarters, more buildings along their path exploded.


    It was only at this moment that the Assembly of Freedom realized that they have actually fallen for the perpetrators'' trap.


    Unfortunately for them, it was already toote to do anything about it and their only choice left is to continue heading to the headquarters.


    "We are close!" Wesley tried to assure everyone.


    But it was useless.


    Some people already left their motor wagons and went ahead to look for a way to escape instead of relying on the Assembly of Freedom. The organization has already failed twice in protecting them, so they don''t n on seeing the third time.


    At first, some were able to seed and escaped from the chaos. However, those that tried to do itte were caught in the trap that Kayn''s group had prepared for them, which ended with their unfortunate death.


    Evidently, Kayn''s group doesn''t want anyone else to escape. Not because they n on killing everyone present, but rather because the more people there are, the more chaotic the ce would be. And with more chaos, Chief Kylo and Wesley''s attention would have to focus on multiple people.


    As the motor wagons continued moving in the direction of the headquarters, they soon noticed a pile of explosives blocking the path in front.


    "Turn around, turn around!" Wesley abruptly sent an order.


    Regretfully, it was impossible for the motor wagon in front of everyone to turn around as its speed has reached something that can''t be easily controlled by the chauffeur.


    BOOM!


    A loud explosion erupted as the motor wagon collided with the explosives.


    Luckily, the people on the motor wagon were fast enough to jump to the side and prevent themselves from getting caught in the fire.


    ¡¤?¦Èm The initial explosion seemed to act as a catalyst, prompting numerous additional explosions to ur rapidly thereafter, engulfing the entire street in a zing inferno of fire and erupting mes.


    Because of that, all motor wagons had no other choice but to make an abrupt stop as they met a dead end.


    "There''s no way out now, Chief Kylo," Kayn muttered as he revealed himself.


    Kayn was like a devil that walked past the mes of hell that surrounds everyone.


    "Well, well, well, isn''t it nice to see you again my dear, Kayn," Chief Kylo disembarked from his motor wagon. "I didn''t expect that I would be meeting you once again this soon,"


    "It can''t be helped, because you''re like a walking treasure cove,"


    Even he is helpless about that fact since Chief Kylo seems to always possess everything that they need.


    "What are you after this time? You already have the Kingmaker," Chief Kylo already have an assumption to what Kayn''s group wanted.


    "Nothing special, just another item that you have right now,"


    "How about we make a trade?"


    "I am interested," Kayn pretended to be intrigued.


    "Give me the Kingmaker, and I''ll give you whatever you want,"

 Chapter 221 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 24

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    Chapter 221: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 24


    "How truly unfortunate, I''ve already given the Kingmaker to my client," Kayn shook his head to act as if he was helpless about it.


    "Is it Old Mayor George?" Chief Kylo sounded slightly disappointed.


    "I don''t actually reveal my client''s name," Kayn casually smiled. "Anyways, enough about talk, are you guys ready?"


    "For what?" Chief Kylo asked while signaling for Wesley to prepare everyone as something really bad is about to happen.


    "Here''s something that I am really curious about from the very first time I came to this ce," Kayn waves his hand, quickly taking out a bunch of Drowsy Mushrooms from his Storage Ring. "What do you think would happen if I throw these cute little babies into the fire?"


    Hearing that, Chief Kylo''s face instantly widened as he thought of something.


    As soon as they came to the Slumbering Forest, the first item that they studied was the Drowsy Mushrooms since this piece of nt grows everywhere in the forest. And with its drowsy toxic mist, it can cause great danger and a lot of unknown variables during the war.


    Through their study, they discovered a great deal of effects the Drowsy Mushrooms can give, which includes both positive and negative, and dozens of ways to create them.


    One of those effects was exploding drowsy toxic mist, which can be triggered when a group of Drowsy Mushrooms is thrown into the fire at the same time.


    This exploding drowsy toxic mist isn''t the same as the normal dosage of drowsy toxic mist that the Drowsy Mushrooms released when they felt threatened. It''s the umtion of all the drowsy toxic mist stored inside their bodies. And when that barrier called their body is destroyed, simr to what happened with the air duct back in the ballroom, it would puff out a thickyer of drowsy toxic mist, which is why its dosage increased.


    "Get your mask!" Chief Kylo eximed loudly as he waves his hand to take out a mask from his Storage Ring. He could only believe that simr to them, Kayn''s group also studied the Drowsy Mushroom when they arrived in the Slumbering Forest.


    "I am not here to kill everyone, so whoever can remain standing, you will be able to escape from this ce alive," Kayn mischievously smile before throwing the Drowsy Mushroom into the fire.


    At the same time, Gilbert, Jude, Charles, Jericho, Jadiel, and Randy who are currently hiding in the shadows also did the same.


    Boom!


    Puff!


    As if a strange powder exploded, the entire street was soon after covered by a thickyer of drowsy toxic mist.


    Everyone''s vision was instantly blinded, but it onlysted for a moment as a series of <<Air st>> spells exploded inside the drowsy toxic mist in order to clear out the smoke.


    The moment the smoke cleared out, dozens of important guestsy on the floor unconscious.


    Chief Kylo immediately ordered his men to check on them and make sure that they stay alive as he focus his attention on looking for Kayn who has gone missing once more. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "How slippery," Chief Kylo muttered as he realized that it was useless to continue looking for Kayn anymore. He finally focuses his attention on the current situation in front.


    "It should be about time that we call on the others so that situation like this doesn''t happen to us again, Chief Kylo," Wesley suggested.


    "Not now, they are still busy doing important matters around the Slumbering Forest," Chief Kylo responded before his attention was attracted to the woman he brought with him. "What are you looking for?"


    "My Storage Ring," The woman''s tone started shaking.


    "What Storage Ring?" Chief Kylo''s face became serious as he thought of something inwardly.


    "The one where I stored the key,"


    "Are you sure that you lost it? It might be that you just misced it somewhere," After all, the explosion caused their motor wagon to turn upside down.


    "Perhaps," The woman stood up.


    "Wesley, order some of your men to look for a Storage Ring," Chief Kylo quickly called out.


    "Alright!" Wesley immediately understood the significance of this matter as he swiftly assigned the majority of Executives, including himself, to look for the Storage Ring.


    In the end, even after clearing the ce of any rubles and debris caused by the numerous explosions, they still didn''t see any signs of the Storage Ring.


    Chief Kylo finally realized that once again Kayn''s group had seeded in their mission of stealing another item from him.


    The woman quickly approached Chief Kylo as she exined. "It should be impossible for them to open the Storage Ring since I am the owner of it and I haven''t given them any permission to ess the contents inside,"


    "You better hope that''s the case. Otherwise, you know what will happen to you," Chief Kylo''s murderous intent directly covered the woman''s entire body, which caused her to kneel down on the ground in pain.


    "I¡­ know¡­" The woman cried.


    "Take her to safety," Chief Kylo stared at Wesley, slightly disappointed at thetter''s arrangement. He entrusted everything to Wesley expecting that everything would seed, but it turns out that it was a bad decision. It would have been better if he had assigned the others to do this task.


    Wesley understood Chief Kylo''s thoughts with a quick nce on thetter''s face. In order to make up for his failure, he didn''t order anyone else as he took it himself to take the woman to safety.


    "As long as she''s with me, you won''t be able to ess the key inside her Storage Ring and make use of it," Chief Kylo snickered at the foolishness that Kayn''s group had done. If it was him in their shoes, he would have definitely also killed that woman in the midst of stealing her Storage Ring instead of leaving her alive.


    Unbeknownst to Chief Kylo, that was exactly what Kayn wanted the former to think.

 Chapter 222 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 25

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    Chapter 222: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 25


    By leaving the woman alive, Chief Kylo would continue to believe that Kayn won''t be able to touch the content inside the Storage Ring. In that way, it won''t ever cross the former''s mind that they have ess to the key.


    "Done," Kayn threw the Storage Ring to Jude after unlocking it.


    "How on Earth do you do that?" Jericho was still left confused at how exactly Kayn can unlock a Storage Ring without the permission of the owner or the owner''s death.


    "I''ll tell you all about it at the right time," Kayn simply smiled at Jericho. As of now, he can''t tell anyone else of the method to unlock Storage Rings yet, even people he trusts, because if the method identally gets leaked ahead of time, he won''t be able to take full advantage of such future knowledge.


    "I''ll take note of that," Jericho choose to wait patiently.


    Everyone turned their attention to Jude who now has the key.


    "Wait, I am looking for it," Jude muttered while some sweat could be seen on his forehead.


    "What is taking you so long?" Gilbert narrowed his eyes.


    "This is a woman''s Storage Ring, dude!" Jude felt frustrated. "Even their bags feels like you are looking for something in a milky way,"


    Everyone immediately understood.


    Not long after, Jude finally sighs in relief. With a wave of his hand, he took out a staff that emits emerald-colored light.


    "This is it!" Jude eximed in excitement. "Levitation Scepter,"


    "It has only one Active Skill, no Passive Skill whatsoever," Jude slightly felt disappointed after reading its content. "Though it says here that its other functions will only be revealed when it finally serves its purpose,"


    Kayn and the others can already guess what its ability is.


    "It can be core to allow a territory to fly and travel to the sky,"


    Contrary to everyone who is clueless about the other sealed functions of the Levitation Scepter, Kayn is very familiar with the item. It is a special rank item that bes a must-possess item for anyone that desires to build a territory inside the ''Tower''. The reason is that it allows them to bring their territory to whatever floor they want to be.


    "Make sure to keep that," Kayn wanted to possess the Levitation Scepter, but he doesn''t want to take away an item that Jude is meant to possess. He believes that this should be where thetter found the Levitation Scepter that he possessed in the future.


    "Depends on what the other functions are. But it should be good considering its rank is special," Jude was hopeful.


    "Let''s go!" Kayn finally decided to leave the city before the city-wide search from the Assembly of Freedom is initiated.


    Following the same path they took to get inside the city, Kayn and everyone soon ascended to the top of the wall.


    Because of themotion close to the headquarters, there was almost no guard on top of the wall. Almost all of them were sent as reinforcement.


    As a result, Kayn''s group was able to descend from the wall without any trouble.


    The moment theynded, they quickly made their way back to the Daze Vige.


    Upon reaching the entrance of the Daze Vige, everyone immediately noticed an increase in the number of visitors being checked at the entrance.


    The majority of the people were wearing tuxedos and attires used for a ball, which implies that these were the people that sessfully escaped from the chaos in the city of the Assembly of Freedom.


    "Look what we have here, our prey voluntarily entering our den," Gilbert can''t help smiling at the sight.


    "Hold back yourself," Kayn shook his head. "We have to stay low for some time,"


    "Why?" Jude doesn''t understand. "This would be such a waste if we let them go,"


    "It would also be a waste if we don''t gather information about these people while they stay in the Daze Vige," Kayn exined.


    "Fair enough,"


    Gilbert and Jude finally understood.


    All of a sudden, a group of people suddenly approached Kayn''s group.


    Seeing them, Gilbert, Jude, and Charles immediately raised their weapons in case these people are up to no good.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "It''s okay, they are part of the Assembly of Freedom and good friends of mine," Jericho signaled with his hand to assure everyone that it is safe.


    "How lucky for us to see you here Chairman Jericho,"


    A guy with red hair expresses his relief.


    "Were you perhaps in the ball as well?"


    Another guy with blue hair wonders.


    "I was, were the three of you brothers also present back then?"


    "Yeah¡­"


    A guy with green hair nodded.


    Kayn immediately notices that these three people are triplets.


    "Did you attend as one group or three different groups?" Jericho asked as he notices that the three didn''t have a guard with them.


    "All of our guards died to protect us during the chaos in the ballroom," The guy with red hair felt sorrow at the loss of their loyal men.


    "Did you bring Ben and Kevin too?" Jadiel asked in worry.


    "No, they are waiting for us inside the Daze Vige as we speak,"


    "That''s good," Jadiel felt relieved. Ben and Kevin were two of his close friends.


    "If it is okay to ask, what was your intention of going to the Assembly of Freedom? I thought that you wanted to remain neutral for this war?"


    "We do,"


    "We still thought that same,"


    "We just attended the ball on the Green Horn City''s sidest night,"


    "So we thought, why not visit their opponent''s ball as well,"


    "How? Shouldn''t the people on the guests list only be the official allies of the Assembly of Freedom?"


    "Well, we are part of the Thieves Guild Alliance, so we were naturally invited as well,"


    "It was weird, but I think I understand why,"


    "Those devious Assembly of Freedom, they actually thought of making the ball into a ce to enact revenge,"


    "What do you expect from a bunch of unreasonable people? It was already good enough that they didn''t serve humans as dishes as I thought,"


    "Nobody does that, Jade!" The man with blue hair felt his twin brother''s words were unfounded.


    "Who could say for certain, Azurite," Jade believes that it is possible.


    "Look at him, Spinel," Azurite looks at his brother with red hair to ask for assistance.


    "Silence you two," Spinel sternly warns his two brothers. "Anyways, can I ask for assistance to get inside the Daze Vige? The line is so long and I am afraid the Assembly of Freedom might bring their chaos here anytime soon,"


    "Alright," Jericho doesn''t find it troublesome to help his friends. These triplets were people who share simr beliefs as him. They just want to be the richest in the entire ''The Bridge''.


    "You wouldn''t mind, right?" Jericho looks at Kayn.


    "As long as it is okay for you," Kayn smiles.


    "Thank you," Jericho appreciates the trust.


    With that being said, everyone followed Jericho to get through the entrance of the Daze Vige without having to go through the long and tedious line.

 Chapter 223 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 26

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    Chapter 223: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 26


    Jericho kindly weed the triplets to the Wing Boots Auction House, albeit they stayed on the floor below the penthouse as they can''t allow them to hear what they are nning.


    "Are you certain that those people aren''t up to no good?" Gilbert was still cautious about the triplets down below their room.


    Jericho wasn''t one hundred percent certain, but he knows that he can trust them. "They should be trustworthy,"


    "Let''s set aside those triplets and focus on what we should be doing next?" Kayn muttered as he walked to the window of the penthouse.


    Ever since they found the city, Jericho had specifically ordered his men to clear out the trees that were blocking the penthouse from seeing the location of the city.


    So, from where he is standing right now, he could see clearly the city with smoke from the chimneys spread across almost everywhere imploding smoke into the dark sky, seemingly expressing its anger at the chaos that he has brought in it.


    Grabbing the telescope he put on the side of the ss, he uses it in order to see what''s currently taking ce in the city after the chaos that happened.


    From the entrance to the wall, he could see the security of the city had be even tighterpared to when the ball was taking ce.


    Multiple rows and columns of soldiers line up outside the city as if they preparing for something.


    "Are they perhaps intending to flip the entire Daze Vige upside down?" Kayn could only think of that possibility seeing the army the Assembly of Freedom has prepared.


    In the next moment, his sight was attracted by multiple siege machines being pushed forward from the walls.


    That''s right, the walls opened up through an unknown mechanism and what came out from the holes were siege machines.


    There were catapults, ballista, battering rams, siege towers, and cannons.


    "Don''t tell me they are really nning to attack the Daze Vige?" Kayn was shocked upon seeing the siege machines.


    "What''s happening, Kayn?" Jericho quickly approaches.


    Gilbert, Jude, Charles, Jadiel, and Randy also came after.


    "Have a look," Kayn passed the telescope to Jericho.


    "What the hell!" Jericho widened in shock. "You''re not thinking what I am thinking, right?"


    "I''m afraid I am," Kayn can assume that the city is going to destroy the Daze Vige.


    "Why?"


    "Because they want to find us,"


    "Is that even reasonable?" Jericho can''t believe the Assembly of Freedom is nning on destroying the Daze Vige to find them.


    "What about their allies?" Gilbert can''t help wondering what will happen to their allies as almost all of them are currently staying in the Daze Vige.


    "This is just a small portion of their entire alliance, right?" Kayn looks at Jericho.


    "Yes," Jericho confirmed. "The majority of their allies are spread everywhere around the Slumbering Forest. I think those that came to the ball are only the allies close to the Daze Vige or have a base in this territory,"


    "Would they consider the fact that you are in the Daze Vige?" Gilbert turns to Jericho.


    "They don''t even consider the others, let alone me,"


    "Then we should start evacuating everyone," Kayn suggested.


    Just when they were about to begin the evacuation, they heard a hurried knock on the door.


    Kayn and the others immediately positioned themselves as guards for Jericho as thetter approaches the door.


    "Chairman Jericho, there''s bad news!" Spinel expressed with a panicked voice.


    "What''s the matter?"


    "I just received news from my spies in the Assembly of Freedom. Chief Kylo is¡­"


    "Going to destroy the Daze Vige!"<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Going to destroy the Daze Vige!"


    Azurite and Jade said at the same time.


    "We already know," Jericho smiled.


    "You knew?"


    "We saw their army from the window,"


    "What should we do now?" Jade asked in concern.


    "We evacuate, obviously," Azurite rolled his eyes as it was very obvious what they would do.


    "That''s right," Jericho confirmed. "There''s an underground passage underneath the Daze Vige that businesses like us use for our important transactions. We will be using it in our evacuation,"


    Spinel, Azurite, and Jade breath in relief.


    "Go out and find Master Khalid. Ask him for instructions on the evacuation," Jericho patted Spinel''s shoulder.


    "We own you one, Chairman Jericho," Spinel expressed his appreciation before quickly leaving along with Azurite and Jade.


    As soon as the triplets left, Kayn and everyone quickly left to prepare for the evacuation.


    An hour or soter, the army the Assembly of Freedom had prepared was still standing still in front of the city.


    "They''re not moving yet," Gilbert updated using a mouthpiece that''s equipped with a wire that connects two mouthpieces together with the other end located at the warehouse underground.


    "How''s the progress with the evacuation?" Kayn quickly asked.


    "We''ve already transported all the valuables we needed," Jericho responded. "We are now evacuating all the staff,"


    "It shouldn''t take long," Kayn looks at Gilbert. "Let''s go down,"


    "Are you sure? We need someone to constantly send them updates," Gilbert was worried.


    "I think we don''t have to anymore," Kayn muttered as his eyes stared at the window.


    The army of the Assembly of Freedom was finally making a move.


    "Let''s go now!"


    The distance between the city and the Daze Vige isn''t honestly that far away, just around twenty kilometers or so. Based on the speed of the army, it should only take them less than ten minutes to reach in front of the Daze Vige.


    "We have less than five minutes to finish the evacuation," Kayn informed Jericho.


    "Alright!" Jericho ended themunication.


    "I thought there were ten?" Gilbert was confused.


    "We still have to travel from the Wing Boots Auction House to the exit of the Daze Vige. If we leave in ten minutes, that means we will have less time to get out of this territory,"


    "Okay,"


    Kayn and Gilbert quickly left the penthouse and made their way to the underground warehouse.


    As soon as they arrived, the evacuation was about to be finished.


    "Great! You both are finally here," Jericho felt relieved as he was anxious when the duo did not respond on the mouthpiece.


    "Can we evacuate now?"


    "Yes," Jericho nodded.


    With that being said, everyone from the Wing Boots Auction House started moving to the exit of the Daze Vige.

 Chapter 224 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 27

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    Chapter 224: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 27


    Along the way to the exit, they started spotting other people using the underground passage to leave the Daze Vige.


    It''s quite evident from this sight alone that it isn''t only them that received the news of the Assembly of Freedom''s attack.


    Although the majority of people who are leaving are those that own huge businesses in Daze Vige and have ess to the underground passageway from their property.


    Kayn spotted some familiar faces from the entrance of the Daze Vige earlier ago within the crowd of people.


    "Be careful, we havepany," Kayn warns everyone.


    "Should we eliminate them in case they try to inform the Assembly of Freedom that there are people evacuating here?" Gilbert grabbed the hilt of his daggers by the waist.


    "Don''t, they''re just like us," Kayn shook his head. He also hasn''t confirmed yet just how many they are exactly, so if they try to confront them without having taken into consideration every ally of the Assembly of Freedom present here, they might just try to sabotage this entire operation to get their revenge.


    "Alright," Gilbert took his hand away from the hilt of his dagger.


    Ten minutester in the evacuation, everyone started hearing sounds of battleing from up above their heads.


    Explosions.


    Loud cries.


    Copsing buildings.


    Those were the familiar sounds that they would consistently hear as they make their way to the other exit of the Daze Vige.


    Fortunately, the sounds of battle were still far from where they are.


    "Prepare yourselves," Kayn reminded everyone as he saw the exit not far from where they are. "As soon as we make it through the exit, that''s where our battle will begin,"


    It''s quite clear already that the Assembly of Freedom doesn''t recognize foes from allies anymore, at least that''s the case in the Daze Vige, after what happened during the ball.


    After all, other than the fact that they were attacked in the ball they orchestrated for the allies in the Daze Vige, their allies in this territory also prove themselves useless during the chaos. In the end, they even started killing themselves. Not to mention, they saved themselves during the chaos when they were making their way to the headquarters instead of helping everyone, which once again proves that when the wares, these people won''t serve any use on the battlefield as there''s a sure chance they will run away.


    Needless to say, this includes Jericho and the Herald Guild.


    It isn''t bad though since their goal right from the start was to simply find the key in the city of the Assembly of Freedom and steal it once there''s a chance for them to do it.


    However, this wasn''t entirely their fault, Wesley and the people who were entrusted with the arrangement of security and safety for the ball are the main offenders as they didn''t handle their assignments perfectly.


    In other words, the allies in the Daze Vige are just scapegoats for the crime of Wesley and hispany. And also a method to satisfy Chief Kylo''s anger from losing not only the Kingmaker but also the Levitation Scepter.


    Not long after, Kayn''s group reached the exit of the Daze Vige.


    This exit of the Daze Vige wasn''t to the opposite side of where the army of the Assembly of Freedom is currently attacking.


    Their goal is to go to the Drowsy Vige, which is located to the north, and the city of the Assembly of Freedom is to the west, which means that this is the north exit of the Daze Vige, just a few kilometers away from the west exit.


    As expected, there were a few soldiers waiting at the exit for anyone that tries to think of leaving the Daze Vige and repeating the offense of just saving themselves. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Eliminate everyone you see that isn''t part of our group," Kayn gave the order.


    Gilbert and the others nodded as they then started executing themand.


    Over the carriages of the Wing Boots Auction House, multiple men with the mage, priest, and marksman ss revealed themselves and started raining havoc on the army of the Assembly of Freedom blocking their path.


    It wasn''t only the men from the Wing Boots Auction House that fought back, the others who evacuated with them alsounch their formation and assisted.


    This resulted in an all-out brawl between the two sides, a beginning to what appears to be the spark that started the war.


    Because of themotion that sounded from the north gate, more and more soldiers of the Assembly of Freedom arrived.


    "If we prolong this, it would be impossible for us to escape," Gilbert expresses his worry.


    "Jericho," Kayn looks at Jericho.


    "Yes?"


    "Save only the necessary valuables, and leave the rest. We can''t afford to be dyed any further," This is the only choice they have.


    "Master Khalid!" Jericho called out as an old man with tan skin quickly approaches.


    "Yes, Chairman Jericho?"


    "I want you to leave the rest of the items behind and only bring the real valuables. After that, we will leave our carriages and use the horses only or our foot if necessary to quickly leave this ce," Jericho made it clear that they have no time.


    Master Khalid understood this, so he quickly executed the change of ns.


    In just two to three minutes, everything was already prepared for their quick escape.


    Horses were taken off from the carriage.


    Valuables are stored inside Storage Rings instead.


    And the staff of the Wing Boots Auction House on the ground prepared and ready.


    Pulling himself on top of the horse, Kayn then raised his sword to point to the dark sky, "Retreat!"


    In the next moment, everyone from the Wing Boots Auction House charged to the north without any ounce of hesitation.


    As they reach closer to the dense forest, Master Khalid suddenly issued. "Begin!"


    All of a sudden, dozens of staff of the Wing Boots Auction House stood up from their horses and with a wave of their hands, they started throwing multiple valuables to the side.


    Countless treasures rained as if pies falling from the sky.


    Just like what the experienced merchant Master Khalid expected, the army of the Assembly of Freedom fell to their greed as they temporarily stopped chasing after them in order to grab as many treasures as possible.

 Chapter 225 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 28

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    Chapter 225: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 28


    "I finally understand why you choose that person to manage this branch of the Wing Boots Auction House. In fact, I wouldn''t be surprised if you make him the CEO of all the Wing Boots Auction House from now on," Kayn looks at Jericho in approval before glimpsing at Master Khalid.


    Master Khalid''s experience as a merchant that he had shown just now isn''t something that a lot of people with the same ss as him could replicate or even think about. He basically showed everyone one of the uniquebat capabilities of the merchant ss.


    The majority of people who picked the merchant ss only believe that their way of fighting is by developing weapons and other means ofbat tools. In truth, they actually have another way to fight, and that is by using those tools they developed for themselves.


    It wasn''t yet time for that style of fighting to exist. But back in the second life, a new ss of merchants rose to fame and they called themselves the Mechanic.


    Unlike with the Levitation Scepter, he can inform the world about the ss Mechanic ahead of time.


    Although it would no doubt bring about a butterfly effect to the current timeline, it should give more benefits to himpared to disadvantages.


    While Kayn was considering inwardly making Master Khalid the catalyst for the birth of the Mechanic ss, everyone has finally broken through the army of the Assembly of Freedom after thetter''s method of openly bribing the soldiers seded.


    However, it wasn''t yet the end.


    With the number of soldiers present, the treasures Master Khalid threw away onlysted for a brief moment. It was only enough to let them pass through their defense and soon after that, they went after to chase them.


    "I thought they would go after those people we left behind," Jericho felt slightly disappointed. Although some soldiers decided not to chase since the majority of people who were trying to escape still haven''t broken through their wall.


    "This is perfect!" Kayn suddenly realized. "We will take care of these soldiers once we get inside the forest,"


    "Understood,"


    Everyone acknowledged.


    It didn''t take long for everyone to finally enter the forest.


    If there''s one thing these soldiers forgot to consider, that is the fact that the Herald Guild is a den full of thieves. Although not everyone possesses the assassin ss, that doesn''t change the fact that they possess the skills of a thief.


    The instant everyone got inside the forest, as if hunters of the night, everyone disappeared within the shadows.


    Those that possess the merchant ss continued running along the path though, as they are going to attract the soldiers'' attention while everyone positions themselves nearby.


    The soldiers didn''t mind the disappearance of the others, as they believe these people would try to save themselves just like what they did back then in the city.


    Unbeknownst to the soldiers, the group they are chasing right now is actually the real perpetrator behind the chaos back them. They didn''t retreat simply to save themselves, they retreated because they already seeded in their mission.


    Like clueless rodents running under the cover of the night sky, the soldiers continued to chase after the running targets.


    As they got deeper and deeper into the forest, the trap that Kayn had set up got tighter and tighter around them.


    In the next moment, an arrow that carries a dynamite with itnded right in the middle of the soldier''s formation.


    "Watch out!"


    Boom!


    It was already toote for the warning as the arrow exploded the instant it hit the ground.


    The formation of the soldiers was immediately broken and all of them got scattered into ces. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Taking the opportunity while all soldiers were still trying to recover from the explosion, everyone hiding the in shadowsunch their attacks.


    Whoosh!


    Dozens of arrows rained from the sky.


    Boom!


    Bang!


    The Guardians used their <<Shield Dash>> to further push the group away from each other and toward where plenty of men from the Wing Boots Auction House patiently waited for an ambush.


    ng!


    A series of metal hitting again metal sounded as the fight officially began.


    Kayn waves his sword, as he hurls a <<Molten Ice sh>> toward the dense crowd that the Guardians have gathered.


    Boom!


    The enemy Guardian tried to block the attack, but as a result, he got sted away to the tree nearby where he meet his unfortunate death in the hands of assassins hiding nearby.


    As <<Molten Ice sh>> continues to travel forward, it soon cut the lives away from the unprotected soldiers.


    Gilbert, Jude, Charles, Jericho, Jadiel, and Randy also went ahead and harvested the lives of the soldiers they met.


    In that kind of manner, the number of soldiers slowly dwindled down.


    However, it wasn''t all happy and merry for the Wing Boots Auction House.


    There were Executives and elite members among the soldiers of the Assembly of Freedom present. As a result of that, a fair amount of Jericho''s men fell and died on their hands.


    Moreover, as they look in the direction of the Daze Vige, they could see the soldiers'' reinforcement quickly approaching them. In their groups were clearly more Executives and elite members.


    It was at this moment that Kayn realized they should have continued escaping instead of facing this group of soldiers.


    That small dosage of arrogance from the continuous sessful operation caused him to lose sight of their real goal and in the end, they lost men that weren''t supposed to die if only they had continued on their way.


    "Retreat!" Kayn issued.


    Without any hesitation, everyone swiftly left the scene and followed after the merchants of the Wing Boots Auction House that continued ahead.


    "That was a mistake," Kayn med himself.


    "No," Gilbert shook his head. "The triplets betrayed us,"


    "What?" Jericho was shocked.


    "You''ll see soon," Gilbert knew that something wasn''t right ever since they evacuated.

 Chapter 226 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 29

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    Chapter 226: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 29


    Gilbert started suspecting the triplets when they learned the Assembly of Freedom is currently amassing their army to attack the Daze Vige from their supposed spies in their enemy''s force. In the first ce, no one other than them and the staff could enter the Wing House Auction House''s upper levels.


    Needless to say, they let it pass because they were pressed for time.


    Secondly, despite the fact that they used the underground passageway to evacuate, a significant number of soldiers from the Assembly of Freedom still waited for them at the exit as if expecting already that they wereing.


    Indeed, they can assume that Wesley knew about this ce. But why would he specifically send men waiting at the exit when he could just use the building above to enter the underground passageway and chase after the evacuating people, right?


    But then again, supposed Wesley did assign men to wait at the exit, why would there be Executives amongst them? Not to mention, most of them were elite members of the Assembly of Freedom. It is as if they knew ahead of time that they won''t be fighting against ordinary people.


    Well, they are indeed not ordinary, but the majority of people who were escaping with them were merely businessmen and merchants along with their guards and some important personnel of their respective businesses. That would surely not be a problem with ordinary soldiers, especially the soldiers of the Assembly of Freedom who are a bunch of cruel and merciless men.


    Unless, of course, their target from the start was them.


    That was just Gilbert''s suspicion. But that suspicion was soon confirmed when they started noticing some dead men and horses along their path to meet up with Master Khalid and the others.


    "Those traitors!" Jericho can''t believe that this is how those triplets would repay him for everything that he did for them all this time.


    "I know how you feel," Kayn is very familiar with such feelings.


    "I knew that there was something weird with what they said about going to the Green Horn City''s ball and then going to the other side''s ball. I believe they were just testing us," Jude realized. "If we had responded with there''s no ball, they''ll immediately suspect that we are rted to the Green Horn City that''s why they know,"


    "What gives it away, though?" Kayn still doesn''t understand how exactly those people discovered them.


    "Perhaps they are targeting everyone that escaped during the chaos," Gilbert assumed.


    "We should have stayed," Jericho was so worried at that time that''s why he joined Kayn and the others in escaping instead of staying.


    "No need to me yourself. If you had chosen to stay, Master Khalid would be left on his own to evacuate everyone," Kayn shook his head. Even if it''s regretful, it''s already toote to think or do anything about it.


    All of a sudden, they started hearing a sound of shinging not far away from them.


    "Chairman Jericho!" Master Khalid quickly called out upon seeing everyone.


    Hearing that Jericho has arrived, Spinel, Azurite, and Jade instantly halted from their killing.


    "I can exin," Spinel looks at Jericho.


    "No need," Jericho shook his head. "Kayn, will it be alright for you if you let me handle this problem?"


    "Do as you see fit," Kayn trusts Jericho can handle this problem on his own.


    "Kayn?" Spinel looks at the man Jericho called Kayn.


    "We knew it!" Azurite was delighted.


    "Chief Kylo would definitely reward us handsomely once we give him this information," Jade stroke his arms together.


    "I am disappointed, Chairman Jericho. I didn''t think that it would be in you to actually choose the good side," Spinel waves his sword to clean off the blood from his sword.


    "Well, can you me me If I choose to be with the winner''s side?"


    "Winner? The war hasn''t even begun yet,"


    "Yet we already won twice," Jericho sneered.


    "Those were just small operations,"


    "That''s right! It doesn''t count!"<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Azurite and Jade interjected.


    "A win is a win. Only losers make excuses for their own lost,"


    "Enough talk, let''s get this over with!" Spinel hurled himself forward and brandished his sword at Jericho.


    With a wave of his hand, Jericho took out another gun from his Storage Ring. He quickly raises them together to block Spinel''s attack


    ng!


    In the next moment, Jericho raised one of his feet and sent a kick to Spinel''s stomach.


    As Spinel slightly retreated, Jericho used the force of his kick to make a backflip and further increase their distance apart.


    Uponnding, Jericho didn''t hesitate as heid waste with bullets to Spinel.


    Bang! Bang!


    Bang! Bang!


    Cling! ng!


    Cling! ng!


    Spinel tried his best to block the bullets with his sword but soon found out that it is impossible because of how fast they are. Not to mention, even though they are small, it still brings forth a powerful hit.


    "Azurite! Jade!"


    "Already on it!" Azurite started chanting his magic spell.


    On the other hand, Jade went in front of his older brother with a shield and sword in both hands to prevent Jericho from interrupting him.


    Seeing this, Jericho simply smiled. "Idiots!"


    Whoosh!


    Two dynamites were thrown toward Azurite and Jade''s direction.


    Because Jade was blocking Azurite''s view, it left the former with no other choice but to receive the full brunt of the explosive.


    Boom!


    Boom!


    Jade''s shield was unable to handle the strength of the explosive as traces of cracks could be seen on its surface.


    Moreover, Azurite''s chanting was interrupted as he was worried about Jade.


    "I am very familiar with you three brothers and how protective you are exactly to Jade, which makes me think why exactly you made him pick the Guardian ss," Jericho reloaded his gun with more magic bullets. "Were you perhaps expecting that by doing this you''ll be able to give him more protection? But then again, a Guardian that stays in the rear is no Guardian at all, let alone expect him to protect himself,"


    Whoosh!


    Jericho hurls more explosives. This time, he threw it at both Spinel''s and the two brother''s locations.


    "Now, who would you save first, dear Jade?" Jericho showed a devious look on his face.


    Spinel, Azurite, and Jade understood fully well that it is impossible to avoid the explosives since they would explode instantly the instant they get close enough. Moreover, its st radius is no joke, so even if they jump to the side, they would still be caught in the explosion.


    In the end, Jade was once again forced to make a decision on which brother he should save and who he should leave behind on their own.

 Chapter 227 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 30

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    Chapter 227: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 30


    It is truly an unfortunate sight to see three brothers being forced into a situation where one of them has to pick which one to save. Not to mention, it was the youngest who was put in the situation. But one has to suffer the consequences of their own action.


    Spinel, Azurite, and Jade dared to betray Jericho in their pursuit of more richest.


    Contrary to them, Jericho, who has the same goal as them, didn''t betray their friendship and even tried his best to offer help.


    Needless to say, Jericho can''t me the triplets for the decision they choose as they have the free will to pick whatever side they want. At the same time, the triplets also can''t me him for his response to their act of betrayal.


    This is the natural order of things.


    Before doing something, one must think about the consequences it would bring about first before deciding whether to do it or not.


    "Go and save Spinel!" Azurite eximed loudly.


    That was the wake-up call that pulled Jade back into reality.


    Without any hesitation, Jade instinctively went to Spinel just like what he always does whenever he is being ordered by one of his two brothers.


    "What a beautiful sight," Jericho raised both of his hands holding the two guns. "Sadly, that isn''t what I aimed to achieve,"


    Bang! Bang!


    Sounds of gunshots echoed as bullets hit the bottom of the dynamite mid-air.


    The bullets precisely touched just a tiny portion of the dynamites which is more than enough to change their direction ofnding.


    Instead of the dynamites only going to Spinel and Azurite''s direction, now there are a few of them also going to Jade who is currently doing his best to save the oldest in their family.


    "No!"


    "No!"


    Spinel and Azurite eximed at the same time. The duo swiftly moved to try and reach for Jade.


    Time slowed down as everyone watched the triplets being put into such a grave situation.


    Regardless of how fast they tried to move, they knew that it is impossible to do anything to change what is about to happen.


    "Everyone must pay a price,"


    Boom!


    A series of loud explosions sounded and a cloud of dust covered the site where the dynamites were thrown.


    The trees nearby were sted into pieces with their top part falling to the ground.


    Fortunately, the members of the Wing Boots Auction House were considerably far from the site of the explosion. So, they were safe.


    Although they weren''tpletely safe though because some of them are currently seriously injured after fighting against the triplets. And regretfully, the triplets specifically targeted all of their Priests, so they no longer have anyone present who is capable of healing. If they don''t receive healing soon, they are for sure going to die.


    As the cloud of smoke started settling down, the aftermath of the explosion could soon be seen.


    Everyone''s eyes were surprised as they saw Jadepletely safe. There''s now a green-colored barrier protecting him.


    As they look at Spinel and Azurite, the duo was hit directly and as expected are now in a critical state.


    "d to see that it worked," Spinel muttered with a relieved look on his face.


    "Who do you think made it in the first ce," Azurite chuckled with difficulty.


    "Brothers¡­" Jade glimpsed at his two older brothers before looking down at the pendant that granted him protection from the explosion.


    "That barrier willst for an hour. I hope you use it well," Spinel muttered as he took hisst breath.


    "It''s ourst gift, make the most of it," Azurite added as he also took hisst breath.


    Just to make sure that they weren''t faking their deaths, Jericho shot both of their heads. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Bang! Bang!


    Jade''s eyes instantly widened in shock as he watches Jericho''s merciless act.


    "You¡­" Jade stared murderously at Jericho.


    Bang! Bang!


    In response, Jericho shoot a few bullets at the barrier to test whether it was really what the two brothers had imed.


    "How lucky," Jericho coldly uttered.


    "Ahhh!" Jade charges at Jericho.


    Because of the slow speed of Guardianspared to markmen, Jericho simply dodge away while Jade continued with his useless pursuit.


    "Just give up!"


    "No!"


    "Even if you catch me, what are you going to do next?"


    "I will rip you to pieces!"


    "I am afraid that''s going to be impossible," Jericho advised. "My friends would surely not let that happen,"


    Jade halted. He looked around and quickly remember that he is currently in an unfavorable situation.


    "Even if you can block all of our attacks for one hour, what then? You''ll just return to the helpless you once the one-hour mark is up," Jericho sniggers. "No matter what you do, you will not be able to change the fact that you are useless,"


    "Why are you doing this to us?" Jade cried.


    "Are you an idiot or something? You attacked us and betrayed me. What do you expect me to do? ept it with wide arms? You were so happy when you were ughtering my men, and now you cry as if the world is unfair?" Jericho rolled his eyes. "This is the exact reason why I didn''t join the Assembly of Freedom''s side. I might be a Viin, but I am not delirious enough to believe that the world should only revolve around me,"


    "We were just doing what was good for us,"


    "I am also doing the same. So, you three should have just minded your own business,"


    "We can''t," Jade shook his head in fear. "Wesley would kill us if we don''t help him,"


    "Help you with what?"


    "Kill your assistant,"


    "Kayn?" Jericho looks at Kayn.


    "We didn''t know he was actually Kayn. All we know is that even if all of you can get away, we must absolutely not allow your assistant to leave the Daze Vige alive,"


    Everyone can''t help looking at Kayn.


    On the other hand, Kayn is fully aware of why ¡ª Wesley hated him.


    Gilbert finally understood everything. Nobody revealed their location. From the start, Wesley was fully aware of it. The only reason why thetter assigned men, including Executives and elite members, to the exit of the underground passageway, was so that they can make sure Kayn, who they knew as Jericho''s assistant, is dead.


    From the very start, all of this was targeted at Kayn.


    "What can I do? I attract trouble," Kayn was helpless about it. Though he does feel guilty.


    Honestly, this was something that he already expected to happen. With poweres great responsibility. And responsibilityes with sacrifices. This time, the cost was Jericho''s men.


    Left with no other choice, Jade chooses to escape.


    "I will get my revenge, mark my words!" Jade eximed as he run away with his tail between his legs.


    Bang! Bang!


    Jericho simply shoots twice in response.

 Chapter 228 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 31

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    Chapter 228: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 31


    Kayn and everyone didn''t stay for long to clean up the mess since the soldiers of the Assembly of Freedom are still chasing after them.


    After assisting the merchants, they immediately pick up the pace as they went deeper into the forest.


    When the soldiers of the Assembly of Freedom finally arrived, they only found the scene of the fight between Jericho and the triplets. As for their target, they were long already gone from the scene.


    In the midst of escaping, Jericho has to make the hard choice and face the deaths of more of his men who were seriously injured during the escape.


    It was a very hard decision to make, but for the sake of the many, they had to do it.


    To end the misery of some of his men sooner, Jericho took it upon his hands to end their lives.


    They were sessful in their escape and their operation, but nobody in the group believed that it was a victory for them, including Kayn himself.


    In exchange for stealing the Levitation Scepter and preventing the Assembly of Freedom''s city to leave the Daze Vige, their branch of Wing Boots Auction House was destroyed and dozens of their staff were killed in action. They also had to leave behind countless treasures which amounts to no less than millions of coins. As a result of that, they''ve just given more funds for the Assembly of Freedom to use for this war.


    With more money at their disposal, the Assembly of Freedom would be able to easily cover up their losses during the operation by hiring mercenaries to join their side. Though it would just cover the quality with quantity.


    In conclusion, the appropriate term to use would be, a good trade.


    It was a good trade.


    Kayn''s side got what they wanted, and Chief Kylo''s side could recuperate his losses while at the same time dealing a bit to the former.


    Truthfully speaking, there are really no real winners in a war. Everyone loses something. One might lose his country to the winner, but the other could also lose his family to the loser.


    Kayn and Jericho were very much aware of this reality. That''s why they can only take responsibility for their deaths in silence.


    Due to their limited means of transportation, with only a handful of usable horses at their disposal, and arge number of individuals, some of whom sustained minor injuries, it took them a span of two and a half days to arrive at the Drowsy Vige.


    The moment they reached camp, the news about their supposedly sessful operation has already reached the ears of everyone present. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    They cheered at their arrival, including the four squads of the Green Horn Knights who have returned after the allies of the Assembly of Freedom constructed their headquarters in the city they were assigned.


    Unbeknownst to them, that was actually another good opportunity to deal more damage to the Assembly of Freedom''s side. However, because of theck ofmunication from Kayn''s side, the three squads of the Green Horn Knights retreated in order to avoid any unwanted casualties in their respective groups.


    On second thought, they have at least got to know who the allies of the Assembly of Freedom are, which is a very valuable piece of information for Green Horn City''s side.


    All of those achievements, led to everyone on the Green Horn City''s side believing that Kayn and the others won.


    Contrary to the majority, Old Mayor George didn''t believe in winners in a war. He inquired about their losses in his hut and after getting a clear gist about everything, he then suggested the best way to help those that they have lost.


    Jericho and his men from the Herald Guild and Wing Boots Auction House left for the Drowsy Vige in order to take care of that matter, while Gilbert and the others return to their hut to rest.


    On the other hand, Kayn was ordered to stay by Old Mayor George.


    "I won''t ask about the Levitation Scepter as I stay firm with my belief that whoever got it should keep it themselves," Old Mayor George rified his intention first. "All I want to know is more information about the city of the Assembly of Freedom,"


    Ever since the Assembly of Freedom made a name for themselves, he had never ever heard even once about them possessing a city.


    And ording to Kayn and the other''s description, this city should have long existed already, even before the Green Horn City was constructed. This means that the Assembly of Freedom is the first group to ever make a city in ''The Bridge''.


    Now, assuming that''s the case, the Assembly of Freedom had the upper hand way back in the past before signs of war even appeared to gather as many people to their side. They have long been preparing for this war, so only Fate knows who they have tried to persuade and entice to join their side to defeat him.


    Knowing that even Jericho''s friends in the Thieves Guild Alliance had betrayed him, Old Mayor George could only hope that it won''t happen to him considering the influence of the city that the Assembly of Freedom possessed.


    Kayn didn''t hesitate to inform Old Mayor George of everything they knew about the city, including the fact that the Assembly of Freedom has reached the industrial revolution era with their city and the technologies they have seen so far.


    "I will be making some internal changes for the uing war," Old Mayor George sighs heavily. He seriously doesn''t like the idea of constantly changing the n, especially when they are about to dere war on the Assembly of Freedom. His initial n of attacking internally has already changed because everyone returned ahead of time. Albeit they did damage to their opponent''s side, he wasn''t content with it. He was aiming for more, and his original goal was unfortunately not met. "Come back here tomorrow evening with your team. Don''t inform the others yet until I fully confirm their loyalty to our cause,"


    "Understood," Kayn acknowledged before leaving the hut.

 Chapter 229 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 32

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    Chapter 229: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 32


    The next day, Kayn went to tour around the base of the Green Horn City and soon notices that the entire ce is slowly bing no different from the city of the Assembly of Freedom.


    Though the progress of their development is still far from the industrial revolution era of the Assembly of Freedom, they don''t lose when ites to manpower and the speed of their progress. In fact, because everyone was so organized and there were no fights and arguments at all, they progress even faster.


    The task was also being handled by multiple talented individuals, thus there are a lot of different chores being done all at the same time.


    Although for the progress in the warfare department, they are on par with the Assembly of Freedom, at least as far as he had seen.


    Regardless, the atmosphere around the ce was no different from what he felt when he visited the city of the Assembly of Freedom.


    The aura around everyone was tense and they are very restless. It even came to a point where they get annoyed when they don''t have anything to do and would instantly argue with the person in charge to give them a task.


    As much as the people in charge wanted to give all of these eager and dedicated people a task for them to do, they can''t because in truth there was barely anything else to do left. The remaining task is also at max capacity.


    In the end, Kayn could only go there and help by sending them to the Drowsy Vige, specifically the Herald Guild, to help fortify the second territory of the Green Horn City in the Slumbering Forest and eliminate the hiding members of the Assembly of Freedom in the territory.


    He believes that Jericho would be able to make use of all the people he sent to the most of their capability and increase the progress of his side.


    Every time he finishes with that, he goes back to his tour.


    Other than the busy and restless people, there were also a lot of other wonderful people he met. In particr, he conversed with the merchants who are selling different types of weapons and equipment on the street.


    They expressed that since they don''t want the Assembly of Freedom to win the war, they cut the prices of the items they are selling in half in hopes of helping while at the same time not losing their capital and could still get by in their daily business operations.


    As a result of that act of kindness, a whole lot of other people who are into gathering resources also sold their items to these vendors for a low price so that they''ll both end up helping Green Horn City win the war.


    Some people even went as far as donating the resources they''ve gathered from the Slumbering Forest, with a few going to the extent of visiting the other Viges to secretly purchase resources and materials to transport to the Green Horn City. Albeit not all of them were sessful, especially now that the Green Horn Knights who used to protect them during their covert operation are no longer stationed in those Viges.


    Nevertheless, their action was fruitful as it significantly increased the progress of the preparation for war.


    Andst but certainly not least, Kayn went to gather information on the important personnel that the higher-ups of the Green Horn City had assigned to manage the different tasks with the intent of knowing who he could trust and who are suspicious.


    He wasn''t nning on doing something like this today if he didn''t remember that tonight Old Mayor George would gather his team for a special assignment. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Needless to say, he already informed his team to secretly gather in his hut tonight as they would use the secret passage to go to Old Mayor George''s hut, which Gnak had also installed a secret passage connecting to his Vige.


    Speaking about Gnak''s Evergreen Vige, because of the fast progress on the surface, their vige also benefited a ton from it. As a matter of fact, they have a lot of surplus supply in their warehouses.


    Naturally, they didn''t abuse their advantage and felt contented when they finally had enough for everything they nned on doing for this year.


    When night finally came, Kayn didn''t wait for long as Gilbert, Jude, Charles, Jericho, and Jadiel arrived in his tent one after the other.


    Before meeting with Old Mayor George, Kayn made sure to brief everyone for tonight''s meeting.


    On the other hand, everyone also shared their findings during the day of touring around the Green Horn City''s base just like Kayn.


    Contrary to everyone, Jericho informed them of bad news.


    Just this afternoon, the Drowsy Vige was attacked by men from the Assembly of Freedom. Their main target was the mansion of the Herald Guild and the people who holds important positions in their organization.


    Fortunately, because of the manpower that Kayn had sent to the Drowsy Vige, the attack didn''t bring a lot of losses for the Herald Guild. They still had to suffer some damages and casualties, but they weren''t important enough that it could greatly affect Jericho''s side.


    This attack was clearly a message sent by the Assembly of Freedom that implies they now knew the Herald Guild was never an ally of their organization from the start.


    "Took them long enough to discover the truth," Kayn mocked the Assembly of Freedom. Because of theck of order and proper cooperation within their organization, it isn''t surprising to see their operation being done so badly. So bad that it was only after they alreadypleted their assignment that their target learned of the real allegiance of the Herald Guild.


    "Tell me if you need more people because there''s a lot here that are eager enough to go to war before it even begins," Kayn chuckled.


    "I understand that everyone can no longer wait for the war to begin, but we still have to prepare more if we want to eliminate the Assembly of Freedom from the face of the world," Jericho believes that they are stillcking enough preparation.


    "Time is ticking, we don''t have forever to prepare for this war. Besides, we can only trust what Old Mayor George prepared for the Assembly of Freedom,"


    "Hopefully it would lead us to victory,"


    "Trust me, it would," Kayn was certain of that since the Assembly of Freedom no longer existed when the people from ''The Bridge'' returned back to Earth in the second life. Not to mention, he is involved this time around. Even if the future change, it will only change for the best.


    "Anyways, let''s go meet with Old Mayor George,"

 Chapter 230 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 33

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    Chapter 230: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 33


    Entering Old Mayor George''s hut, Kayn immediately saw him drinking tea on the sofa.


    "Everyone, sit," Old Mayor George motioned his hand at the sofa opposite from him.


    Kayn and the others sat on the sofa.


    "I heard that you went on a tour around the base this morning and even helped some of the staff on handling the excess manpower," Old Mayor George smiled. "So, how was your investigation?"


    Kayn already expected that he can''t hide his real intention from Old Mayor George. So, he responded with honesty, "The majority of people are loyal to our cause,"


    The merchants and those adventurers assigned as hardborers were evidently very eager with their job.


    "And who are those minorities?"


    "The staff,"


    That''s right. He noticed some of the staff who were assigned with the responsibility to manage the adventurers were being absent-minded and irresponsible with their job. Moreover, they were purposely failing their task despite the fact that it was very easy.


    "Which department?"


    "Siege Machines, Weapons, Potions, Tools, and Armor, all five major yers for the war," Kayn recounted. "It wasn''t all the staff, but over half of them are unfit for the position,"


    "I''ll take note of that," Old Mayor George nodded his head. "What else?"


    "The men, they need a way to release their restlessness. If we can''t solve this problem soon, it might cause their morale to decrease,"


    "What do you suggest we should do?"


    "I believe you already know," Kayn crosses his arms together.


    "Indeed," Old Mayor George waves his hand, immediately taking out a map of the Slumbering Forest from his Storage Ring. "Out of these five Viges, which one should we attack first?"


    "I see," Kayn took the map and showed it to everyone else.


    He understood quite well that Old Mayor George intended on making the excess manpower destroy one of the territories of the Assembly of Freedom in order to keep their mood alive.


    This was amon urrence before the war.


    Almost everyone would be motivated and excited, but once the war begins, they''ll start bing nervous and afraid.


    The reason for that is that they don''t have a clear vision of how the war would turn out to be for their side. Simply put, it is the fear of the unknown.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    However, if during the preparation they already imed some victories for their small operation, take for example Kayn and his team''s sessful operation in the Daze Vige, such a problem would be minimized. Not to mention, they can use those small sesses to boost the morale of their men during the war and decrease their enemy''s motivation by bringing it up.


    "The Daze Vige is out of the question, since the main headquarters of the Assembly of Freedom is present over there," Jericho uttered. It won''t be different from sending men on a suicide mission if they pick the Daze Vige.


    "Both the Slumber Vige and Dormant Vige wouldn''t bring much effect because they are far from the headquarters of the Assembly of Freedom," Gilbert slowly hovered his hand over the Hush Vige and Dream Vige. "Which leaves us with these two,"


    The Hush Vige and Dream Vige are the two territories to the south of the Daze Vige, with thetter being the farthest.


    It''s quite obvious why they are the best territories to destroy.


    Firstly, they are close to the Daze Vige, so their men would expect that it is going to be one of the major territories of the Assembly of Freedom, even though it is not. So, once they sessfully destroy one, they''ll think they''ve caused a lot of damage to the enemy''s camp.


    Secondly, they can bring about two respective negative oues for the Assembly of Freedom. If they attack the Hush Vige, it would open up a huge gap between the Daze Vige and the Dream Vige, which means thetter is now fully cut off from the head. On the other hand, if they attack the Dream Vige, the Green Horn City would be able to expand its operation closer to the headquarters of the Assembly of Freedom since they are currently in the southeast.


    Lastly, both Viges provide a good advantage point for the Assembly of Freedom during the war as they are close to the base of Green Horn City. So, if they destroy one, that means they have taken away an advantage point from their enemy.


    "If we destroy the Hush Vige, that means we can also destroy the Dream Vige," Jericho stroked his chin.


    An arm cut off from the body means an automatic death. In the case of the Dream Vige, they won''t be able to receive any help from the headquarters once the Hush Vige is destroyed. Or even if they could, it would take longer. By then, there''s a good that they''ll already be under attack.


    "If we expand the operation closer to the Assembly of Freedom, that means they''ll have less room to breath," Gilbert added.


    "However, we will still have to defend again the Slumber Vige and Dormant Vige," Jude pointed at the two Viges to the east of the Drowsy Vige.


    "I''ve already sent all the Green Horn Knights to investigate how those two territories n on continuing their operation now that the city of the Green Horn Vige can no longer fly from one side of the map to the other," Old Mayor George informs everyone. "If their option is to rely on each other, then we can just assign a quarter of our army to fight against them, just enough to keep them at bay or possibly just eliminate them before the war even begins,"


    "What do you think, Kayn?"


    Both Jericho and Gilbert look at Kayn.


    "Attacking the Hush Vige might provide us the best result, but it alsoes with the most risk since it is close to the Daze Vige," Kayn pointed at the Dream Vige, "So, I suggest we take the best we can, in that way we won''t achieve a fair trade like in ourst operation,"


    "You''re ying safe?" Jericho can''t believe it.


    "This time, I should. We don''t have a clear grasp yet on the changes the Assembly of Freedom has implemented after our operation," Kayn believes that this is the best choice for them.


    "I agree with Kayn," Old Mayor George nodded in ordance. He looks at Jericho and said. "In the meantime, I request that your Herald Guild would send some men to gather information in both the Daze Vige and Hush Vige during the operation in the Dream Vige,"


    "I was about to send men to the Hush Vige for a rescue mission, so I am going to do that even if you didn''t ask me to," Jericho responded.


    "Anyways, let''s continue with the meeting," Old Mayor George changes the topic.

 Chapter 231 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 34

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    Chapter 231: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 34


    Kayn''s group and Old Mayor George continued with their talk until eventually they reached the part of the Executives of the Green Horn City.


    "Who do you believe is trustworthy and who is suspicious?" Old Mayor George asked.


    "I am d you asked that," Kayn smiles.


    Unbeknownst to everyone here, when he was out there touring around the base, he had actually sent Natas to investigate the five Chiefs.


    They were oldrades of Old Mayor George, so it is a given why they are trustworthy and a lot of people believe that they are fighting for the same cause. But not for him.


    Hypocrites are people that he dislikes the most.


    In his first meeting with them, they aggressively demanded he gives the Kingmaker to Old Mayor George without even bothering to ask him if it was possible or not. They just demanded it as if they own him and that it is a given for him to do that.


    He naturally understood it since that''s indeed the must thing to do, to give the most powerful item to the leader. The problem is, this leader already said to give it to him.


    But as soon as they found out about his status, their opinions of him instantly took a huge turn from being the worst to almost treating him like their old buddy they haven''t met for ages. They even gave up on the Kingmaker almost instantly.


    It was disgusting.


    If they can change their opinions in a matter of seconds, then it is very much possible they would defect to the side of the Assembly of Freedom once they see they are close to defeat.


    Honestly, he had taken the action the Assembly of Freedom made in theirst operation as a reference for this thought.


    "I don''t trust any of them,"


    "Can I ask why?"


    Unlike Kayn, Old Mayor George has personal experience with the five Chiefs. They''d gone through countless life-and-death situations in the past so he knows that he can count on them. In the first ce, he shouldn''t be asking this question since he ims that he trusts them. But ever since hearing about the triplet''s betrayal of Jericho, he started doubting everyone, which includes his fiverades.


    "You see, the length of your bond, the strength of your bond, and even if you both have gone through countless life and death together during your bond, it still doesn''t eliminate the possibility of these people betraying you," Kayn had personally experienced how he was betrayed by people who had been treating him very well in the past. "We are not simply talking about the benefit or profit that they can gain by betraying you,"


    "The moment their precious life is endangered and they are presented with the only opportunity of saving it by betraying you, that''s the time you can see if they are loyal to you or not,"


    "If they sacrifice themselves, then they are loyal, but if they don''t, they''re suspicious,"


    "Isn''t that unfair?" Old Mayor George raised his eyebrow.


    Gilbert and the others also have the same thought as Old Mayor George.


    "Depending on their action after choosing to continue living, that will decide whether they are loyal or not. Until then, they remain suspicious,"


    "Does that mean they still have a chance to prove their loyalty?" Jericho wonders.


    "Yes," Kayn nodded. "Because they can also pretend that they choose the option of killing you but then betray the other party to save you, right? Moreover, it doesn''t mean that just because they choose the option to sacrifice themselves they will immediately die. You also have the option to save them. If you do, then you are simrly loyal to them. But if you don''t and just watch them die, then it will depend on your actionter on if their death was worth it or not,"


    "In other words, loyalty is choosing the other personpared to yourself. You could say that loyalty and love are the same, they are both selfless actions,"<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Were you perhaps betrayed by someone you truly trust in your life?" Old Mayor George can''t help wanting to know where Kayn got that enlightenment at such a young age.


    "Yes," Kayn didn''t choose to hide.


    "I guess you don''t have to worry this time, because we definitely won''t betray you," Gilbert patted Kayn''s shoulder infort.


    Jude, Charles, and Jericho also smiled as they decided to forever be loyal to Kayn.


    "We''ll see about that in the future," Kayn didn''t take their words to heart.


    "Then it seems the decision I came up with earlier is the right choice," Old Mayor George sighs. He truly doesn''t want to implement this n, but he is left with no choice after hearing Kayn''s words.


    "What decision?"


    Everyone came closer in order to hear it clearly.


    "After we destroy the Dream Vige, I want you to deal with the people who you believe don''t fit their position,"


    "Kill them or just demote them?" Kayn wanted to rify first.


    "Demote them first,"


    Just like what Kayn said, they''ll have to see first what these people''s reactions would be before deciding if they are loyal or not. There''s a good chance they''ll reveal their true colors once they are put in a situation that they don''t like or don''t feel is fair. It will entirely depend on their reactionter on whether they should kill them or not.


    "Is your real intention provoking the five Chiefs?"


    "Yes,"


    "Wouldn''t that be a bad idea?" Gilbert was doubtful about it. After all, that might cause an internal conflict inside Green Horn City.


    "We clean the inside threats before we start dealing with the outside threats," Jericho understood.


    "That''s the goal,"


    "Are you sure about this? Once we start doing it, they''ll know that you don''t trust them and are suspicious of their allegiance to the Green Horn City and you," Kayn wanted to know if Old Mayor George had taken into consideration the consequences of this choice.


    "That means they''ll just have to prove it again that I am wrong,"


    "Consider it done,"


    With that, the meeting finally ended.


    Kayn and his group left using the underground passage as they return back to his hut.


    In order not to raise suspicion, Gilbert, Jude, Charles, and Jericho left Kayn''s hut all drunk and wasted. This way, those that see them will think that they were celebrating their victory.


    Because the Drowsy Vige is considerably far from the base of the Green Horn City and the only way to reach the vige fast is through the center of the Slumbering Forest, Jericho had no other choice but to stay inside Gilbert''s hut.

 Chapter 232 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 35

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    Chapter 232: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 35


    The operation to destroy the Dream Vige was immediately executed the next day.


    Every excess manpower was gathered in front of the square that was constructed when Kayn was out in the Daze Vige.


    Kayn and his group gathered them through the use of the staff from the different departments.


    At first, only a few came, but as soon as the news about fighting against the Assembly of Freedom spread, even those that were assigned to the Drowsy Vige came despite the fact that they need to brave the dangers of the center region of the Slumbering Forest. Luckily enough, they came in groups, so no one was hurt.


    Kayn announced the n to attack the Dream Vige tomorrow. They''ll be making their way to one of the territories of the Assembly of Freedom today and make their preparation for the battle.


    He used the reason that he wants to hit the iron while it is hot, implying the supposed sessfulst operation.


    It was a well-understood fact, and given Kayn''s considerable influence, when the question of volunteers was presented, a long line that extended almost to the entrance of the base was created.


    Kayn and the others already expected this, so they have prepared enough manpower to speed up the entire process.


    After the lunch break, the list of volunteers was finally submitted to Kayn, which he then submitted to Old Mayor George.


    Old Mayor George signed his approval to the document and the march to the Dream Vige didn''t take long to begin.


    Five formations were created with ten columns and rows.


    As they made their march to the south, they started clearing everything that blocks their way, including tall trees and huge rocks.


    Needless to say, they made sure to pick up all the Drowsy Mushrooms along the way, as they might serve a good useter during the battle.


    It waster in the evening that the men of the Green Horn City finally reached the outskirts of the Dream Vige.


    Kayn didn''t bother hiding the thousands of men from the sight of the people of the Dream Vige. There was no use to begin with because, with their huge number, it would only take a matter of time for someone to notice them.


    Putting that aside, Kayn sent some people with the Assassin ss to gather information inside the Dream Vige under the leadership of both Gilbert and Jericho. The huge number of soldiers outside serves as the best distraction for their covert operation.


    As expected, the covert operation was quickly finished and dozens of documents about the findings of the scouting party soon came into Kayn''s temporary office.


    Kayn finished reading the documents before finally calling it a day.


    The following day, before the sun could rise, the soldiers of the Green Horn City were already strategically positioned, ready for the impending battle with the Dream Vige. They maintained the same formation as they had during their march here.


    On the other side, men from the Dream Vige, including their Chief, also came forth in front of their walls to greet the uninvited guest. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Looking at the formation of their enemy, it became quite apparent to Kayn that the Dream Vige is already in full control of the men and allies of the Assembly of Freedom. The reason is that there are thousands of soldiers in front of their walls.


    No matter how one would look at it, it is impossible for a territory like the Dream Vige to possess thousands of soldiers. That will only be possible if they have been preparing for war.


    Before every battle, there would always be an act called diplomatic discussion between the leaders of the two parties involved in the battle. This discussion clearly aims to understand the reason for the assault and also if it is possible to resolve it without shedding any blood.


    The representative for the Green Horn City''s side was Kayn, and for the Dream Vige, it was their Chief whose name is Dennis.


    However, what Chief Dennis doesn''t understand is that Kayn doesn''t have any intention of having the so-called diplomatic discussion.


    "How about we begin with you giving me the reason for this bold intrusion!" Chief Dennis strongly demanded.


    But in response to Chief Dennis''smand, two daggers came flying straight to his neck.


    Nobody aside from the Green Horn City''s side knew about what would happen, so Chief Dennis was unable to react on time as the pair of daggers stabbed straight to his neck, which at the same time prevented him from making any sound as his vocal cords and windpipe received a direct hit.


    "Enough talking and let''s just start the war!" Kayn smiled.


    Kayn''s action serves as the perfect catalyst for the start of the battle.


    Considering the men of the Green Horn City''s side already knew what will happen, they were able to make the first move, thus bringing the battle close to the walls of the Dream Vige.


    Thinking that this is the best opportunity to use their wall defense, dozens of barrels full of oil were pushed to the edge of the walls.


    However, just when they thought that it would be easy tounch a counter-offense, dozens of ming arrows and arrows carrying dynamites flew toward the oil barrels.


    Boom!


    A series of loud explosions echoed as the top of the walls of the Dream Vige was instantly engulfed in a raging inferno. And because oil acted as the stimulus for the fire, it sttered upon explosion causing the soldiers down below the wall to get implicated.


    Hundreds of men started running and rolling on the ground as they got covered in fire.


    It was useless though and what they are doing is simply spreading the fire because of the oil that drenched them.


    As a result, they caused even more casualties in their formation as they started affecting those who were lucky enough to dodge the oil.


    All of a sudden, multiple rumbling noises were heard as the wooden walls that surrounded the Dream Vige started crumbling down due to the excessive mes.


    In that brief span of time, the entire formation and strategies that the Dream Vige has prepared for this battle were turned into dust, as in literally, because everything got consumed by mes.

 Chapter 233 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 36

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    Chapter 233: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 36


    The fall of the wall made it smooth for the soldiers of the Green Horn City to invade the Dream Vige.


    They pushed and pushed the remaining soldiers of the Dream Vige to the pits of what felt like hell and scattered those that were in good positions before quickly chasing after them inside their own territory.


    In that simple manner, the soldiers of the Green Horn City invaded the inside of the Dream Vige.


    Since there were still ordinary residents left inside the Dream Vige, Kayn made sure not to identally kill them and put all their focus on the escaping soldiers.


    Just when everyone from the Green Horn City''s side believed this is going to be a smooth invasion, dozens of siege weapons appeared all over the streets of the Dream Vige.


    They were pushed underneath the roads by an unknown mechanism, thus easily separating the soldiers of the Green Horn Vige in between.


    "Focus on the siege weapons," Kayn issued.


    The siege weapons may not be highly effective in closebat against enemies, but they can inflict substantial casualties if left unattended. Even a single strike from these weapons can cause devastating damage to those within their range.


    It is quite obvious already from this sight alone that the Assembly of Freedom aims for a good trade since there is no way for them to win this battle anymore with the enemy''s soldiers already inside their territory.


    Kayn absolutely can''t let that happen again. He was already disappointed with himself from thest operation where they had to watch Jericho''s men die one after another as they retreated.


    If that happens once more, even if they destroy the Dream Vige, they would still not be able to achieve their goal of maintaining the morale of their men before the war.


    What must happen is a victory with only a few casualties on their side. In that way, their people would believe that they have absolutely dominated the battle and imed a crushing victory against the Assembly of Freedom.


    Gilbert, Jude, Charles, Jericho, and Jadiel knew of this fully well as they''d been briefed by Kayn about his vision for this battle.


    Without wasting any time, Kayn''s group along with the elite soldiers of the Green Horn City turned their focus to assaulting the siege weapons. At the same time, the leaders in charge of the formation made sure that their group wouldn''t be hit by the siege weapon''s attack.


    Although that was next to impossible to achieve, at the very least the casualties were minimized to an exceptionally low scale before all the siege weapons fell into destruction. As a matter of fact, there was no death, only seriously wounded soldiers, which soldiers with the Priest ss immediately took care of and brought to the back line in order to allow them to recover in a safe environment.


    Upon taking down all the siege weapons, the Assembly of Freedom was left with no other means other than to retreat toward the direction of the Hush Vige located north of the Dream Vige.


    The soldiers of the Green Horn City no longer continued chasing upon seeing their enemy retreating to their other territory. Instead, they focused their attention back inside the Dream Vige.


    With the retreat of the Assembly of Freedom, their allies remaining in the Dream Vige could only try their best to save themselves.


    However, it was impossible. Because the soldiers of the Green Horn City had already set up perimeters everywhere outside the Dream Vige. The instant they reach outside the wall, they''ll immediately be spotted and apprehended, and possibly even killed directly.


    Left with no other choice, their enemies started surrendering one by one as they express their desire to no longer continue fighting.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    White gs were raised.


    Sounds of fighting started to slowly quiet down.


    And soldiers of the Green Horn Vige could be seen resting on the street while at the same time receiving aid from the thankful residents of the Dream Vige.


    The fight can already be considered over at this point in time.


    Watching on top of a building, Kayn can''t help heaving a sigh of relief.


    After so much effort, his vision of an overwhelming victory for Green Horn City was achieved.


    "Great job everyone!" Gilbert smiled heartfully.


    "This is what I call a victory," Jericho felt d that this time they didn''t simply just make a good trade with the Assembly of Freedom.


    Jude, Charles, and Jadiel nodded in agreement.


    "Now, we should inform Old Mayor George that they can start expanding their operation to this side of the Slumbering Forest," Kayn informs the elite members who were just standing by for his nextmand.


    A few of them quickly left to return to the Green Horn City''s base, while the rest continued resting.


    "The remaining tasks we have to do is to gather the spoils of war, evacuate the residents, and make onest sweep around all buildings to make sure that there aren''t any remaining rats hiding on the corners,"


    Kayn''s group and every soldier of the Green Horn City did just that until evening finally came.


    Because the battle has ended, they spent the night in the Dream Vige peacefully.


    As they looked at the night sky above them, they finally understood the reason why this territory was named the Dream Vige.


    The starry night sky above everyone''s head was like a scene straight out of a dream. Moreover, there was some kind of aurora dancing gracefully with their bright and vivid color lights.


    It wasn''t the actual aurora seen on Earth though, just a dense and solid cluster of mana.


    "Wait a moment," Kayn realized something. "There should be a treasure of some sort close by,"


    That''s right, a dense and solid cluster of mana can only be caused by a treasure as this treasure absorbs a lot of mana from the nearby surrounding, thus exining why they are dancing.

 Chapter 234 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 37

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    Chapter 234: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 37


    "There''s indeed a dungeon close to the Dream Vige, and it was said that it houses a great treasure inside. However, there''s a powerful monster guarding this treasure, so anyone who dared to explore the dungeon was unable to return," Jericho exined.


    "Let''s just give up on it," Gilbert expressed. "We should be contented with achieving one victory. Let''s not get our heads high because of it,"


    "I know," Kayn naturally understood that. "I was just curious about it,"


    However, deep inside Kayn''s mind, he could only think of one single monster that exist in the Slumbering Forest that is capable of creating this solid and dense cluster of mana ¡ª the Kraken.


    Coincidentally, Dream Vige is located south of the Slumbering Forest, which is one of the two locations where there are plenty of underwater tunnels.


    If his assumption is proven correct, then the ce the Kraken is hiding should be this dungeon close to the Dream Vige. Needless to say, there''s also the possibility that he could just be wrong and there''s actually another monster staying inside the dungeon.


    "That''s impossible," Natas suddenly interrupted Kayn from his thoughts. "I know what you are thinking. But there''s no way for a monster like the Kraken to allow another boss-rank monster to be close to its territory, which is the entire Slumbering Forest,"


    Kayn naturally knows that. But until he sees it with his own eyes, he will not believe it a hundred percent. That''s because the ''Tower'' has made him believe that everything could be possible.


    "We will check it out eventually," Natas simply smiled. Since one of the keys is rted to the Kraken.


    Under the dream-like sky of the Dream Vige, Kayn and his group rested for the night.


    Meanwhile, half of the soldiers of the Green Horn City present were busy patrolling the area around the Dream Vige. This was to make sure that they won''t suddenly get ambushed by the reinforcement of the Assembly of Freedom during the night.


    Fortunately, nothing like that happened until the morning of the next day came.


    In the midst of the morning routine of everyone in the Dream Vige, the reinforcement from the Green Horn City finally came. Leading them was Friedrich and the first squad of Green Horn Kngihts, along with someone who has reced Gilbert''s position as their squad''s assassin.


    Her name was Lilith Nightingale.


    The instant Kayn heard the name, he was immediately reminded of a talented female assassin in the past who became one of the leading Executives of Pandora. Her title was The Phantom of the Night.


    Unfortunately, just like Jude, Lilith Nightingale also died. Her death was one of the most gruesome yet mysterious of all. Her entire body was cut into pieces and disyed inside different ss containers for the entire world to see. Even until the time he entered the ''Tower'' for thest time, no one still discovered who her killer was.


    "I didn''t expect that we''d be meeting another great figure of the past," Natas muttered beside Kayn.


    Jude the Judge of Fire and Lilith Nightingale the Phantom of the Night.


    He can''t believe that two of the influential Hero of the future would bothe from ''The Bridge''.


    "Should I try searching if there are other more influential Heroes of the future before finally leaving this ce?" Kayn can''t help thinking in his mind.


    "You might also stumble upon Viins too, and perhaps one of your traitorous allies," Natas chuckled.


    "Even better," Kayn can''t wait to have such an encounter. Once he finds anyone that betrayed him in the past, he''ll for sure make them feel the same or more pain that he went through in the second life.


    "Kayn!"


    Friedrich called out, which immediately pulled Kayn from his thoughts. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Friedrich," Kayn greeted.


    "I didn''t think that you''d once againnd a sessful operation not long after thest one," Friedrichplimented. "If you continue doing this, Old Mayor George might just allow you to establish the fifth squad of the Green Horn Knights,"


    "I appreciate the offer, but I have to decline," Kayn has bigger goals.


    "I was just joking," Friedrich chuckled before pulling Kayn for a hug.


    Kayn smiled.


    "Anyways, are these the people that will be managing the Dream Vige?" Kayn looks at the personnel following closely behind Friedrich, which indicates that they have a higher statuspared to the majority of men that are staying a bit farther behind,


    "Yes," Friedrich nodded. "Old Mayor George said to feel free to pick the bad apple and rece them with the good ones,"


    "Wait, don''t tell me," Kayn realized something.


    "That''s right, you''ll be the new Chief of the Dream Vige," Friedrich apuded. Along with him were Roshan, Cedric, Kimberly, and Lilith.


    "This¡­" Kayn was in disbelief.


    "He also added that you can rest easy here because he already assigned the three squads of Green Horn Knights for the cleaning operation," Friedrich added.


    "I thought we were supposed to do that," Gilbert voiced out his resentment.


    "He expected that you''ll ask, so he gave me this letter to give to you," Friedrich handed Kayn a piece of envelope.


    Seeing that it wasn''t touched, Kayn understood that the content inside is extremely confidential that even Friedrich who is Old Mayor George''s right-hand man doesn''t know about.


    "I understand," Kayn can only ept his new assignment.


    "This should only be temporary," Jericho gave Kayn his sympathy.


    "You better hope so,"


    "Yes¡­ wait! What?!" Jericho has a bad feeling about this.


    "Since you have a lot of experience managing an alliance, a guild, and a business, you fit perfectly well for the position of the new Chief of the Dream Vige," Kayn started walking away. "You better start with your first day in the office soon, Chief Jericho,"


    Gilbert chuckled as he added. "Otherwise, you''ll be handling a lot more responsibility than what the Dream Vige already has,"


    Jude and Charles offered theirfort to Jericho before quickly following after Kayn.


    Jericho could only cry his helplessness inwardly as he has no choice. Their leader already gave him the responsibility, and he does fit perfectly well with the position, so he has nothing to counterargue with his decision.


    "We''ll also be going ahead, Chief Jericho," Friedrich also bid farewell along with the first squad of Green Horn Knights. Since they are already done delivering the extra manpower to the Dream Vige, they have to return back to base to quickly join with the clearing operation.


    Fortunately for Jericho, Jadiel stayed with him to help.

 Chapter 235 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 38

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    Chapter 235: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 38


    While Jericho was taking care of his new job as the Chief of the Dream Vige, Kayn and the others went ahead and started their clearing operation on their end like what Old Mayor George asked them to do in the letter.


    The content inside the letter wasn''tplicated. In fact, it was direct to the point.


    Old Mayor George stated that he had sent all the suspicious personnel he had discovered during the two days they weren''t in the base to the Dream Vige and his team can feel free to sort them out in whatever way they wanted.


    This means to say that everyone Friedrich had delivered to them are questionable people.


    "Your decision of putting Jericho in charge of these people couldn''t be any more perfect," Gilbert muttered as he observed the people on the za taking care of the problems the Dream Vige currently faces after the battle.


    Kayn had specifically ordered not long ago that all the soldiers who came with them in the battle go to the barracks and rest. By doing this, they can divide the neers from the actual loyal soldiers and prevent them from making contact with thetter.


    Needless to say, this was just temporary and not a permanent solution. Knowing that he had assigned Jude and Charles to investigate the supposedly loyal soldiers and see if there are any bad apples among them. After all, one can never be too sure. Just because they killed members and allies of the Assembly of Freedom doesn''t one hundred percent guarantee they aren''t traitors. If they can betray one side, there''s nothing holding them back from betraying the other.


    Kayn just wants to be cautious, that''s all.


    Speaking about traitors.


    "Look," Gilbert pointed at one of the staff secretly bringing a basket full of food to the alley.


    "There weren''t any beggars thest time we check the alleys," Kayn felt suspicious.


    He nodded at Gilbert as the two of them went close to the alley to see what the staff was up to.


    Upon arriving at a corner where they have a vision of the alley without getting seen, they soon saw the staff pushing the basket with his feet inside an opening of a canal.


    "No wonder we weren''t able to find them, they were actually hiding in the canal," Gilbert finally realized why after a whole afternoon of searching yesterday they only found a few rats from the Assembly of Freedom and their allies.


    Such an urrence seemed highly unlikely, considering the vast number of individuals involved in the battle. Furthermore, upon examining the recorded casualties, it was evident that over half of their forces were unounted for. It was imusible that all of these missing individuals were members of the Assembly of Freedom who managed to escape.


    "Let''s wait and see first," Kayn decided to be patient until they''ve finally gathered enough information.


    "I understand," Gilbert agreed. "Though I can''t help but be curious how exactly they were able tomunicate that fast. They should have some sort of method for that, right? One that is very obvious but only they know the meaning of,"


    Gilbert looks around before pointing to a drawing of a cross on the wall of the alley. "Like for example, that cross. What if for the members of the Assembly of Freedom, that meant something,"


    "Now that you mentioned it," Kayn remembered something in the second life.


    The Circus, which is the master of the Assembly of Freedom, possesses a great number of secret ways tomunicate with each other discreetly. A few such methods were graffiti on the wall, drawing on social media, and even painting disyed publicly on the street.


    "Let''s split up and look for as many drawings as we could inside every alley in the Dream Vige," Kayn determined. "Make a list, and we''ll decide what to do afterward,"


    "Alright," Gilbert understood fully well what Kayn wanted to do.


    Kayn and Gilbert temporarily set aside the staff as they went ahead and started taking notes of every single painting, drawing, and graffiti on every wall of the alleys in the Dream Vige.


    It took them the entire morning to finish checking every alley and during lunch break, Kayn and Gilbert put together all of their findings.


    Cross. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Heart.


    Ribbon.


    Spider.


    Butterfly.


    A broken chain.


    Eagle.


    Feather.


    A bunch of letterings.


    And some doodles.


    "We can ignore the letterings and doodles as they don''t represent anything," Gilbert felt certain about it.


    "There also wasn''t any of that present in the alley back then," Kayn is implying the ally that the staff went inside. "If my memory serves me right, there was only a cross, an eagle, a broken chain, and a spider,"


    "The spider in there wasn''t evenplete," Gilbert crossed out the spider while also eliminating the ribbon, butterfly, and feather from the list.


    "Almost every alley has feathers on its walls, so it shouldn''t be this one," Kayn crossed out the feather. The Assembly of Freedom and their allies would definitely not put a sign everywhere as that might cause confusion. "Which leaves us with the cross, eagle, and a broken chain,"


    "Let me guess, you want us to follow more traitors, and using the process of elimination, we would be able to find out which of these three drawings imply a call for help," Gilbert tried to guess what Kayn is thinking right now.


    "You''re not a mind reader, are you?" Kayn chuckled.


    "I just know you,"


    With that being said, Kayn and Gilbert quickly finished their lunch.


    After they finished their meal, they both went to inform Jude, Charles, Jericho, and Jadiel of their findings before quickly returning to observing the staff.


    It didn''t take long for a couple of staff to secretly slip inside alleys with a basket carrying a bunch of food and water.


    "The cross is eliminated," Kayn crossed out the cross, leaving only the eagle and broken chain.


    These two drawings represent the word Freedom the most. So, it is not strange for the Assembly of Freedom to use them to signal theirrades.


    Of course, Kayn and Gilbert didn''t forget to report to Jericho and Jadiel who are the traitors in their group. Just to make sure that this time none of them would be able to escape.


    After going through a few more rounds, Kayn and Gilbert finally concluded what drawing it was.


    Broken chain.

 Chapter 236 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 39

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    Chapter 236: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 39


    Broken chain.


    It was very apparent now why the Assembly of Freedom uses this drawing to sign for help. It simply means that freedom is broken and requires immediate aid from theirrades hiding in their enemy''s rank.


    "I didn''t expect them to be well-versed in the art department," Gilbert said jokingly. "So, what do you n on doing next now that we know where the rats are hiding,"


    "We go there!" Kayn pointed toward a warehouse that has a huge symbol of a broken chain. The symbol waspletely unlike the others, because other than the broken chain, there''s a small drawing of a gate that''s simr to the one he sees in every canal, as if implying to every member of the Assembly of Freedom that sees it that their remaining allies are currently hiding and living in the canal underneath the warehouse.


    "They are good, but once you know about it, they are as good as dead," Gilbert said in a remark.


    Those unaware of the significance behind the drawings would never suspect anything unusual about it. However, once they grasp the meaning, every aspect connected to the artwork would be thoroughly searched.


    "The operation will start soon. Go ahead and inform the others about it as we would need the help of every man that''s loyal to the Green Horn City topletely clean the Dream Vige," Kayn ordered Gilbert.


    With the discovery of the secret mode ofmunication between members and allies of the Assembly of Freedom, it has now be very easy to differentiate loyal men from traitors.


    In that way, hundreds of traitors were captured in just a span of the afternoon until evening. And looking at the remaining number of men that Friedrich''s team had escorted this morning, only a quarter of them remains as almost everyone turned out exactly as what Old Mayor George believed, with the majority being assigned to the higher position.


    Fortunately, there were only a few on the side of the men that they have brought along to fight the battle yesterday, which made them see a bit of rainbow in the dark clouds.


    Nevertheless, it was a very unbelievable situation, to say the least.


    "This is absurd," Jericho expressed his disbelief. Now that there''s only a quarter of men left, how can they expect him to finish all the tasks needed toplete as fast as possible?


    "Settle down, Jericho," Kaynforted Jericho who is stressed because of his new status as the newly appointed Chief of the Dream Vige. "Friedrich will definitely return tomorrow with a new batch of sheep ready to be ughtered,"


    "Was that written in the letter?" Jude wonders.


    "No," Kayn shook his head. "I just feel it,"


    "We''ll see about that tomorrow,"


    Everyone can only hope that''s going to be the case because they like their job now of just standing on the sideline and watching people in order to determine whether they are loyal to the cause or not.


    The next day quickly came.


    Just like what Kayn expected, a new batch of reinforcement came from Green Horn City''s base.


    This time, instead of Friedrich, it was Emmet and the third squad of Green Horn Knights who escorted them to the Dream Vige.


    "I am d to see you again, Kayn," Emmet greeted.


    Unlike Friedrich, Emmet acts very respectful and reserve in front of Kayn. This was because he made a bad first impression on thetter and he ns on winning it back. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Likewise," Kayn shook Emmet''s hand. "Are these the new batch of sheep?"


    "I guess they are," Emmet smiled. "Ready for your men to clean and dry,"


    "Mind if I do," Kayn epted with open arms.


    After Emmet left, Kayn assigned Jericho and Jadiel to manage the new batch of reinforcement.


    Contrary to the first batch, the majority of men in this group convey an aura that''s expected from members of the Assembly of Freedom.


    "Are they perhaps not putting any effort into hiding this time?" Gilbert felt curious about it.


    "Something might have happened in the base yesterday,"


    To tell the truth, they''ve actually sent some men to report to Old Mayor George about their discovery with the paintings on the wall. Thetter should have used it well to find more traitors within the base.


    "Would this be a problem?" Jericho became slightly worried. After all, there is still the problem with the rats of the Assembly of Freedom hiding in the sewer and canal of the Dream Vige. They decided not to clean them yet as they would serve as the best bait to lure out the remaining members of the Assembly of Freedom in their group and from these people of the new batch of reinforcement.


    "We already found a few batches of men we can trust ourselves, so we should be alright," Kayn was confident that with their current number, they can handle what this batch of hiding traitors is going to offer to them.


    "I hope so,"


    Everyone split up and return to the tasks they were assigned yesterday.


    However, this time, a few of the elite men of the Green Horn City and some assassins from the ordinary men that they''ve already thoroughly checked yesterday came along with them.


    Kayn started briefing the new recruits on their respective tasks before allowing them to go on their way to start executing them.


    "The Shepherds are ready," Kayn gave Jericho and Jadiel the signal using hand signs.


    Seeing the signaling from Kayn who is hiding on the roof, Jericho responded using hand signs as well. "Barn is opening,"


    With that signal, Jericho and Jadiel allowed the new batch of reinforcement to start helping them in dealing with the tasks needed toplete around the Dream Vige.


    As the new batch of reinforcement started moving around the Dream Vige, the people who were codename Shepherds soon started seeing the traitors in the group separating from the others and doing exactly the same thing that their predecessors did.


    Although this time, in exchange for the traitors giving the rats a basket full of necessary supplies to survive, thetter would then inform the former of the extermination that took ce yesterday.


    Unfortunately, it is already toote for them to get to know such an important piece of information since their identity has already been recorded by the Sheperds hiding under the shadows of the buildings nearby the alleys.


    Later that night, the traitors fell into the same fate that their predecessors experienced yesterday evening.

 Chapter 237 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 40

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    Chapter 237: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 40


    The next day, another batch of reinforcement was sent to the Dream Vige.


    They were being escorted by both Friedrich and Emmet''s squad of Green Horn Knights. And unlike thest time when they were freely able to move around. This time around they were imprisoned inside cages that were being drawn by horses.


    "Seriously?!" Gilbert was shocked beyond belief.


    "Do you seriously expect me to use these people in the Dream Vige?" Jericho was dumbfounded at the sight.


    "Not all of them are traitors," Friedrich awkwardly informs.


    "Then why are they all inside cages?" Kayn can''t help asking.


    "Some of them were implicated. We tried questioning and torturing them, but it was futile because all of them would just say they aren''t traitors," Emmet exined.


    "Are we supposed to let them out of their cages then?" Gilbert narrowed his eyes.


    "Old Mayor George advises you not to," Friedrich shook his head.


    "So, you''re telling us that we have to find a way to determine which of these people are secretly members of the Assembly of Freedom?" Jericho raised his eyebrow.


    "Your side can''t even handle it. This is clearly just you giving us problems you can''t handle," Gilbert objected.


    "No, it isn''t," Emmet can''t bare to continue looking at Gilbert out of guilt.


    "See!" Gilbert coldly harrumphs.


    "I admit, we failed in our interrogation," Friedrich can only tell the embarrassing truth.


    "That''s more like it," Gilbert proudly smiled.


    "It wasn''t that hard, after all," Jericho added in a slick manner.


    "You too!" Emmet finally realized that they''d been made a fool.


    "Ignore them," Kayn dismiss Gilbert and Jericho so that they can stop annoying Friedrich and Emmet as a means to retaliate. "I have a method how, but it might take two days,"


    "You don''t have to worry about any more reinforcementing here, because this is thest group," Friedrich assures.


    "Did something happen?"


    "Well," Friedrich signaled Emmet to bring in the big fishes.


    Emmet nodded in understanding before going to the back line.


    In the next moment, Emmet pushed out two figures from one of the cages.


    It was Chief Kody and Chief Ken.


    Gilbert and Jericho widened their eyes in shock after seeing the two unexpected people.


    Even Kayn can''t help feeling surprised. He was honestly suspicious of the five Chiefs, but he still hold on to some hope that none of them would turn out to be traitors.


    "This is a mistake!"


    "I swear to God that we didn''t betray the Green Horn City!"


    "Tell that to Old Mayor George after Kayn finishes interrogating you!" Emmet pushed Chief Kody and Chief Ken to the ground.


    "I''ll make you pay for this!"


    "This is clearly against human rights!"


    "I demand justice!"<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "We already finished cleaning the camp and these are thest batch of suspected traitors back in the camp, at least that''s what we believe," Friedrich glimpses coldly at the two traitors.


    Chief Kody and Chief Ken immediately shut their mouths after seeing Friedrich staring at them.


    "We noticed that the majority of those previous batches of traitors from your report came from the forces of these two scoundrels," Friedrich pulled Chief Kody and pushed him close to Kayn. "He was one of those people who were against you owning the Kingmaker, so you''d definitely like this gift that Old Mayor George is giving you,"


    "Tell him that I appreciate his care," Kayn stared mischievously at Chief Kody and Chief Ken.


    "How dare a kid do this to me!" Chief Kody expressed his condemnation.


    Chief Ken spits at Kayn''s shoes before being shoved to the dirt by Emmet.


    "I am sorry about that," Emmet felt helpless as he wasn''t able to react in time before Chief Ken could spit on Kayn''s shoes.


    "Let them be," Kayn doesn''t mind it. That was merely the condemn''s final desperate effort to retaliate. And besides, once they are in his hands, he can do whatever he wants with them including but not limited to torture. So, they can spit on his shoes as many times as they want. It still won''t change the fact that they are going to die once he gets the information he needs.


    "Jude, Charles, and Jadiel take them to our special cell," Kayn motioned his hand.


    Jude, Charles, and Jadiel stepped out and quickly brought forward Chief Kody and Chief Ken.


    "Make sure to guard them well, their levels are almostparable to Friedrich''s team," Kayn reminded.


    "Okay," Jude understood.


    Jude, Charles, and Jadiel walked away to escort Chief Kody and Chief Ken to their new home.


    "Since you''re entrusting them to me, I believe you have a countermeasure in case they try to escape from their cells," Kayn muttered. After all, these people aren''t ordinary. Just their status of being a Chief of a Vige already speaks volumes of their capability. Moreover, considering they arerades of Old Mayor George, their strength shouldn''t be something they can underestimate.


    "Emmet''s team would be staying temporarily in the Dream Vige along with Lilith with you,"


    Kayn looks at Emmet. "What are your levels?"


    "Level 45, all of us,''


    "How about you?" Kayn looks at Lilith.


    "Level 50, just like Friedrich,"


    "That should be enough," Kayn felt relieved.


    There''s no doubt that Chief Kylo and Chief Ken are going to be special cases for the Assembly of Freedom. So, once they hear that these two are being kept in the Dream Vige, there''s a high chance they are going to send men on a rescue mission, or perhaps an assassination mission, in order to prevent the two from giving away important information to the Green Horn City''s side.


    "By the way," Friedrich almost forgot. "Five days from now the Green Horn City will officially dere war against the Assembly of Freedom. On that day, expect unweed visitors from our enemy,"


    "Are we going to defend the Dream Vige with only our forces here?"


    "Old Mayor George wants you to hold on at least until we destroy both the Slumber Vige and Dormant Vige,"


    "It shouldn''t take long, right?"


    "More or less two days,"


    "I guess we can hold on for that," Kayn was doubtful about it with their current preparation. But once he makes some changes, they should be able tost for more than 48 hours against the forces of the Assembly of Freedom. Unless of course if they send everyone to the Dream Vige, which is highly likely considering how much Chief Kylo hated him.


    "40 hours, that''s how long I can guarantee," Kayn decided to y safely.


    "I''ll inform Chief Kylo of your thoughts,"


    "Alright,"


    With that being said, Kayn and Friedrich bid farewell as thetter return back to the Green Horn City''s base while the former took care of their important matters in the Dream Vige.

 Chapter 238 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 41

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    Chapter 238: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 41


    Kayn approaches Emmet''s third squad of Green Horn Knights and Lilith.


    In every step he takes, he can''t help but hide the excitement he is feeling at the fact that he is about to make connections with one of the great figures of the future.


    He''ll for sure make the best of it so that he can establish an alliance with her for future purposes.


    "Mind if you introduce your men to me?" Kayn glimpses at the four figures that have always been following behind Emmet yet he still doesn''t have a clue of who they are.


    Emmet immediately realized his mistake. He got so used to always being well-behaved in front of Kayn that he instinctively waited for what thetter would ask him to do instead of taking the initiative.


    "This is Miya, our markswoman," Emmet introduced their female archer.


    Miya nodded to Kayn as a sign of greeting.


    "This is Eliam, our Healer,"


    "Van, our Tank,"


    "And Amy, our Mage,"


    The two men and another woman greeted.


    Kayn instantly noticed that Emmet''s third squad of Green Horn Knights is almost identical to Friedrich''s first squad, except instead of an Assassin, there is a Markswoman.


    "Nice to meet all of you," Kayn greeted back before turning to look at Lilith. "Same to you, Lilith,"


    "I''ve heard a lot about you," Lilith put her delicate hand forward.


    "I apologize that I only know about your name," Kayn acted a bit apologetic. In truth, he knows a lot about her, albeit just the future Lilith.


    "I''ll make sure to introduce myself to the best of my abilities," Lilith doesn''t mind.


    "Let''s go," Kayn decided to take everyone to their residence, which is the town hall located in the center of the Dream Vige.


    Jericho and Jadiel split from the group as they still have other important matters to take care of rted to the new batch of reinforcement, leaving Kayn and Gilbert.


    Along the way, Kayn made some little conversation with everyone in order to get to know them more and to understand what sort of character they possess.


    "Special guests like Chief Kody and Chief Ken would be imprisoned in special holding cells," Kayn exined why they are going to the town hall. "Good thing for us, we have one just that located under the townhall,"


    "Seriously?!" Emmet was surprised.


    To tell the truth, that''s very shocking for a town hall to possess a prison cell because that''s usually ced under barracks.


    "The previous Chief has a pretty strange hubby, you see," Kayn started describing that when they first took over the entire Dream Vige, theyter on discovered an underground prison where the Chief hides every beautiful woman he fancied and decided to kidnap. Each of them was in an extremely miserable state to the point that they don''t have any other choice but to just kill them to finally put an end to their misery.


    "Were they sex ves?" Lilith wonders about it.


    "That''s just one of the supposed reasons we could think of," Kayn responded. They were definitely treated that way, but that wasn''t all since the majority of them no longer have full body parts, like missing an arm or leg. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "We will never understand the mind of people who are part of the Assembly of Freedom," Emmet could only express his sympathy to those women. He couldn''t even start to imagine how long they had to endure the torture of the previous Chief.


    "Anyways," Kayn opened a secret door, which is the entrance to the special cells.


    They walked down a flight of stairs leading three stories deep underground.


    When they finally arrived, they saw Jude, Charles, and Jadiel just patiently waiting for them.


    "How do you n on extracting information from them?" Emmet can''t help feeling curious.


    "I have my way," Kayn smiles before signaling to Jude and Charles to take Chief Kody inside the torture chamber.


    It wasn''t really a torture chamber, at least not anymore. As of now, it is more like a room where prisoners get to meet with their loved ones andmunicate with them.


    Chief Kody was very surprised upon walking inside the room. It doesn''t look like a room where they can effectively extract information.


    "Don''t tell me you want to talk sense into me in order to make me cough out information?" Chief Kody sneered. "Trust me, they''ve already tried,"


    "Not really," Kayn signaled for Jude and Charles to go outside.


    The instant Jude and Charles walked out, Kayn immediately waves his hand to take out the Molten Ice Sword.


    "Death threat, I see," Chief Kody mocked. "Isn''t that too out of ce for a room like this?"


    "That''s only for the blood to be more, you know, apparent," Kayn smiled before immediately brandishing his sword.


    It was already toote for Chief Kody to realize that Kayn isn''t ying with him as the Molten Ice Sword already cut this head off from his body.


    Chief Kody was wearing a disbelief look on his face as his head stumbled a few times on the ground.


    Kayn stepped on the head before deciding to pick it up.


    As if Chief Kody still had some consciousness left in him, his eyes suddenly stared at Kayn.


    "It''s great that your mind can still understand what I am about to do," Kayn waves his hand. Albeit this time he didn''t take an item from his Storage Ring, but instead from an unknown yet horrifying ce that even his prime self wouldn''t casually choose to visit ¡ª Hell.


    As if his brain understood what kind of ce Kayn was putting his hand inside, Chief Kody''s eyes started to show signs of panic.


    "You''re in luck because you got to live for another time," Kayn took out an apple. To be exact, it was an Undead Apple from the Gift that he had stolen from Wesley.


    Without wasting any time, Kayn forcefully feeds the Undead Apple to Chief Kody.


    In just one second, the Undead Apple turned into ck smoke as it pulled Chief Kody''s head back to his body.


    As if nothing happened, Chief Kody''s entire body returned back to normal.


    The instant Chief Kody''s head connected back to his body, he gasped for breath and started coughing out mouthful after mouthful of saliva on the floor.


    "What did you do to me?" Chief Kody stared at Kayn out of fear.

 Chapter 239 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 42

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    Chapter 239: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 42


    Chief Kody doesn''t see that there''s anything wrong with his body other than the fact that there''s now a mark of where Kayn swung his sword just a short moment ago. But he does feel something weird inside his mind. It is as if even though he knows he hated Kayn, there''s this belief that''s being injected into his consciousness that he can never betray him and must follow everything that he orders him to do from now on and forever.


    "I only fed you an apple," Kayn sat back on his chair opposite from Chief Kody.


    "That was definitely not an ordinary apple," Chief Kody was still gasping for air.


    "You''re right, it isn''t. It is called an Undead Apple,"


    "An Undead Apple¡­" Chief Kody was shocked beyond belief. He knew about this item as he was there when Wesley introduced to everyone his ability. It was at that time when they were being briefed on what they would do during the war. If he remembers correctly, as long as he cut the Undead Apple into pieces and add it to the meal that the soldiers would be eating, they''ll all fall under Wesley''s charm. "Doesn''t the Undead Apple charm people?"


    "Was that what Wesley told you?" Kayn instantly realized how Chief Kody knew about the existence of Undead Apple. It''s very apparent that Wesley ns to charm all the soldiers of the Green Horn City during the war through the spies they''ve secretly nted. "That''s not the true use of Undead Apple,"


    Just from the name itself, one can already assume what the Undead Apple is all about.


    "The Undead Apple isn''t meant to only charm people, it is a way to bring forth loyal soldiers from the dead," Kayn showed a sly grin on his face.


    "From the dead?" Chief Kody instantly realized the truth. It finally exined the reason why he feels he has to be loyal to Kayn.


    "Just don''t go and try to kill yourself," Kayn discreetly gave the first order.


    "Alright," Chief Kody really can''t exin why and all, but he chooses toply.


    "Take a seat, and let''s talk," Kayn motioned his hand to the chair opposite from him.


    Chief Kody sat on the chair and Kayn started interrogating the former about everything he knows about the Assembly of Freedom.


    Because of the effect of the Undead Apple, Chief Kody smoothly gave all the answers to Kayn''s questions. Even though Chief Kody would asionally think of resisting to answer the question, his effort was futile and it only remained inside his head as his mouth doesn''t have the slightest intention of ever stopping.


    In the end, Chief Kody gave away everything that he knew.


    "Thank you for your service," Kayn nodded his head in appreciation for theplete cooperation of Chief Kody.


    "What is going to happen to me now?" Chief Kody can''t help feeling curious about how he will continue to live his life as an undead.


    "You cease to exist,"


    With a wave of his hand, Chief Kody''s entire body turned into dust.


    In an effort to cover up what he did, Kayn burned wood on the ground to make it seem like he burned Chief Kody alive.


    It was only afterward that he ordered Jude and Charles to bring in Chief Ken.


    "What did you do to Chief Kody?!" Chief Ken felt afraid after seeing the obvious chared traces on the floor. "Did you burn him alive in order to get information?"


    "I did,"


    "You failed?" Chief Ken could easily guess what happened.


    "You''ll know the answer to that yourself," Kayn motioned his hand for Jude and Charles to go outside again.


    "Do you want to know what happened to Chief Kody?" Kayn waves his hand, taking out the Molten Ice Sword once again.


    "I¡­" Chief Ken started backing away. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Bang! Bang!


    "Hel..p¡­"


    "Are you sure that it''s okay to leave Kayn unsupervised to do whatever he wants with Chief Kody and Chief Ken?" Emmet felt worried about the idea.


    "We also don''t know," Jude doesn''t even have a clue what method Kayn is using. "But if there''s one thing we understood after being with Kayn for a very long time now, that is to just think he knows everything that he is doing,"


    "That''s unbelievable if you think that he never makes a mistake,"


    "He does make a mistake," Jude nodded. "We simply believe that he is capable enough to handle this kind of matter,"


    "If you don''t, feel free to get inside," Charles opened the door.


    As the door was being pulled away, they instantly became surprised as they noticed a blood stter on the door which wasn''t supposed to be there from the start.


    However, their surprise turned to shock as they witnessed Chief Ken freely speaking everything he knows about the Assembly of Freedom.


    "You''ll get used to it, someday," Jude slowly closed the door. In truth, even he is still not used to the fact that Kayn almost knows everything.


    "Told you," Charles muttered albeit wearing a disbelief look on his face.


    "I see¡­" Emmet finally understood to never question Kayn the next time.


    "If he personally handles it, that simply means he got it," Lilith uttered. "This was what Captain Friedrich told me about. At first, I didn''t get it, but now I finally understand its meaning,"


    "You heard her, make sure to take note of that for future use," Emmet briefed his squad.


    After five minutes, Kayn walked out of the room, and behind him was another charred patch on the floor where they saw him sitting just now.


    "How''d you do it?" Emmet can''t help asking.


    "I have my means," Kayn obviously won''t reveal the truth.


    "So, what did you get?" Gilbert approaches.


    "Every member of the Assembly of Freedom on our side,"


    "As in all of them?" Gilbert was shocked.


    "Everyone,"


    "How?!" Emmet widened his eyes. He initially thought that even if he made Chief Kody and Chief Ken reveal information about the Assembly of Freedom, it should only be surface-level sort of information.


    "Grab me a pen and paper, I''ll list every name I got from Chief Kody and Chief Ken,"


    In a frantic manner, everyone scurries off to find a pen and paper to give to Kayn.


    As soon as they found one, Kayn started listing every name he got. Of course, Natas helped with those that he forgot as thetter was also with him inside the room.


    "Search for all of these names and eliminate them, and don''t forget to make a copy of it and submit it to Old Mayor George as I believe we still haven''t gotten everyone here. Don''t forget to emphasize the fact that they take care of it themselves instead of sending them here to waste time," Kayn cleaned his hand with a piece of paper before walking upstairs to start briefing the loyal members on what they have to do next.

 Chapter 240 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 43

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    Chapter 240: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 43


    Everyone spent the entire day cleaning the entire Dream Vige of every single member of the Assembly of Freedom hiding, especially from the new batch of reinforcement, which eliminated almost the entire group.


    Because of that, Jericho could only helplessly ept that they''d be dyed in their preparation for the iing battle against the Assembly of Freedom. It wasn''t all that bad though, since they can just direct their preparations outside instead of inside as Kayn''s group is very busy still dealing with members of the Assembly of Freedom.


    Later in the evening, it was finally time to clean the rats hiding in the canal and sewer of the Dream Vige.


    Kayn''s group has already gathered all information there is to know about this group of rats, including the fact that every evening they gather under the warehouse to sleep.


    Using that information, Kayn and everyone waited until all rants were sleeping before eventually deciding to strike.


    As it was deep underground, no one was able to notice anything wrong at all with the warehouse.


    Upon the departure of everyone from the warehouse, Kayn made a formal announcement, dering theplete liberation of the Dream Vige from any remaining members of the Assembly of Freedom. This epassed even the red district, which had been absolved of any association with the organization, thanks to the diligent oversight of the Wing Boots Auction House, now under the capable leadership of Master Khalid and his newly assigned assistant Randy, who had been absent throughout this period.


    The next day, Kayn and everyone decided to take the entire morning as their break before deciding to start making preparations for the arrival of the Assembly of Freedom in four days during the afternoon.


    In the meeting room, Kayn and every important personnel decided to hold a meeting to discuss about their preparation.


    "I suggest we make a moat that surrounds the entire Dream Vige with eight drawn bridges respectively in the location of the eight different directions in thepass," Emmet presented his idea.


    Gilbert expressed his dissent before presenting an alternative idea. "That seems like a lot of effort. Why don''t we simply encircle the northern area with trenches and fill them with the surplus oil we currently have in stock?"


    "That would leave our south, east, and west undefended," Jude express his worry.


    "We have a limited time of three days for preparation, as the fourth day will be designated for rest. Let''s keep that in mind," Jericho emphasized the need for practicality to everyone.


    "How about webine the two?" Kayn realized this after hearing Emmet and Gilbert''s ideas. "We put the moat in the north, and trenches to the south, west, and east,"


    "Do we cover it in oil?"


    "Water and soil,"


    "You mean mud?"


    "Quicksand!" Jericho immediately realized. Bybining water and soil, they can make an artificial quicksand. This is possible if they add more water contentpared to soil as the decrease in friction makes it possible to sink.


    "How do we identify the quicksand from the actual ground, though?" Jude felt worried that by doing this they aren''t might make themselves into trapped targets.


    "Why would that even matter? It''s not like we are the ones to walk into them. The harder they are to differentiate, the better for us," Gilbert doesn''t understand why that''s a problem.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "That also means we won''t have any modes of leaving the Dream Vige. Idiot!" Jude cursed.


    Gilbert immediately realized.


    "We use tunnels," Kayn proposed.


    "That''s impossible! If we do that, we will have to dig tunnels that are even deeper than the moats and trenches we made. In that case, we will reach the underwater cave system¡­" Jude realized. "Don''t tell me you want us to use the underwater cave system to escape?"


    "Detour, remember," Kayn reminded Jude of his strategy.


    "I like it!" Jude was finally reassured.


    "Moat, trenches, and tunnels?" Jericho recorded. "I will separate all of you into two groups, one group in charge of the moat, and the other for the trenches, would that be okay?"


    "Go on," Kayn motioned his hand for Jericho to proceed.


    "As for the tunnels, I''ll make Master Khalid and the Wing Boots Auction House in charge of it so that none of our soldiers would identally reveal its whereabouts,"


    "An organization of thieves and merchants being put in charge of our escape route, I don''t feel that''s a good idea," Emmet stated his concern.


    "If you think of it in a good way, it means they are good at finding ws and determining which material is good to use in construction," Jericho rolled his eyes at Emmet. Thetter was clearly stereotyping his guild just because he is a member of the Thieves Guild Alliance, at least he was, he already left after his friends'' betrayal. It was also his way to distract them because his departure from the organization gave them a lot of trouble. Unless they find someone who is aspetent as him or more, only then would they be able to focus all their attention on the war against Green Horn City.


    "Fair enough," Emmet decided to trust Jericho.


    "The person in charge of the moat would be Kayn, and the trenches would be Emmet. The two of you are free to pick whoever you want to be part of your team as long as they agree," Jericho looks at Kayn and Emmet.


    "Understood,"


    Kayn and Jericho expressed their acknowledgment of their responsibility.


    "This concludes the meeting," Jericho finally ended the meeting.


    With that being said, Kayn and Emmet immediately started moving to pick the people to be part of their respective teams.


    Emmet acknowledged that he couldn''tpete with Kayn in terms of inviting the people present in the meeting room. Therefore, he made the ultimate choice to select capable individuals from outside. He held no objections to this approach; in fact, he preferred it.


    After inviting the members of his team to join him in making the moat, Kayn also went out to pick capable personnel to join him.

 Chapter 241 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 44

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    Chapter 241: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 44


    Making a moat isn''t really that big of a challenge. All they have to do is make a huge hole that can''t be easily trespassed by anyone, including a huge army, and then fill it entirely with water so that it will prevent anyone from passing through easily.


    Honestly, after seeing the siege machines the Assembly of Freedom has prepared for this war, making a moat and trenches is probably the best idea as it would prevent those close-range siege machines from approaching the Dream Vige.


    Now, as long as they construct the moat wide enough that it would make the Dream Vige outside of the range of the siege machines, then they won''t have to worry about it anymore. Albeit that would be impossible. Nevertheless, they could still minimize and make it troubling for them to hit a target.


    However, before that, they have to do something else first.


    "We need a lot of manpower for digging the hole and use magic to fill it with water," Gilbert muttered with a sigh.


    "Or we can just use water from the underwater cave system," Jude suggested.


    "Even if that''s the case, we will still have to use a lot of manpower. And that definitely requires payment for their hardbor," Jericho added. He turns to Kayn and asked. "I have to admit, after the repairs around the Dream Vige, we barely have any budget for a job like this. Moreover, we have to split the budget into two since Emmet''s side also has to pay his men,"


    "Don''t worry, we should have enough," Kayn was certain about that.


    "Are you perhaps going to give us money from the loots you''ve kept for yourself?" Jericho can''t help wondering.


    "That''s crossing the line. Instead, I will propose giving them credits,"


    "The currency back on Earth?" Jericho was surprised. "That''s indeed tempting, but do you have enough,"


    "It should be after I sell all the loots," Kayn chuckled.


    "So, you still have to sell it? There''s no guarantee for an immediate return of cash,"


    "Don''t you remember what my other status is back on Earth?"


    "I guess that should do it,"


    Kayn isn''t worried that he''ll be overspending for this expedition. After all, he can recuperate the money he spent from the loot he can get during the war. In addition to the loot he currently possessed from the recent clearing operations, he should be able to have enough to expand his operation once he returns back to Earth.


    "So, are the men ready?" Kayn looks behind him.


    "They''ve always been ready," After all, these are the true loyal men of the Green Horn City.


    "Then let''s begin!"


    Kayn purposely made that conversation in front of everyone so that they''ll be motivated to work even harder in the moat.


    Knowing now that they''ll be paid in Credits, everyone worked extremely hard in digging the moat, even despite the fact that they don''t have a clue on the exact amount of payment.


    Moreover, Kayn also discreetly informed them of the chance to convert all of their loot inside ''The Bridge'' to credit in a much easier and guaranteed way once they are out of this god-forsaken ce.


    In other words, it was all scripted for the masses to hear and see. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    During the lunch break, Kayn and everyone distributed food amongst the workers so that they won''t have to leave the area to get inside the Dream Vige again to get some food to eat. Though some brought lunch boxes with them, the majority didn''t, especially considering almost all of them are men.


    In the midst of distributing lunches, Kayn suddenly received a report from one of the scouts he stationed in the forest to the north. He had specifically assigned some people there to watch over in case the Assembly of Freedom suddenly decides to attack the Dream Vige.


    "We spotted some scouts from the Assembly of Freedom,"


    "How many were there?"


    "There were five groups. We eliminated one without receiving any casualties, but because of that the four other groups were able to escape,"


    "Make sure to keep your guard up in case they return with reinforcement,"


    "Alright,"


    The scout returned to his spot.


    It didn''t take long for more simr reports to start arriving from the south, east, and west.


    "Are they trying to mislead us?" Gilbert wonders.


    "Perhaps they are trying to convey a message that we are surrounded from all directions," Jude expressed his thoughts.


    "Or it can also just be them trying to distract us from our job," Jericho presented another idea.


    "We will knowter on," Kayn wasn''t certain yet what exactly is going on. So, he secretly signals Natas to go and check out the situation with the Assembly of Freedom.


    After thirty minutes, one of Emmet''s men suddenly arrived in front of Kayn.


    "Sir Kayn, our water source has been suddenly cut off,"


    "This is a problem," Kayn realized. Without their water source, they won''t be able to gather water for the moat and the trenches'' quicksand trap. Though the mages can create water, it would only be enough for the trenches, not the moat.


    "We can use the, you know," Gilbert meaningfully nced at the ground, implying the underwater cave system that only a few people knew about.


    "Tell Emmet that I''ll give him a solutionter. In the meantime, focus on digging trenches," Kayn gave a temporary alternative so that their job won''t be dyed.


    "Understood," The man left.


    "They''re very quick this time," Kayn is honestly surprised at the speed of the Assembly of Freedom''s response. This can only be possible if they''ve been scouting around the Dream Vige for a very long time now. And the only reason he can think about is because of Chief Kody and Chief Ken.


    But due to the most recent clearing operations where the Assembly of Freedom lost contact with all their informants inside the Dream Vige, they should have realized by now that the two Chiefs are already dead.


    "We''ll have to wait and see what''s their real goal here," Kayn can only hope that Natas would return soon so that they can deal with this problem.

 Chapter 242 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 45

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    Chapter 242: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 45


    It was about an hourter that Natas returned from his reconnaissance.


    Upon seeing Natas, Kayn went to a corner to act as if he is taking care of something personal so that Gilbert and the others won''t follow him.


    Natas soon sat beside him.


    "It''s nothing. They are just trying to distract us from what we are doing," Natas informs.


    "How many are there?" Kayn wanted to know their numbers in order to confirm if that''s really the case.


    "Close to a hundred,"


    "A singlepany, I see,"


    "Though there are ten elite members and one executive amongst them,"


    "That exins why they are doing this," Kayn finally realized that thepany of soldiers is now trying to redeem themselves after failing to save Chief Kody and Chief Ken. They''re probably afraid that if they return empty-handed they would be punished by Chief Kylo and possibly even get sent to their own deaths.


    "We can easily eliminate them if you want. Our numbers are more than enough topletely eradicate them and solve the problem they might cause to us," Natas suggested.


    Kayn thought of something. "Or we can use this opportunity for something else,"


    "I don''t like the look on your face,"


    Kayn signals for Gilbert toe close.


    "Is there something you need?" Gilbert raised his eyebrow.


    "Do you want to escape from this boring job and do something exciting?" Kayn


    "I don''t like the way this is going," Gilbert can already feel that Kayn is going to bring him to do something extremely dangerous.


    Natas can''t help chuckling at the side as he muttered. "See,"


    "I am not going to lie, we will have to face something dangerous,"


    "You''re telling the truth?" Gilbert suddenly felt slightly relieved.


    "Does that mean you''re in?" Kayn can''t believe it was that easy to persuade Gilbert.


    "I guess¡­"


    "Idiot!" Natas could only offer his sympathy to Gilbert.


    "But first, we''ll have to go to someone to get a disguise,"


    ¡­..


    Later in the evening, Kayn and Gilbert are currently running for their lives as they are being chased after by Jericho and the others.


    "How is this just dangerous," Gilbert felt like crying loudly.


    At this moment, they are wearing the disguise of someone that seems to be a member of the Assembly of Freedom as they let Jericho and the others chase after them while they are making a run in the direction of the forest.


    "Don''t let them go!" Jericho screamed loudly ¡ª in joy.


    "They are enjoying this!" Gilbert eximed at Kayn.


    "Let them be for now," Kayn smile cunningly.


    "I feel like I just made the wisest decision of my entire life," Gilbert glimpses at Jericho and the others who seem to be having the best st of their entire lives.


    Kayn and Gilbert soon jumped on top of the wall.


    "Fire!" Jericho ordered Jude, Miya, and Amy to fire long ranged attack in the direction of Kayn and Gilbert.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Since they were just pretending to attack the duo, they made sure to miss all the attacks. Albeit just a bit.


    "They''re definitely going to pay for this!" Kayn is now slightly regretting his decision of doing this job himself.


    What they are honestly doing right now is very simple. It is the old and most familiar strategy that the Assembly of Freedom did to the Green Horn City ¡ª infiltration.


    He and Gilbert would enter the Assembly of Freedom wearing a disguise using thepany that came to the Dream Vige to try and save Chief Kody and Chief Ken.


    Thatpany has an Executive with them and some elite members, making them a crucial part of the Assembly of Freedom''s army. So, he doesn''t believe they''ll get severely punished if ever they returned without Chief Kody and Chief Ken back to their base.


    Once they are inside the Assembly of Freedom, he''ll make sure to pull the same stunt that Wesley tried to do to them. But unlike thetter, his attempt would for sure seed.


    Whoosh!


    A sword wave came hurling behind Kayn and Gilbert before missing to the nearby ground.


    "Damn them!" Gilbert cursed.


    While Jericho, Jude, Miya, and Amy were throwing one range attack after another, Charles and the other closebatants are actually chasing after them.


    "We about to reach the forest," Kayn tried tofort Gilbert.


    "Once we return from this mission, I''ll make sure to make them pay," Gilbert swore.


    "No need," Kayn guarantees that they''ll for sure pay for this.


    All of a sudden, dozens of arrows were shot from the forest toward the direction of Charles and the others who are chasing after Kayn and Gilbert.


    "Herees our reinforcement," Kayn smiles widely under the darkness.


    As Kayn and Gilbert reached the forest, five Guardians passed by them and quickly made a wall with their shield to prevent Charles and the others from reaching them.


    "This way!" A man covered in all ck motioned his hand to Kayn and Gilbert.


    "Understood!"


    Kayn and Gilbert nodded.


    Because the n has already seeded, Charles and the others only briefly fought back before eventually deciding to go back to the wall.


    Kayn and Gilbert were absent from witnessing it as they trailed the mysterious figure dressed entirely in ck, venturing deeper into the forest at thetter''s lead.


    "He''s taking you both to their camp," Natas informs Kayn.


    It didn''t take that long for the trio to reach the camp.


    "Wait here,"


    The man signaled for Kayn and Gilbert to stop as he walked inside the tent of what seemed to be where their leader is temporarily residing.


    Not long after, the man returned along with a muscr man.


    "Is that them?"


    "Yes, sir Seven,"


    That''s the name of the Executive.


    "Alright," Seven nodded. "You may go back to your position, I''ll take care of this matter,"


    "Understood," The man nodded before quickly leaving.


    "You two,e inside," Seven motioned his hand to Kayn and Gilbert before walking back inside his tent.


    Kayn and Gilbert closely followed after.

 Chapter 243 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 46

    Chapter 243: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 46


    Seven sat on his chair behind a table as he motioned his hand for Kayn and Gilbert to sit on the two sofas in front.


    Kayn briefly glimpses at his surrounding first to take note of any means they can use in case something goes wrong before directing his focus to Seven.


    "Are you done looking around?" Seven asked after he notices Kayn looking at the ce.


    "Yes," Kayn nodded.


    "Alright," Seven interlocked his hands on top of the table and inquired, "So, what is the purpose behind your visit?"


    "We had no choice but to escape," Kayn expresses.


    "Is the situation over there really that bad?"


    "There are only a few of us remaining. And ever since Chief Kody and Chief Ken were captured and taken to the town hall, all the hidden members of the Assembly of Freedom within their ranks were eliminated one after the other," Kayn exined.


    "How did you be aware of our presence?" Seven asked with great caution, wary that the enemy might be attempting to infiltrate their ranks by posing as one of their own.


    "It was only this morning that we heard the news that there are people trying to cause disruption in their preparation for war, and the first thing that came into mind was a rescue team to save Chief Kody and Chief Ken," Kayn showed a look of worry on his face. "I am telling you now to save you time and your men from danger, they''re both already dead. There''s no need to get inside the Dream Vige anymore to save them,"


    "Are you certain about that?"


    "That''s the only way you can exin their recent clearing operation,"


    "He''s right!" Gilbert interjected. "Even our camp was hit after that day Chief Kody and Chief Ken were taken into the town hall,


    Kayn added. "If there''s something we had noticed, it is that the current management of the Dream Vige is using us as a means to bait out the traitors within their own. But since they cut off this bait, it means they no longer needed us,"


    "I guess you''re right," Seven found it very reasonable. "Unfortunately, even if you had sessfully escaped, you still won''t be able to return back to base,"


    Hearing that, Kayn and Gilbert instinctively grabbed the hilt of their weapons.


    "Calm down, I don''t mean any harm," Seven quickly tried his best to rest assured Kayn and Gilbert.


    Kayn and Gilbert calm down.


    "We cannot go back yet as I fear Chief Kylo would severely punish us for returning without aplishing anything," Seven informs them of his worry.


    "Is that so¡­" Kayn sighs heavily. "Is that why you are trying to disrupt the progress of their preparation?"


    "Yes," Seven nodded. "Even if we can''t return with Chief Kody and Chief Ken. At the very least we have inflicted some degree of damage to the Green Horn City''s side,"


    "I understand,"


    Kayn and Gilbert express their understanding.


    "In the meantime, you can take a rest. I''ll continue inquiring you about the situation inside the Dream Vige tomorrow," Seven motioned his hand for Kayn and Gilbert to leave. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    The duo nodded at Seven before leaving the tent.


    "Second step is sessful," Gilbert whispered to Kayn.


    "Despite the circumstances, we should still remain vignt," Kayn emphasized his wariness.


    "I know,"


    As there was no proper amodation around the ce, thus Kayn and Gilbert went ahead and picked a tree to climb up and take a rest.


    "It''s going to be a long evening," Kayn muttered as he stared at the beautiful sky of the forest nearby the Dream Vige.


    "I''ll try my best to fall asleep," Gilbert sighs. Just this morning he woke up on a very soft andfortable bed, but now he has to sleep on hardwood. He seriously can''t help butin about it.


    The evening passed by quickly.


    Because they are in the enemy''s territory, Kayn and Gilbert didn''t get a good sleep in fear that they might find out or that they would try to attack them for whatever reason, considering that these people are mostly an unreasonable bunch.


    In the morning, after taking their breakfast, Kayn and Gilbert were called back by Seven to his tent to begin the questioning.


    All the questions that were asked were just basic questions that Kayn and Gilbert already expected the Assembly of Freedom would want to know about.


    Examples of the questions were;


    What happened to the rest of them after the Green Horn City invaded the Dream Vige?


    How did the clearing operations start?


    Are there people stronger than them?


    Were there perhaps any traitors amongst their own group?


    Who are in charge of the management of the Dream Vige now?


    There were still more questions, but most of them focuses on inquiring about the Green Horn City''s soldiers, Kayn and his group, and the possible situation in the base of the Green Horn City.


    After the questioning was finished, Kayn and Gilbert were asked to temporarily join theirpany of soldiers, which the duo naturally epted without any hesitation as that is what they intended to do from the start, and what position they want to be assigned to.


    Without further consideration, Kayn and Gilbert volunteered to be kitchen staff. They used the excuse that it was their job before the Green Horn City invaded the Dream Vige.


    Initially, Seven had reservations due to the customary practice of entrusting cooking duties to the most dependable individuals within theirpany. After all, the food they consumed held the potential to be exploited by their enemy. Yet, upon sampling the meal prepared by Kayn and Gilbert, who had ingeniously incorporated Undead Apples, his hesitation swiftly dissipated, and he swiftly reversed his stance.


    "I''ve never tasted anything the likes of what they prepared for me. That is why I am assigning them under yourmand, Alonzo," Seven, who is under the charm of Kayn, informs the head chef, Alonzo, of his decision.


    "May I taste it, just to make sure?" Alonzo can''t help feeling curious about it since Seven is usually quite picky about the food he eats.


    And through that, the operation called Charming Freedom was initiated in the kitchen of Seven''spany of soldiers.

 Chapter 244 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 47

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    Chapter 244: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 47


    Charming Freedom


    That''s what Kayn called the operation he and Gilbert are executing at this moment.


    Just like what its name suggests, they are charming the Assembly of Freedom using Undead Apples that Wesley is infamous for.


    Employing the identical approach Wesley would employ to captivate his intended subjects, the pair gradually endeared themselves to every member within Seven''s contingent of soldiers.


    Later in the evening, everyone within Seven''spany of soldiers was already under the charm of Kayn. Needless to say, Kayn only activated his charm in Seven, Alonzo, and the rest of the kitchen staff. Not all the time though, just whenever he needed something from them.


    In this way, he can gradually extend the duration of his influence over them and effectively harness it at ater time.


    "How did you get those Undead Apples?" Gilbert finally expressed the curiosity he has been holding within all this day.


    "I''ve secretly stolen one of Wesley''s Storage Rings during the chaos in their city," Kayn lied.


    "If that''s the case, wouldn''t Wesley be able to control these people?" Gilbert felt worried.


    "Whoever uses the Undead Apples will take control of the people under the charm,"


    "Thank goodness," Gilbert was finally able to breathe in relief, knowing now that the method they are doing wouldn''t identally be a dual-edged sword for them. Because if that happens, they''re just doing Wesley a favor by making everyone in the Assembly of Freedom fall under his full control.


    "You know that I don''t do anything without certainty that it would seed, right?"


    "I was just worried,"


    "Let''s just sleep,"


    As of this moment, Kayn and Gilbert were finally given a tent and two beds to sleep in. Though they are sharing it with the rest of the kitchen staff.


    Nevertheless, it is much morefortablepared to sleeping on hardwood as there''s afortable mattress and a soft pillow.


    Moreover, by doing this they can continue executing everything in secret.


    The next day, Kayn and Gilbert woke up at the same time as every kitchen staff inside the tent, including Alonzo.


    It was still four in the morning and everyone is still deep asleep. Yet, no one dared to voice any discontent or objection to waking up early, since the purpose was to ensure all the food was prepared before everyone woke up.


    The ingredients were already prepared by the hunting team yesterday, so all the kitchen staff has to do was process them in ordance with what type of meal they are going to be using them for.


    During the preparation, Kayn activated the charm of the Undead Apple within every single kitchen staff so that they won''t ask him why he is adding another piece of ingredient to the meal.


    It was only after the Undead Apple was added that he deactivated the charm so that he can conserve their duration.


    As soon as the meal was ready, a bell rang around the camp which awoke everyone sleeping in their respective tents.


    Soon, a multitude of soldiers streamed into the dining hall, forming a line that extended toward the kitchen staff distributing their breakfast.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    It was only after all the soldiers were served their breakfast that all kitchen staff started eating, excluding Kayn and Gilbert.


    "Wouldn''t it be better for us if we go out and hunt our own ingredients instead of stealing them from the kitchen?" Gilbert proposed. After all, the kitchen staff would do an inventory check every after-meal. So, it would only be a matter of time before they be suspicious that someone is stealing ingredients.


    "We''ll proceed with that n today," Kayn shared the same sentiment. However, it wasn''t because he feared being caught, as he was confident in his ability to charm his way out of any situation. Rather, his intention was to reassure Gilbert that he had no intention whatsoever of including Undead Apples in thetter''s meal.


    Since there''s nothing for the kitchen staff to do after serving the soldiers their breakfast and they have a long break time spanning until lunchtime, Kayn and Gilbert informed Alonzo that they''ll be going out to hunt for monsters around the forest, using the excuse that they want to increase their levels.


    Almost every kitchen staff expressed their intention of wanting to tag along because they only earn experience points through their weekly hunt, which would only happen once or twice a week. But Kayn and Gilbert reject all of them as they pretended to be ufortable hunting with people they aren''t close with.


    Everyone naturally understood it as they simrly don''t want to leave their backs wide open to people they barely know.


    Under the influence of the charm, Alonzo agreed to Kayn and Gilbert''s request without any hesitation.


    "By the way, we have greatly hindered the progress of the Green Horn City, so we will be going back to base tonight," Alonzo reminded Kayn and Gilbert.


    Kayn and Gilbert looked at each other before nodding their heads.


    "Alright,"


    After running in the forest for about ten minutes and making sure that they aren''t being followed by anyone else, Kayn and Gilbert quickly made a detour around the forest in order to reach the entrance of the tunnel they are going to use to escape from the Dream Vige.


    There were soldiers of the Herald Guild and Wing Boots Auction House stationed there, so they were immediately stopped from approaching.


    "It is us," Kayn took off his disguise along with Gilbert.


    "Master Kayn," The guard apologized.


    "I''ll be using the tunnel,"


    "You have every right," The guard told everyone that there was no problem.


    After receiving the approval, Kayn and Gilbert immediately dive into the underwater cave system.


    The underwater cave system was already cleared of any monsters around the path, so they were safely able to traverse to the other end.


    News of Kayn and Gilbert''s return was already passed to Jericho and the others while the duo was still making their way inside the Dream Vige.


    So, the moment Kayn and Gilbert arrived, Jericho and the others were already waiting for them.


    Instead of a weing greeting though, they were immediately bombarded byint afterint from Jericho and the others because Kayn''s absence made it nearly impossible to make fast progress as they aren''t sure if what they were doing is exactly what thetter wanted to achieve, thus they made everything as perfectly as they possibly could.


    The other reason was that they now realized they are paying for the crimes theymitted against Kayn and Gilbert during the acting, so they were hoping to make up for it with the result of their hardbor.


    This was exactly what Kayn wanted.

 Chapter 245 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 48

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    Chapter 245: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 48


    "You''re leaving along with Gilbert tonight?" Jericho raised his eyebrow. "Are you sure you are not doing this just to make us pay for what we did during the acting?"


    "We are not," Kayn shook his head.


    "Trust him, we are doing something really important for the Green Horn City," Gilbert assures.


    "But what about the Dream Vige? You can''t possibly expect me to defend this ce all on my own, right?" Jericho expresses hisint.


    "That''s your punishment," Kayn chuckled.


    "That''s what I meant just now!" Jericho cried out.


    "I was only following the script," Emmet interjected in hopes of clearing his name.


    "Two of your squad members were attacking us quite harshly," Gilbert winked at Miya and Amy.


    "I guess so¡­" Emmet relented.


    "There''s only less than three days left before the Green Horn City deres war on the Assembly of Freedom. I am not confident that once the enemy shows up on our doorstep I will be able to defend for forty hours or until the reinforcementes," Jericho informs Kayn of his trouble.


    "There''s no way they would arrive in the Dream Vige the instant Old Mayor George deres war with them," Gilbert felt that Jericho''s problem is unfounded. "Rest assured, as long as everything flows smoothly on our side, there might even be no oneing to your doorstep,"


    "Are you serious?" Jericho raised his eyebrow in strong doubt.


    "Just trust us," Gilbert assures. He looks around before quickly changing the subject, "By the way, do you have any food prepared?"


    "I thought you work as kitchen staff?" Jude narrowed his eyes.


    "Have you ever tasted a soldier''s meal? They are very disgusting and it reminds me of the past when I had no other choice but to eat something akin to dog food," Gilbert slightly shuddered.


    "Jadiel and Randy, please take Gilbert to the kitchen and prepare him breakfast and also make sure to pack up some snacks that they can eat along their mission," Jericho motioned his hand.


    Jadiel and Randy along with Gilbert quickly left the meeting room.


    Kayn also motions for the rest to leave him and Jude, Charles, and Jericho inside.


    Left with no other choice, Emmet and his third squad of Green Horn Knights left.


    But before leaving, they tried to persuade Lilith to also leave with them, but Kayn interrupted by saying that she can stay.


    "So, what are you exactly doing in their camp right now?" Jericho finally asked the question he has been dying to know.


    "This," Kayn waves his hand to take out a piece of Undead Apple from his Storage Ring.


    Jericho, Jude, and Charles were left questioning themselves about what that item was.


    Contrary to them though, Lilith knows.


    "That¡­" Lilith immediately recognizes the item that Kayn is holding. "Wesley''s infamous Undead Apple,"


    "Undead Apple?"


    Jericho, Jude, and Charles finally realized.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Don''t tell me you''re nning on charming everyone from the Assembly of Freedom?" Jericho was in disbelief.


    "Wait, first, let me ask you," Jude interjected. "That won''t backfire on us, right?"


    "It won''t," Kayn assures.


    "If it is okay to ask, where did you get that?" Lilith can''t help asking.


    "I stole one of Wesley''s Storage Ring which contains plenty of Undead Apple," Kayn used the same lie once again.


    "Then wouldn''t that make Wesley suspicious that someone else might pull the same trick that he''s trying to do?" Jericho assumes.


    "If he''s suspicious, then that only means he knows what danger that would bring to the Assembly of Freedom," Jude realized.


    "Exactly!" Kayn nodded. He continued lying. "He would be very cautious about it, but because he can''t get close to any kitchen, he won''t be able to know what I am doing,"


    "How certain are you?" Jericho sped both of his hands together.


    "We''ll see about that once we get there," Kayn really can''t guarantee anything. More importantly, he was only lying.


    Though the truth is, he only has a few Undead Apples left after cooking four times. To be exact, he has twenty left which he got ever since he copied Wesley''s Gift. He''ll only be getting once a day, so his supply truly can''t keep up with the demand.


    That''s why he has to go to the base of the Assembly of Freedom and secretly upy their main kitchen as soon as possible in order for him to effectively make use of each of the remaining Undead Apples he possesses.


    The bigger the meal he is creating, the more people would be eating it. Albeit the duration of the Undead Apple would also get affected because its dosage will be minimized, at the very least he has influenced a much wider masses.


    Even if in the end the duration of his charm will onlyst for an hour, he is confident that he cany waste to the entire Assembly of Freedom within that sixty minutes.


    "We can''t stay long as they might start suspecting why we are missing," Kayn changed the topic. "Also, can you lend me a few monster carcasses? In that way, we can make it more believable that we went out hunting,"


    "Here," Charles toss one of his Storage Rings. "I got plenty inside from my recent hunting outside the Dream Vige,"


    "Thank you," Kayn appreciated it.


    It didn''t take long for Gilbert to return from the kitchen along with Jadiel and Randy.


    "Are we leaving?" Gilbert asked.


    "Yes,"


    "Thanks for the food everyone. We''ll be going out first," Gilbert bid farewell.


    Kayn also bid farewell.


    After saying their goodbyes, Kayn and Gilbert used the same tunnel they went through to get out of the Dream Vige undetected.


    They then switched clothes before entering the forest once again.


    It was exactly when everyone was preparing to cook lunch that Kayn and Gilbert finally returned back to the camp of Seven''spany.


    Alonzo and the rest of the rest kitchen staff were already standing and waiting for the clock to hit eleven before beginning to cook the meal for lunch.


    "Let''s begin,"

 Chapter 246 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 49

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    Chapter 246: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 49


    In the evening, the entire camp has already packed everything they need before finally leaving for the direction of the Hush Vige.


    ording to Seven, they''ll be visiting the Hush Vige first to make a report about the situation in the Dream Vige. A Messenger Pigeon would carry that report to the Daze Vige as the rest of them follow afterward.


    This was their normal procedure. In this way, the camp would know ahead of time of the situation and can make decisions on what they should do to Seven''spany using the report as a reference before they reach back to base.


    Although they left in the evening, Seven''spany was still moving quickly under the cover of the night.


    As the first rays of morning light graced the Slumbering Forest, they finally arrived at the Hush Vige.


    It is the first time for both Kayn and Gilbert to enter the Hush Vige, so they remained cautious and wary about everything. They also used the rest of the kitchen staff as cover as they blend in with the members of the Assembly of Freedom.


    Unlike the Dream Vige, the entire Hush Vige has been turned into a crazy ce by the Assembly of Freedom.


    All buildings were being used by the inhabiting members of the Assembly of Freedom in the Hush Vige. As for the original residents of the territory, those that were unlucky to escape in time are now imprisoned inside steel cages that are being publicly disyed around open streets.


    Some were being treated as mere pets, personal property, or just dead on various tools they passed by that were evidently used for torturing people.


    "This is insane¡­" Gilbert whispered to Kayn.


    "Madmans, that is what they are," Kayn said as a remark.


    Contrary to Kayn and Gilbert, the rest of the members of Seven''spany seems to be enjoying the sight.


    They realized that the madness hidden within these people they came along with was perfectly hidden during the operation in the Dream Vige. And the second they reach their territory, like a snap of a finger, their real character has shown.


    "Old Mayor George was right. We indeed can''t spare any of their members,"


    An aura of murderous intent covered the entirety of Gilbert.


    "Calm down, we can''t afford to reveal who we are in here," Kayn patted Gilbert.


    Hearing that, Gilbert starts calming down.


    "Is it possible for us to save these innocent people they''ve captured?"


    "Unfortunately, we can''t," Kayn shook his head. It is next to impossible to save these people considering that there are members of the Assembly of Freedom all over the Hush Vige. The instant horns of war echoed around here, there''s a high chance that they''ll kill all of their captives.


    Moreover, suppose that it is possible to save these people, they will no longer live their lives the same way they used to. The trauma of experiencing this kind of event is no doubt going to remain for the rest of their lives. They''ll have trouble thinking straight and they''ll just be thrown inside mental hospitals in order to protect themselves and at the same time prevent them from harming others.


    So, in his opinion, it is much better to just end their misery here instead of allowing them to continue living.


    Gilbert was very ignorant about that, and the only thought inside his head is to save these people regardless of what.


    "If you don''t feelfortable with it, you can always choose to leave and let someone else rece your spot," Kayn suggested in case Gilbert''s performance would get affected because of seeing this kind of scene.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "I can do it," Gilbert shook his head. He had witnessed plenty of gruesome scenes already and even experienced a fair share on his own. This situation right now wouldn''t affect his performance for this operation.


    All of a sudden, Alonzo approaches them. "How are you two feeling? I reckon you aren''t used to this kind of scene yet," After all, they were in a peaceful territory like the Dream Vige.


    "Kinda," Kayn responded.


    "It is very exciting, don''t you think?" Alonzo smiled widely. "It brings this kind of hidden emotion deep inside you that makes you want to just do whatever you want without caring about any sort of consequences it will bring about,"


    "So this is the feeling I am feeling right now," Gilbert snickered.


    "Murderous intent? That''s just one of them," Alonzo nodded.


    Evidently, members of the Assembly of Freedom are sensitive to murderous intent.


    Gilbert quickly realized his mistake and felt nervous.


    "You don''t have to worry, that''s quite normal for first-timers," Alonzo assures. "Anyways, the reason why I approached you is that Seven doesn''t actually want anyone from hispany to release any murderous intent,"


    "I thought it was normal," Gilbert raised both of his eyebrows.


    "For these people it is, but for us you have to always maintain calmness and serenity. That''s the reason why we are chosen to be soldiers of the Assembly of Freedom while these people around us are just ordinary members," Alonzo exins.


    "We aren''t soldiers though," Kayn expressed.


    "I look favorably on the two of you bing permanent kitchen staff. If you want, I can rmend you to the human resource department once we get back to base,"


    "Really?"


    Kayn and Gilbert expressed their excitement. It was honestly a genuine feeling, as this is exactly what they wanted.


    In an instant, Gilbert''s murderous intent disappeared.


    "That''s a start," Alonzo muttered before leaving back to his position, which is beside Seven.


    "Did you use charm just now?" Gilbert can''t help asking.


    "No, I am just good at cooking," Kayn proudly imed.


    "I highly doubt that," Gilbert chuckled. Though he did taste Kayn''s dish, only once when thetter didn''t add any Undead Apples yet.


    Not long after, everyone arrived at a barracks.


    Another Executive greeted Seven and the duo briefly exchange pleasantries before thetter''spany was assigned a warehouse to temporarily use as their camp.


    After ensuring everyone was settled, Seven departed alongside another Executive to deliver their report of the Dream Vige.

 Chapter 247 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 50

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    Chapter 247: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 50


    Because everyone still hasn''t taken their breakfast yet, Alonzo quickly gathered the rest of the kitchen staff to start preparing a meal.


    The kitchen staff prepared a simple meal for everyone since there was no proper kitchen, just enough to fill their stomach.


    After breakfast, everyone started conversing with their respective groups.


    Close to an hourter, some soldiers started feeling tired so they went ahead to look for a spot in the warehouse to set up their bed and take a nap.


    Everyone is clearly exhausted from not sleeping for a single day. So, they took this chance where they have nothing to do to go and take some rest. In addition to that, they would actually continue with their journey to the Daze Vige after lunch, so recuperating energy is a must.


    This includes Alonzo and the rest of the kitchen staff.


    Although there were some that didn''t fall asleep, the majority being the elite members. They are called elites for a reason, right?


    Kayn and Gilbert also don''t want to go to sleep as there are a lot of things they want to do while they remain in the Hush Vige.


    "Would it be okay if we leave and explore the Hush Vige?" Kayn asked one of the elite members for permission. He doesn''t want to go out without informing anyone as that might affect Alonzo''s opinion of him and Gilbert negatively.


    "You can, but I suggest you don''t leave the area around the barracks," The man kindly reminded.


    "Would something bad happen to us if we leave the perimeter?"


    "As you aren''t officially one of us yet, you might not be able to get back inside the barracks once you leave the area,"


    "Oh, we understand,"


    Kayn and Gilbert understood.


    "We''ll make sure to take note of that," Gilbert nodded his head.


    With that, Kayn and Gilbert left the warehouse.


    Although they are exploring the vicinity of the barracks, they could actually see the scene outside the walls because it was simply made with barbed wires. Albeit there are guards stationed every five meters to prevent outsiders from getting inside the barracks.


    "Barracks can normally be essed by everyone who intents on looking for a mission," Gilbert can''t help letting out a sigh. "But these people are using it as a military base,"


    "It always depends on the management," Kayn didn''t find it strange. Once they get inside the ''Tower'', they''ll be able to find missions being posted from all sorts of ces. Unlike in ''The Bridge'' where it is always posted in the barracks.


    Contrary to Gilbert, Kayn was busy looking for the kitchen.


    "There should be a kitchen just somewhere close to where the soldiers train," Kayn focus his attention on the wide open space surrounded by dozens of buildings.


    "What are you looking for?"<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Their kitchen,"


    "Are you nning on charming every soldier of the Assembly of Freedom in the Hush Vige?"


    "Since we can''t charm the masses, we''ll have to settle on what we can,"


    Getting outside the vicinity of the barracks is going to be impossible as that might cause them to get left behind by Seven''spany.


    "It shouldn''t take long for Seven to return, so we''ll have to secretly add these Undead Apples to their ingredients," It is also impossible for them to personally cook for this camp since they aren''t part of their kitchen staff. With the existence of Wesley in their ranks, the Assembly of Freedom is very cautious when ites to who cooks their food.


    As they look for the kitchen, someone suddenly pokes Kayn''s back, which quickly made him and Gilbert turn around.


    "A kid?" Gilbert felt confused as he looked down at the little girl. He looks at Kany and asked. "Is she perhaps lost?"


    Unlike Gilbert, Kayn immediately became nervous as he saw the little girl "It''s impossible for a kid to get lost in this kind of ce¡­"


    "You''re correct," The little girl muttered. "I am not lost,"


    "See," Kayn looks at Gilbert. "And she''s obviously not a little kid,"


    "Correct, once again,"


    Kayn knew the girl from the future, that''s why he can recognize her.


    The little girl''s name is Maria. She is an infamous Viin in the future who is known as Human Hunter Maria. Just like what her title suggests, she hunts humans like a bounty hunter. But unlike thetter, she does it for the fun of it. Her target is usually those Heroes that are stronger than her, in that way the hunt bes challenging.


    Contrary to hisrades who fought alongside him, Human Hunter Maria is the very literal definition of a Viin. In the future, she became an official member of Circus and started helping the organization increase its influence throughout the ''Tower'' and on Earth.


    "So, she started from the Assembly of Freedom. It seems like some of their members were able to escape from ''The Bridge'' alive," Kayn thought to himself.


    "I am sorry¡­" Gilbert apologizes.


    "It''s alright," The little kid epted the apology. "I am Maria, a member of the Assembly Knight,"


    "Assembly Knight¡­"


    Kayn and Gilbert realized.


    The Assembly Knight is the version of Green Horn Knights for the Assembly of Freedom. Unlike thetter though, there are only six members of the Assembly Knights, including Wesley himself. But, one shouldn''t underestimate any of them because the six of them can easily take down the third squad and fourth squads of Green Horn Knights as they are all level fifty. Only Friedrich''s and Chastine''s squad could hope to contend against them.


    In an instant, Kayn and Gilbert stood straight to express their respect and awe at Maria. Of course, they were not just pretending to do it, as this is a serious matter. If thetter is displeased by them, then it is game over.


    "What are you two doing here? And how did you get inside when you are not soldiers?" Maria asked.

 Chapter 248 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 51

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    Chapter 248: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 51


    This was exactly like what the elite members of Seven''spany warned them about. Only official soldiers can get inside the barracks. Anyone who isn''t part of their army is prohibited from getting inside, let alone getting close.


    That is the exact reason why Maria is asking Kayn and Gilbert how they get inside.


    "We came along with Captain Seven''spany, Madam Maria," Kayn responded while making eye contact with Maria.


    "Is that so?" Maria doubts it. "In that case, where is Captain Seven right now?"


    "He went along with another Executive to pass a report to the base. Once he''s done with that, we will continue on our way to the Daze Vige," Gilbert interjected.


    "Did you already seed in rescuing Chief Kody and Chief Ken?" Maria can''t help asking.


    "Unfortunately, the two Chiefs are presumed dead after the recent clearing operation of the Dream Vige,"


    "How regretful," Maria sighs. "You mentioned clearing operation, did the two Chiefs perhaps reveal information about our members hiding in the enemy''s rank?"


    "As we have been hiding in the sewer and canals of the Dream Vige ever since our enemy invaded the territory, we can confirm the high chance that the two Chiefs have betrayed us,"


    "Hypocrites always remain hypocrites,"


    "I agree," Gilbert was unable to hold his thoughts. He is still displeased at Chief Kody and Chief Ken after the duo tried to take away the Kingmaker from Kayn.


    It quickly caught Maria''s attention. "Interesting. You actually dare curse out your superiors,"


    "They are dead madam, and they are also traitors of the Assembly of Freedom," Kayn interrupted in order to save Gilbert.


    Gilbert gulped down a mouthful of saliva and choose to remain silent.


    "Fair enough," Maria agrees. "Anyways, you still haven''t answered my question about what you are doing out here,"


    "We were looking for the kitchen around here, Madam Maria," Kayn didn''t dare to lie.


    "The kitchen?" Maria became confused.


    "We are kitchen staff of Seven''spany,"


    "Just so you''re aware, eachpany is strictly forbidden from using anotherpany''s kitchen. This is a precautionary step in case Wesley attempts something foolish," Maria informs them.


    "I told you so," Gilbert softly punch Kayn''s shoulder.


    "But how can we prove to Alonzo that we deserve to join them?" Kayn expresses his frustration.


    "We just follow whatever he says," Gilbert rebutted.


    "That wouldn''t make us different from the rest outside the barracks," Kayn sighs heavily.


    "What are you two talking about?" Maria felt curious.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Alonzo, which is our head chef,"


    "I know him. Seven''s personal chef," Maria interrupted before motioning her hand to continue.


    "Yes, Seven''s personal chef. Alonzo informed us along the way here that he is interested in recruiting us to be officially part of the kitchen staff of Seven''spany. We know how good it is to be a part of the Assembly of Freedom''s army, so we both wanted to get epted,"


    "Nyak here," Gilbert pointed at Kayn. "Express that in order to increase our chance of getting epted, what if we use the ingredients we have to cook everyone''s lunch meal,"


    "Is that so," Maria finally understood. "Seeing how enthusiastic you are, I guess I can help you with your n,"


    "Seriously?!" Gilbert felt genuine delight.


    "Be respectful!" Kayn smacks Gilbert''s head.


    "It is alright," Maria chuckled.


    Watching Maria acting like a real child, Kayn can''t help butpare it to the Human Hunter Maria he used to know in the future. The difference between the present Maria and the future is like heaven and earth.


    "I am certain something profoundly unfortunate must have urred in Maria''s past, leading her to be the Human Hunter Maria she is in the future," Kayn mused. He had noticed that the majority of the viins he encountered in the future had experienced tragic events that fueled their transition into a life of a Viin. Maria shouldn''t be an exception to that.


    "How about a fair exchange," Maria suddenly proposed. "I''ll give you permission to use their kitchen, but in return, you have to let me taste the meal you both cook?"


    Hearing that, Gilbert can''t help looking at Kayn. He has tasted thetter''s dishes back then, and although they are good, it wasn''t honestly something special.


    Unbeknownst to Gilbert, Kayn''s extensive experience with poverty and his need to fend for himself has honed his cooking skills over the years. In fact, with his culinary expertise and knowledge from the future, Kayn is a talented cook. He has simply kept this skill hidden, as there hasn''t been a suitable asion for him to showcase it.


    "Are you sure that''s all you want?" Kayn narrowed his eyes.


    "Yes, and just to warn you, I am a picky eater. If I don''t like the food you cook, you will be punished for not following orders," Maria looks at Kayn solemnly.


    "Maybe we shouldn''t do this," Gilbert is starting to feel extremely hesitant about this, especially now that he knows Maria''s standard for food is high.


    "Trust me," Kayn smiles at Gilbert.


    Seeing the clear look of confidence on Kayn''s face, Gilbert instantly realized something in his mind. He thought, "Was he perhaps hiding his talent in cooking all this time?"


    "Since you''re feeling very confident, then let me take you to the kitchen," Maria didn''t waste any more time since it is about to be lunchtime as she took both Nyak and hispanion to the kitchen.


    After passing through a few hallways, they finally reached the kitchen.


    Unlike the kitchen they used ever since bing the kitchen staff of Seven''spany, this kitchen in front of them is exactly the same as the kitchen of high-rated restaurants. Even the vibe and atmosphere were simr.


    Because it is not yet time to cook for lunch, there is currently no one around the kitchen.


    This is perfect for both Kayn and Gilbert. In this way, no one will disturb them as they cook.


    "You may do as you please," Maria looks at the clock above the wall. "But make sure to finish it within an hour, because their kitchen staff would be arriving by that time and will be using the kitchen,"

 Chapter 249 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 52

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    Chapter 249: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 52


    Without wasting any time, Kayn started cooking the meal he wanted to prepare for Maria.


    As someone who recognizes Maria from the future, he naturally knows what her favorite food is. It was included in the document he received about the Human Hunter Maria.


    Despite being a Viin and a member of the infamous Viin organization Circus, Maria is actually known to be a very simple-minded woman, especially when ites to food. She doesn''t prefer her food fancy and unique like those being served in expensive restaurants.


    "Are you serious about what you are cooking?" Gilbert was in disbelief as he looks at the ingredients Kayn has prepared. "I knew you were never a good chef, but you''ll get us killed if you really think of serving that to Maria,"


    "Trust me," Kayn muttered helplessly. He can''t possibly tell Gilbert that he knows Maria would like what he is cooking as he read her profile from the future.


    "How can I trust you when what you are trying to cook is simply fried chicken!" Gilbert eximed.


    "Fried chicken?" Maria suddenly appeared from the back. "Did you just say Fried Chicken?"


    "That''s right, I am nning to cook the old and simple fried chicken," Kayn smiles.


    "But there''s no chicken in ''The Bridge'',"


    "I know, but there are a lot of alternatives that taste almost the same,"


    The livestock that people in ''The Bridge'' uses are actually not the same as those found on Earth. It is only natural given that they can only use resources found in this ce.


    To show it to Maria, Kayn waves his hand, immediately taking out a bare-skin carcass of a monster that looks almost identical to a chicken. Albeit it was around half a meter in size.


    "Grasnd Bird?" Maria instantly recognizes the carcass. She then looks at the ingredients that Nyak is nning to use. "Crystal salt, cornstarch made from golden corn, flour from green wheat, pepper from dragon chili, buttermilk, is that paprika?"


    "Yes,"


    "It seems like you got it all," Maria was pleased with the ingredients. "As for the sauce, are you nning on making a simple gravy?"


    "I will prepare three sauces for you to try," Kayn pointed at the ingredients he''d be using for the sauces. "Honey from Slumberbee and Skinless Garlic for a honey garlic sauce. Dark Cow''s milk, broth from the Grasnd  Bird, pepper from dragon chili, and soy sauce from thebination of green wheat and green soybeans for gravy. Andstly, butter from the milk of Dark Cow, chili paste from dragon chili, and white vinegar for buffalo sauce,"


    "I''m already getting hungry just hearing you talk about the ingredients. I can''t wait for you to serve me that delicious fried chicken," Maria eximed with excitement, softly murmuring her words as she left the area to avoid interrupting Nyak while he cooked.


    "See that," Kayn smirked at Gilbert.


    "Seriously?" Gilbert still can''t believe that Maria actually likes what Kayn is preparing for her. He really thought that since she is a member of the Assembly Kngihts she would prefer food that incorporates lobster, beef, oyster, fish, and other meal that can be found in expensive restaurants, especially after hearing her mentioning that she''s a picky eater.


    "As long as we get her approval, it would be a sure ticket to the kitchen of the Assembly of Freedom, not just bing a mere kitchen staff of Seven''spany," Kayn exined. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Was that your intention?"


    "It wasn''t until we made a deal with her,"


    His original n was to use his cooking skill to attract the attention of soldiers from the otherpany toe and eat the food he cooks. It would be a slow and gradual process, but that''s the only way he got it, especially with the remaining span of time and the limited amount of Undead Apples he possesses.


    However, now there''s an opportunity for him to join the main kitchen of the Assembly of Freedom.


    Although joining the main kitchen doesn''t necessarily mean he can increase the number of people he can charm. But he can increase the quality of people. In other words, he would be charming the elite members, the higher-ups of their allies, the Executives, the six Assembly Knights, and possibly even Chief Kylo himself.


    "Let''s begin,"


    Since it was just a simple fried chicken, it didn''t take that long for Kayn and Gilbert to finish cooking the dish.


    After around fifteen minutes, the fried chicken was finally cooked along with three different sauces for Maria to choose from.


    Kayn served the fried chicken on a fine tter, just to increase its appeal, alongside small containers with the three different sauces.


    Afterpleting his tasks in the cooking area, Kayn left Gilbert to continue preparing meals for the remaining soldiers, as they had imed they would cook for them as well. He then approached Maria, who had been patiently awaiting her food.


    "It doesn''t smell different from the actual fried chicken back on Earth," Maria smiled after taking a whiff of the fried chicken.


    "In order toplete the meal," Kayn waves his hand, quickly taking out a big lunchbox filled with rice. It was the rice he had prepared for himself.


    Maria nodded. "A meal would never beplete without rice,"


    With a spoon on her right and a fork on her left, Maria didn''t hesitate to start eating.


    At first, Maria was acting delicate with the fried chicken as if she was afraid of wasting a single part of it. But the moment she tasted it, she instantly abandoned both the spoon and fork and went right on it with her small and delicate bare hands.


    "I hope you don''t mind my table manners," Maria muttered while still having a mouthful of chicken in her mouth.


    "The way you eat is akin to a hugepliment for me," Kayn smiles while remaining standing still in front of Maria.


    "If you don''t mind, you cane and sit beside me and let''s eat this together. It would be such a waste if you can''t taste your own dish," Maria uttered before dipping the drumstick part into the gravy and eating it. "Perfect!"


    "I apologize, but I still need to help my friend cook the rest of the fried chickens," Kayn slightly bowed his head before leaving.

 Chapter 250 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 53

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    Chapter 250: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 53


    Kayn quickly return back to the cooking area to help Gilbert cook the remaining pieces of Grasnd Bird that he had prepared for this cooking session. In total, they are cooking three hundred cut pieces, three pieces for each person.


    Fortunately, there are just enough stoves and cooking utensils for them to be able to cook fifty pieces at the same time.


    Contrary to what Maria had informed them about, even after an hour, there was still no kitchen staff arriving in the kitchen.


    Nevertheless, Kayn and Gilbert continued cooking as they are already behind schedule. But this time, they became cautious and warry of Maria as they assume she is nning something against them.


    They aren''t certain about it though, seeing that Maria was still happily enjoying her extra serving of fried chicken and is not doing anything else. It also doesn''t look like she''s just acting.


    "I think there''s something wrong with where we are at right now," Gilbert muttered. He has been thinking about it ever since they arrived in this fancy-looking kitchen. "This kitchen shouldn''t be the one the kitchen staff of this barracks uses,"


    "Two separate kitchens?" Kayn pondered aloud. It urred to him just now that considering the size of the ce, it wouldn''t be surprising to have multiple kitchens around. Having a backup kitchen in case something goes wrong with the main one seemed like a reasonable precautionary measure. There''s also the possibility of a special kitchen that is meant to be used for special asions.


    "You guessed correctly," Maria suddenly interrupted.


    "Madam Maria?"


    Both Kayn and Gilbert didn''t notice that Maria has already approached them. Fortunately, they didn''t talk about anything rted to their real identities.


    "This kitchen you are using right now is actually only used to cater to special guests. Take for example, the one and only me," Maria proudly presented herself.


    "Does that mean¡­"


    "Would you like to be my personal chef, Nyak and..." Maria looks at Gilbert.


    "Gilbert," Gilbert didn''t bother hiding his real name since it is amon name.


    "Nyak and Gilbert, are you both interested in working as my personal chef?" Maria asked one more time.


    "Personal chef¡­" Kayn looks at Gilbert.


    Finally, it was here. The chance to cook in the main kitchen of the Assembly of Freedom.


    As if the duo already know the answer inside each of their brain, they both nodded simultaneously.


    "It would be an honor," Kayn slightly bowed his head.


    "We will ept," Gilbert added.


    "As long as you continue cooking the same meal for me with just some slight variations, I promise you''ll be treated well," Maria guaranteed.


    "Would that include a chance to cook in the main kitchen of the Assembly of Freedom?" Kayn can''t help wanting to know. Albeit he already knew.


    "Only personal chefs can cook there, so yes," Maria nodded.


    That''s right. In the main kitchen of the Assembly of Freedom, only the chefs personally chosen by the important members of the organization can have the chance to cook inside. As always, the reason for this is because of Wesley.


    Each of the chefs is given their own cooking area where they have all the tools needed to prepare the meal their master ordered them to.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Honestly, no one really knows what happens inside the main kitchen other than the chefs themselves as no one else can get inside other than them.


    Kayn and Gilbert smiled in appreciation. It was a genuine emotion. Because thanks to Maria, they are now a step closer to achieving their goal of Charming Freedom.


    "Since I can''t officially give both of you your status as my personal chef in the Hush Vige, go with Seven''spany in the meantime to the Daze Vige so that you can enter the base," Maria instructed. "I promise to find you both so that you can officially start your job,"


    "We understand,"


    "You can leave now and give the rest of the meal you prepared to yourrades,"


    "How about the cleaning of the kitchen?"


    "Someone else wille here to clean, so you both don''t have to worry,"


    With that being said, Kayn and Gilbert quickly left the kitchen. Before leaving though, they packed ten pieces of fried chicken and gave it to Maria so that she can enjoy more of it.


    Maria appreciated the gift as she watches Nyak and Gilbert return back to their camp.


    Kayn and Gilbert arrived at the camp right on schedule, coinciding with Alonzo and the rest of the kitchen staff who were receiving instructions regarding their assigned duties.


    As soon as they saw Kayn and Gilbert carrying a tall bucket full of fried chicken, Alonzo and all the kitchen staff quickly approached them.


    "Where did the two of you go?" Alonzo asked as observed the bucket.


    "We went outside to tour the ce and we coincidentally met Madam Maria who requested us to cook for her,"


    Alonzo expressed his surprise, eximing, "Madam Maria, as in the Maria from the Assembly Knights?"


    Confirming his im, Kayn replied, "Yes, her,"


    The revtion caused a stir among the kitchen staff, who voiced their worry.


    "This is problematic,"


    "No one anticipated her presence in the Hush Vige,"


    "Somebody should inform Captain Seven about this,"


    "What''s the matter?"


    Kayn and Gilbert can''t help but be curious about why everyone is reacting like that at the mention of Madam Maria.


    "She''s Captain Seven''s girlfriend," Alonzo revealed.


    Upon hearing that, Kayn quickly grasped the underlying reason. It resonated with his own experiences whenever Selena visited his school, prompting his ssmates to express their concern for his safety. They were clearly just overreacting, and it is very simr to the situation right now.


    Although he truly did not expect that Maria would turn out to be their Captain''s girlfriend. He can''t help but feel relieved that he didn''t order his men to attack theirpany back then when Natas proposed it. Otherwise, he''ll be the number one target of the Human Hunter Maria.


    On second thought, how can Natas not be aware of Maria and Seven''s rtionship?

 Chapter 251 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 54

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    Chapter 251: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 54


    Noticing Kayn''s gaze, Natas quickly understood what the former wanted to know. "I''ve already told you before, I barely know anything about ''The Bridge''. I have not observed this ce for more than a decade as it is very boringpared to what is happening inside the ''Tower''. If there''s anyone who knows each and every single detail of every event that took ce in ''The Bridge'', it can only be Ikol,"


    Regretfully, Ikol can''t help them since they can''t reveal their identities to anyone yet. In addition to that, it is very hard to trust Ikol, considering that he is the God of Mischief.


    Kayn understood. He turns his attention back to Alonzo and the rest of the kitchen staff.


    "What should we do?" Kayn truly doesn''t have any idea what to do now that someone else is being put in the same situation as him. In his defense, he just went ahead and did whatever he wants without the need to consider the opinion of other people.


    "I''ll report this to Seven. In the meantime, help Nyak and Gilbert prepare the soldiers'' lunch," Alonzo instructed before quickly leaving to find Seven. Deep inside, he is hoping that it isn''t toote.


    Once Alonzo departed, the entire kitchen staff promptly sprang into action, assisting Nyak and Gilbert in diligently preparing individual servings for each soldier''s lunch.


    Immediately upon the lunch bell rang, a multitude of soldiers swiftly formed a queue, eagerly awaiting their turn to receive food from the kitchen staff.


    Following the first person who ate the fried chicken, a series ofpliments rained down from the masses of soldiers.


    Although these soldiers were his enemy, Kayn and Gilbert still can''t help feeling overwhelmed by it. Of course, it didn''t change their mind about killing them, especially after knowing now that each and every one of them is simply holding back their true nature in fear of being kicked out from the army of the Assembly of Freedom.


    They appreciate thepliment, but that doesn''t necessarily clean the image of the Assembly of Freedom in their minds.


    "I did as you told, I secretly added Undead Apples when you were busy distracting Maria," Gilbert whispered to Kayn.


    "Great job," Kayn smiled. He had done this purposely so that he can put a charm on Maria.


    "I am just curious though. Since I was the one who added the Undead Apple, howe you''re still the one charming them?" Gilbert can''t help wondering about it.


    "That''s because I was the one who activated the Undead Apple," Kayn lied.


    Gilbert understood.


    Kayn realized that he can''t continue with this lie if another situation like thises up again. He has to be cautious whenever using the Undead Apple or else people would start suspecting him.


    Thirty minutes during lunch break, Alonzo finally returned back to camp.


    "So, how was it?" Gilbert immediately asked.


    "I was toote¡­" Alonzo sighs heavily.


    "What do you mean?"


    "Madam Maria caught Captain Seven cheating. She killed the other Executive since he was guarding the door for Seven and the woman he was cheating with,"


    Kayn and Gilbert look at each other. So this was the reason why they were panicking.


    "He spared him?"


    "No," Alonzo shook his head. "She gave him one week to clean his neck,"


    "What will be our fate now?" A kitchen staff asked.


    "Would ourpany dissolve once Seven dies?"


    "It shouldn''t be right?"


    "They''ll most likely just rece Seven,"


    Speaking of the devil.


    Seven entered the camp with a dark look on his face. He approaches Alonzo and the rest of the kitchen staff as he muttered. "Thank you for your service,"


    Whoosh!<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    In one quick motion, Alonzo''s head got separated from his body.


    It was a swift and untimely attack, so Alonzo was unable to put up a single defense.


    Everyone was shocked at seeing Alonzo being killed by Seven all of a sudden. But themotion onlysted for a brief moment and everyone returned to what they are doing as if nothing happened.


    Contrary to them though, Kayn and Gilbert were shocked. The two of them didn''t expect it the same way as Alonzo didn''t think that he would be dying right now.


    "You," Seven pointed at another chef. "You''re now the new head chef and my personal chef,"


    After appointing a new head chef, Seven left to take care of his own matters.


    Instead of fearing the position, the newly appointed head chef epted it without any problem.


    "I am Liam, your new head chef," The newly appointed head chef introduced himself. "Starting from now, everyone should report to me each and every single piece of information they find, especially the two of you,"


    Unlike Alonzo, Liam didn''t look favorably at Kayn and Gilbert as he believes it was because of these two that Alonzo died.


    The elite members soon arrived to clean up the body of Alonzo.


    Instead of burying it though, they just put Alonzo''s dead body in one corner and burned it without any ounce of sympathy and mercy.


    The scene sent shivers to Gilbert. "These people are insane¡­"


    "What can you expect from members of the Assembly of Freedom?" Kayn stares with a deadpan face at Alonzo''s body slowly being turned to dust.


    Fortunately, Alonzo didn''t snitch that it was them that found Maria first. Otherwise, they might have been put into a difficult position like him. In addition to that, no one bothered snitching on anyone else as if it is an unspoken rule amongst everyone.


    "It seems like this has happened multiple times already," Kayn express his thoughts.


    "Definitely," Gilbert agrees.


    "You two are correct,"


    "Madam Maria?"


    Kayn and Gilbert were shocked at seeing Maria behind them.


    It wasn''t only the two, but the entirepany of Seven was shocked.


    "How long have you been here?" Kayn became nervous.


    "From the beginning. I was watching everything from the ceiling," Maria looked up.


    "Maria?" Seven hastily approaches. "I can exin!"


    "No need, the deaths of three people today already exined everything," Maria shook her head.


    "Then what are you doing here?" Seven still believes that there''s a chance for him to save himself.


    "I came here to take my two personal chefs with me in case you try and kill them," Maria referred to Nyak and Gilbert.


    "Them?" Liam was shocked.


    Whoosh!


    Another untimely death took ce. In just a matter of a few minutes, Liam followed his predecessor Alonzo to the afterlife.


    "Let''s go," Maria motioned her hand for Nyak and Gilbert to follow her.

 Chapter 252 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 55

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    Chapter 252: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 55


    Kayn and Gilbert quickly followed after Maria as they don''t want to wait for Seven to do something to them before leaving his camp.


    "Was that really okay, Madam Maria?" Kayn can''t help asking Maria.


    "Would you prefer that he does something to the two of you?" Maria assures them that it is fine. "Though you should make sure to protect yourself from Seven for one week in the Daze Vige,"


    "You''re not going to protect us?" Gilbert expresses his worry.


    "There would be times when I can protect you, but I also have to take care of my own matters so I cannot promise that I will be there all the time," Maria was also helpless about it.


    "This¡­"


    "That''s enough, Gilbert," Kayn patted Gilbert''s shoulder. "No one expected that things would turn out like this. So, we cannot me anyone. Let''s just say this is the price to pay for getting our position,"


    "I understand¡­" Gilbert felt frustrated. He finally understood just howplicated the matters with the Assembly of Freedom are. Allowing such an organization to rule ''The Bridge'' would no doubt be a nightmare for everyone. They have to absolutely make sure to destroy this organization from the inside and out.


    Seeing Gilbert calming down, Kayn turn to Maria and asked. "So, where are we going now?"


    Now that they have they''ve left Seven''spany, they no longer can join them on the journey to Daze Vige.


    "We''ll be going to the Daze Vige now," Maria responded in a rush.


    Perceiving a significant matter at hand, Kayn questioned, "Is there any crucial information we need to be aware of before we leave?"


    "Prepare yourselves and expect that we''ll be fighting a bunch of people,"


    "I see¡­" Kayn instantly understood.


    Gilbert smiles. Finally, he can release his pent-up frustration.


    "Let''s go!"


    Following Maria, Kayn and Gilbert soon left the Hush Vige and eventually entered the Slumbering Forest.


    They travel north in order to reach the Daze Vige which is hundreds of kilometers away from the Hush Vige.


    It was a long journey. But the distance is not the problem because, with their current levels, they can reach the Daze Vige in less than one night. The trouble they''ll be facing would be Seven''spany.


    Not long after they entered the Slumbering Forest, Kayn, Gilbert, and Maria instantly noticed a few people following them. They were significantly far away, so they can''t do anything to them.


    "I''ll hunt them in the shadows, you two just continue north and make sure that you''re prepared for their attacks," Maria informed them before leaving.


    Maria possesses the Assassin ss. So, fighting openly is not her style of doing things.


    Kayn and Gilbert understood this, so they didn''tin. In fact, they prefer it this way so that they can startmunicating openly. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    The moment Maria left them, Gilbert immediately asked Kayn. "Are we seriously just going to let Maria destroy the progress we''ve made with Seven''spany?"


    "It''s a fair exchange," Kayn didn''t mind it. If in order to control Maria they''ll have to lose Seven''spany, then he''ll dly lose thetter. Maria will be providing him with better quality manpower anyways, which can easily rece the quantity that Seven''spany could provide. Though it is still a pity as he had wasted precious Undead Apples on them.


    "I''ll follow whatever you decide," Gilbert chooses to trust Kayn.


    "Let''s go," Kayn muttered.


    Although he did not have the Assassin ss, the way he moves was no different from them. Because of that, he and Gilbert were able to safely evade the pursuit of Seven''spany.


    And every single time they encounter one of them, mostly the elite members, they won''t bother wasting any energy or dying their trip as he would simply activate his charm and order them to kill themselves. Though Gilbert would personally deal with them asionally as he wanted to release his anger.


    With their speed and the fact that they were never dyed even once, Kayn, Gilbert, and Maria reached the Daze Vige before night came.


    Maria took them to the human resource department, which is located just in the Daze Vige instead of the headquarters inside the city of the Assembly of Freedom, and officially granted them the status of her personal chef.


    Their status naturallyes with a lot of benefits, including a house in the Daze Vige, a personal kitchen, and an advance payment of one thousand coins.


    After taking care of Nyak and Gilbert''s matter, Maria left to go and make a report to the headquarters of the Assembly of Freedom.


    Observing Maria as she departed, Kayn and Gilbert then left the human resource department to locate Seven''spany.


    Naturally, since Seven''spany was chasing after them all this time, they arrived in the Daze Vige just shortly after them.


    Upon seeing them, Kayn and Gilbert immediately notice that the number of soldiers and elite members has noticeably decreased. To be exact, there are only three elite members remaining and less than fifty soldiers.


    Calling them apany no longer suits them anymore as their current number is the same as a mere toon.


    "Now I am certain they''ll get punished," Kayn muttered. Not only did they fail from saving Chief Kody and Chief Ken, but they also lost a great number of manpower. Moreover, they failed on killing Maria and have now obviously offended her. She''ll no doubt report to the higher-ups right now about what they did, which would surely increase their punishment. Their only saving grace is they tried to disrupt the progress of the Dream Vige, which only dyed them for a few hours.


    "Perhaps we won''t even have to worry about them anymore," Gilbert hoped.


    "Who told you they would even be returning to their base? Since they tried to kill us, will have to naturally show them who their master is," Kayn mischievously smiles.


    In the next moment, Seven''s entirepany came to a halt. They stopped moving for a few seconds before quickly dispersing into the crowd.


    "Let''s go meet with them," Kayn motioned his hand as he took Gilbert to an abandoned warehouse that nobody uses anymore ever since the Assembly of Freedom took over the Daze Vige.


    As for how he knew about it, Jericho actually gave him a document that listed all the things he needed to know about the Daze Vige which thetter received from his spies stationed in this territory.


    That abandoned warehouse was one of the bases of Jericho''s spies, which they have already left behind after nearly getting caught.


    Although abandoned, it has all the things he needed to enact his n.

 Chapter 253 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 56

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    Chapter 253: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 56


    Kayn and Gilbert soon reached the warehouse.


    Just like what Kayn nned, Seven and hispany of soldiers were already waiting inside the warehouse.


    The reason why they dispersed was so that they won''t attract attention because people would start suspecting that something is going on once they see a huge crowd going into one single ce.


    Kayn naturally doesn''t want that. That''s why he made theme here each in their own way.


    "Inform the spies of Jericho to leave the Daze Vige as soon as possible," Kayn ordered Gilbert.


    Gilbert nodded before leaving. He already knew what Kayn is about to do with these people. Instead of wasting their deaths in the hands of the Assembly of Freedom, it is much better to make use of them in order to expand their operation.


    The moment Gilbert left, Kayn canceled his charm on Seven. Not fully though. Just enough to make thetter conscious.


    As soon as he returned to his senses, Seven immediately saw Kayn just standing in front of him before he noticed that they are now inside an unfamiliar warehouse.


    "You''re dead!" Seven tried to charge at Kayn but quickly realized that his body doesn''t listen to him.


    "Don''t bother, you won''t be able to move unless I let you," Kayn approaches Seven.


    "What did you do to me?" Seven felt nervous.


    "You? Why don''t you look behind you,"


    Following Kayn''s words, Seven slowly turned his head behind. He was instantly shocked after noticing that his soldiers are now just standing still with a dazed look on their faces. "Are you¡­"


    "I am not Wesley," Kayn slowly removes his disguise in order to reveal who he really is.


    "Kayn?" Seven immediately recognize the young man as he has been the number one target of every member of the Assembly of Freedom. Even higher than Old Mayor George himself on the list.


    "You guess right,"


    "All this time¡­" Seven can''t believe that they''ve actually been fooled by Kayn. He finally understood why he is the number one target of the Assembly of Freedom. If they let this young man continue living, it wouldn''te as a surprise if in the future he destroys the entire organization.


    "There are things that you can know and things that you mustn''t know. This right here is thetter," Kayn waves his hand, taking out dozens of dynamites from his Storage Ring.


    "What are you trying to do!" Seven panicked as he watches Kayn getting closer and closer with a bunch of dynamites in his hand.


    "You tried to kill us today, and since you fail, you ought to pay the price," Kayn inserted the dynamites inside Seven''s shirt. "And this is the price,"


    After inserting the dynamite inside Seven''s shirt, Kayn waves his hand, taking out hundreds more. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Piles and piles of dynamites appeared on the ground and created a small hill out of it.


    Seven already realized what Kayn is about to do after seeing the hill of dynamites.


    "Are you nning onying scorch to the entire Daze Vige?" Seven doesn''t believe it, but seeing now that he has turned into a suicide bomber, that''s the only goal he can think of.


    "Well, I can''t get inside the city of the Assembly of Freedom as long as the Daze Vige continues to exist, right?" Kayn exins.


    Initially, this was not included in their original strategy. However, upon realizing that their location in the Daze Vige provided them with a private kitchen, which meant they could prepare Maria''s meal away from the Assembly of Freedom''s city, he opted to make a modification.


    He thought. What if I destroy the Daze Vige, would that mean Maria will have no other choice but to get them inside the city of the Assembly of Freedom so that they''ll have a ce to cook her meal?


    There''s no need to think further about that since the only way to see if that''s the case or not is by destroying the Daze Vige.


    After taking out all the dynamites he needed for this operation, Kayn ordered the rest of the soldiers to grab a dozen each and insert them inside their respective shirts.


    As Seven watches everyone picking up dynamite after dynamite, he started imagining how the scene would turn out to be once they lit all of these all over the Daze Vige. There''s no doubt that it would cause total chaos and disaster to the Assembly of Freedom.


    "Weren''t you supposed to be a Hero?" Seven expresses his doubts.


    "A Hero?" Kayn looks at Seven. "My age as a Hero was long already over ever since I was betrayed by my own kind. Now, all that''s left within me is overflowing vengeance and the goal of destroying what tried to destroy me,"


    Natas remained silent as he watches this.


    "I don''t understand. The Assembly of Freedom never did any harm to you, so why are you doing all of these to us," Seven is still confused why a single person is going to great lengths just to destroy their organization. "Did we perhaps kill someone you love? Or possibly your parents? Stole a great treasure from you? No matter how I think about it, we''ve nevere across you until the day you prevented us from killing Old Mayor George and destroying the Green Horn Vige,"


    "You don''t understand?" Kayn snicker. "How ironic, because I also don''t understand why you are doing all of these as well,"


    "It''s because we seek fun and thrill,"


    "Well, then think of what I am doing as me just seeking fun and thrill as well,"


    Naturally, that wasn''t the reason why he is doing this to the Assembly of Freedom. The real reason is simply because he can''t let a single enemy continue living their lives as that might bring unnecessary trouble to him in his goal.


    "Why not just join the Assembly of Freedom since you''re no different from us," Seven chuckled.


    It was quite obvious that Seven already gave up hope that he can still survive this. So, he might as well speak his mind.


    "Join you?" Kayn felt intrigued. "That gives me an idea; why not create an organization that''s simr to the Assembly of Freedom, albeit with a different goal,"

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    Chapter 254: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 57


    "If I may inquire, what is your ultimate goal?" Seven sincerely wants to understand Kayn''s true aspiration before his death.


    "To destroy the thing that destroyed us," Kayn was referring to the ''Tower''.


    "You''re insane!" Seven naturally understood what Kayn was referring to. "But I sure do hope to see that day because ever since it came to our world, I lost everything that I have. I don''t know if you believe me or not, but if I didn''t lose the people I love, I wouldn''t have lost myself too,"


    "Do you want to see me do it?" Kayn waves his hand, taking out a piece of Undead Apple from his Storage Ring.


    Seven didn''t know the purpose of why Kayn took out an Undead Apple, so he didn''t mind it and simply responded to the question. "I have never thought of saving the world ever since the day I lost the people I love. And in fact, I want to destroy it because of what it did to me. But it would surely be nice to see it return back to the way it was. Albeit notpletely, it would still be satisfying to watch everyone healing from the damage and moving forward on a brand new path,"


    "I guess you do deserve a second chance," Kayn gave Seven the Undead Apple. "If you want to see the day I destroy it, eat this Undead Apple before you trigger the dynamite,"


    Seven epted the Undead Apple and didn''t speak anymore.


    "I will give you back the control of your body," Kayn canceled his charm over Seven. Thetter still remained silent despite that, so he continued. "And depending on your action afterward, it will prove to me whether that''s really your thought or just another lie and that you''re nothing but just a selfish and greedy Human being who only thinks of himself and nothing more,"


    "By then you''ll realize that maybe it is just and right that you lost everyone that loved you because you don''t deserve it in the first ce," Kayn turns around without any hesitation. He isn''t afraid that Seven would try to attack him with his back wide open because he already senses thetter is considering his words seriously.


    "Now, let''s begin!" Kayn no longer wastes time as he ordered everyone to go andy waste to the entire Daze Vige.


    He knows that it would be next to impossible to destroy the entire Daze Vige, but it is possible to make it unlivable to the mass majority.


    That is his goal.


    Needless to say, he also wants to make the Assembly of Freedom pay the price for what they have been doing. Though he regrets that he is not doing this kind of operation to the Hush Vige.


    Nevertheless, this would still damage the Assembly of Freedom.


    In the next moment, all soldiers left the warehouse and went their separate ways to find a corner to trigger the dynamites they are carrying.


    Seven also left along with them after looking at Kayn for a brief moment. This time though, he saw another person standing just beside Kayn ¡ª it was Natas. He was shocked beyond belief because he had seen that person in the past. It was back then when the ''Tower'' made its first appearance on Earth and in front of everyone. That man was there to greet them and introduced himself as the God of all Gods. Now he finally understands that from the start, they never truly stood a chance against Kayn. And perhaps the young man can indeed achieve his goal.


    "You showed yourself, right?" Kayn looks at Natas.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "I believe that man''s word," Natas exins. "Yet I don''t understand why''d you believe him anyway?"


    "I didn''t," Kayn shook his head. "But I gave him a chance to show to us that he is worth believing,"


    "Do you believe he''ll do it? After all, he is going to trigger the dynamite himself," It is not a joke to decide to voluntarily kill oneself. Everyone he remembers doing it only decided to do so because it was theirst choice. For Seven, that isn''t.


    "I can always just activate my charm on him and do it myself," Kayn never trusted Seven in the first ce, especially considering that he cheated on Maria not so long ago and betrayed his organization. So, he had always prepared precautionary measures in case thetter doesn''t do it.


    "We''ll see about thatter," Natas truly hopes that with what he did, Seven would really do it. Anyways, with the Undead Apple, thetter would still continue living, albeit he''s going to be an Undead. He knows that the difference between the Undead and the living is like heaven and earth, but at the very least, Seven can see his vision for the future. If that truly matters for Seven, he will stay true to his words.


    "Now, where is Gilbert?" Kayn stepped outside the warehouse.


    Speaking of the devil.


    "Did it already begin?" Gilbert asked with a hurried tone in his voice.


    "It should be soon," Kayn responded.


    "Are we going to stay here, or are we going somewhere else?"


    "We will go to our residence first to make it more believable," Kayn gestures his hand to follow him.


    Gilbert nodded and the two of them quickly went to the location of their residence.


    Kayn has be well-acquainted with the Daze Vige during his extended stay here. Their assigned residence is situated in the former residential district designated for town hall staff, which has now transformed into a living area for the personnel of the high-ranking members of the Assembly of Freedom. This implies that their neighbors will consist of individuals who hold significant positions within the organization.


    The location of the residential district wasn''t far from the warehouse. So, it only took them less than five minutes to get there.


    In order to protect themselves from the explosions and at the same time make it seem like they were just lucky enough to survive, Kayn and Gilbert hid themselves inside the walk-in freezer of their residence which is located in the basement. Their house naturally came with one since the position given to them is the personal chef of Maria.


    It wasn''t long before they started hearing a series of loud explosions from the surface.

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    Chapter 255: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 58


    The entire ground around the basement strongly shook as they heard an explosion erupting nearby their residence.


    Another st resonated extremely close, causing the newly acquired house to tremble, and soon after it starts to crumble down.


    It was as if there was an earthquake as the house got destroyed.


    Even though they were inside the freezer, they could still feel a bit of heating from the door. From that, it is evident that their house is currently on fire.


    Luckily for them that there are no light materials around the basement that can catch on fire. So, even if things are burning upstairs, it wouldn''t do anything to the basement.


    "Are you sure we''d be safe in here?" Gilbert felt slightly worried.


    "Trust me," Kayn assures. He made sure that the person who triggered the explosion would only create a st strong enough to affect the surface of the house and not the basement.


    The rumbling sound around the house soon came to a stop. Nevertheless, the series of explosions outside still continued.


    Itsted for around ten minutes before they stopped hearing the sound of explosions.


    "Should we leave now?" Gilbert turned to look at Kayn.


    "Someone should get us soon," Kayn smiles. He noticed from his consciousness that a soul had momentarily disappeared before reappearing one more time ¡ª it was clearly Seven. Thetter seems to have done exactly what he said he would do.


    Around two minutester, they heard someone pulling out the debris that was blocking the entrance of the freezer.


    Soon after, the freezer door opened.


    "Seven?" Gilbert became surprised.


    However, unlike the Seven in the past, the Seven right in front of them had two horizontal sh marks on both of his eyes. The strange marking made him look like a clown.


    It was quite evident that Seven purposely carved it himself. As for the reason why, it''s perhaps his own way of disguising himself.


    "Rest assured, he is now an incredibly devoted member of my future army," Kayn approaches Seven unhesitatingly. "What should I call you now?"


    ¦Ñ¦Á¦°d¦Ás¦­¦Ïv¦Ål.c¦Ïm "I prefer to be called Jester,"


    "Jester?" Kayn was intrigued and an idea for his future organization surfaced inside his mind. He doesn''t want to talk about it yet in case he changes his mind.


    "Jester¡­ That''s a cool name," Gilbert expressed his agreement. "How loyal exactly are you to Kayn?"


    "I''ll basically die if I try to betray him," Jester describes.


    Gilbert turns to Kayn. "What did you do to him?"<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at ¦Ñ¦Á¦°d¦Ásnovel.c¦Ïm</novelsnext>


    "I gave him the Undead Apple and a choice," Kayn choose not to tell a lie.


    "I thought the Undead Apple only charms people,"


    "No, it can revive a dead person and make them your loyal soldier. That''s the actual use for the Undead Apple,"


    "Did you perhaps use this to extract information from Chief Kody and Chief Ken back then?" If he remembers correctly, there was a strange marking on the neck of Chief Ken when they briefly opened the door. The mark was like thetter''s head was cut off before getting reattached.


    "That''s right," Kayn confirmed.


    "And what do you mean a choice?" Gilbert was very curious about this part.


    "I told you before that a person''s choice afterward would determine whether they are loyal to you or not. That''s the choice I gave Seven," Kayn looks at Seven. "And as you can see, he proved to me that he is a loyal person,"


    "But he just cheated on Maria and betrayed the Assembly of Freedom not long ago," Gilbert found it quite strange. If it was him, he would never believe Seven.


    Unbeknownst to Gilbert, Kayn never actually believed Seven even the slightest. He was simply gambling on a chance after hearing Seven talks about some of his past and his desire.


    "Do you think I care about that?" Kayn shook his head. Seven''s circumstances couldn''t bring him any harm even if thetter tried to betray him. "And besides, he can no longer betray me even if he wanted to right now, so it doesn''t really matter what he did back then," He is naturally aware of Seven''s history. That''s why it is called a gamble. Would a cheater and a traitor show loyalty by killing himself?


    The result is the only thing that truly matters.


    If Seven ran away and chicken out, that would show him that his words amount to nothing, not even a speck of dust.


    "I think you should hide and grow your own strength once again until the war is over," Kayn suggested since Seven still can''t show himself to Maria and anyone else that recognizes him. Moreover, his strength was cut in half because he is now an Undead. And the best way to increase it is to learn techniques, which only thetter can teach himself as he has no experience of how it is to be an Undead.


    "I understand," Seven, who now identifies himself with the new name Jester, nodded in acknowledgment. "Where can I find you?"


    "I don''t know how the war would go, so there''s no way for me to inform you of where I would end up exactly next," Kayn can''t guarantee. More importantly, he wants to test Jester''s capability.


    "Okay," Jester understood the underlying meaning behind Kayn''s words.


    Jester quickly left before Maria or anyone elsees here.


    "Say, if the real ability of the Undead Apple is to revive dead people and make an Undead army, wouldn''t it be possible for Wesley to possess one of his own?" Gilbert can''t help assuming.


    "That''s to be expected," Kayn already expected that to happen. Considering Wesley only has one Gift, thetter would no doubt make the best of it.


    "An army of loyal soldiers who are unafraid of death¡­" Gilbert slightly shivers at the thought.


    "That''s why Old Mayor George''s preparation for this war took so long," Kayn knew Old Mayor George is trying his best so that he won''t miss anything and even if there is, he is going to be fully prepared to face them.

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    Chapter 256: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 59


    It didn''t take long for Maria along with a few of her men to arrive at the residence of Kayn and Gilbert.


    From Maria''s face alone, it was quite evident that she was in a hurry to save them.


    "d to know that you''re both safe," Maria''s face visibly rxed as she let out a relieved sigh, happy to see both Nyak and Gilbert safe and unharmed.


    Natas said in a remark. "I didn''t expect her to be so caring of her people," This kind of reaction is too far off from her title of Human Hunter Maria.


    "What happened?" Kayn pretended to ask.


    "Seven''spany decided to kill themselves instead of facing the punishment of the Assembly of Freedom," Maria released her murderous intent from the thought of it.


    "I guess we both are quite lucky since we were storing our supplies in the walk-in freezer when the explosions happened," Gilbert acted like he was d.


    "So, what will happen to us now?" Kayn looks at the remaining debris of their supposed residence.


    "We have no choice but to evacuate you to the city of the Assembly of Freedom, Freedom City," Maria informs.


    Freedom City was the official name given to the city of the Assembly of Freedom.


    As expected. With the Daze Vige destroyed, at least most of it, the personnel of the higher-ups has to be moved inside the Freedom City. As for the ordinary masses, they''ll have to find ways to survive on their own. It isn''t a big problem though since they are so used to living out in the wilderness because barely any territories would ept them due to them being members of the Assembly of Freedom.


    "Was this our fault?" Gilbert acted slightly guilty.


    "No," Maria shook his head. "It was Seven''s fault, he cheated on me so he has to suffer the consequences of his actions. Moreover, not only did he fail in controlling his emotions, but he also failed in his task and duty and even tried to kill us. He basically dug his and his soldiers'' grave. And in his attempt of cowardice, he refused to face his punishment and instead killed himself along with the rest of hispany,"


    In other words, they were just implicated in the mess and were merely caught in the center of every action.


    "Let''s go," Maria led the way for Kayn and Gilbert to the Freedom City.


    While following Maria, both Kayn and Gilbert can''t help themselves from celebrating inwardly at their own achievement.


    In less than a day, they formed a connection with one of the Assembly Knights and are now entering Freedom City.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at ¦Ñ¦Á¦°d¦Ásnovel.c¦Ïm</novelsnext>


    From the way things are looking, it wouldn''t take long before they start cooking in the main kitchen of the organization and start with their goal of Charming Freedom.


    Unfortunately, there''s only less than a day left before Green Horn City officially deres war against the Assembly of Freedom.


    Starting from that moment, their time of Charming Freedom would be counted because any time they''ll have no choice but to return to the Green Horn City and assist them in the war.


    They can only trust Jericho and the others are able to buy them more time to charm the majority of the higher-ups.


    "Wesley," Natas muttered after seeing Kayn being deep in thought. He understood what thetter is thinking.


    Kayn narrowed his eyes as he doesn''t understand what Natas meant.


    "Remember what Gilbert said. An army of loyal soldiers who are unafraid of death. As long as you charm Wesley, you''ll be able to control his Undead army," Natas shared his n. "In addition to that, you can have two sources of Undead Apple, giving you two Undead Apples a day,"


    Presented with that kind of n, Kayn didn''t hesitate to agree.


    "I have a new n for a new variation of fried chicken, let''s talk about itter when we get to our new residence," Kayn informs Gilbert in a discreet manner.


    "I hope it would involve spicy vor this time," Gilbert implies chaos and destruction like what they did to the Daze Vige. He was very satisfied seeing the aftermath of Kayn''s n, and he wants to see more of such damages in the Assembly of Freedom.


    "It will be a soft and mild vor," Kayn shook his head. He was just lucky this time that Seven''spany drew themselves as the Viins and perpetrators of the story. Next time, Maria would start suspecting that destruction follows wherever Kayn and Gilbert go, as if like the two of them are the real masterminds.


    ¦Ñ¦Á¦°d¦Ás¦­¦Ïv¦Ål.c¦Ïm In addition to that, they have to be careful when ites to charming the people in the city since there''s no way for them to tell who is under the charm of Wesley and who isn''t.


    Based on his experience when ites to the aspect of charm, whenever another effect rted to charm is applied to the same person, whoever''s charm is the strongest would dominate, and in the case of simr charm, whichever charm has the longest duration would take effect.


    Simply put, if his target is already under the charm of Wesley, his charm would be useless and ineffective if the duration of thetter''s charm turns out to be longer than his. The only way for his charm to take effect is when Wesley''s charm expires, and there''s no way of determining how long that would be since it can be a simr case to the Serenity Town back then.


    The only good news is, there''s no way for the both of them to know if someone else applies another charm to the same person. In other words, Wesley would not be rmed that someone in the Freedom City is trying to charm the higher-ups of their organization.


    It took around twenty minutes for everyone to finally reach the entrance of Freedom City.


    Unlike thest time, Kayn and Gilbert were here, the entire Freedom City underwent huge chances, especially in the aspect of security. Almost everywhere they passed had security personnel on standby and a group of soldiers were also going around on a patrol. Albeit the chaos and disorder still remained the same, even worst than thest time after the recent attacks in their territory.

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    Chapter 257: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 60


    It was quite evident from this that the Assembly of Freedom is pressed on time. Their preparation basically can''t keep up with their n since the Green Horn City has been relentlessly attacking them from every angle all this time.


    Moreover, they have to make further adjustments to their n after the previous two sessful operations of Kayn where his team sessfully stole the Kingmaker and Levitation Scepter, which affected a lot of their ns.


    And to make things worst, their Daze Vige was attacked just now and suffered countless damages and casualties. At first, they suspected that it has to do with the Green Horn City, but upon investigation, it turned out to be that one of their army had betrayed them. This event made them realize that not only did they fail to fend off outside attacks, but they also failed in defending against their own.


    With all of that taken into consideration, they must make changes and adjustments to their n.


    Unbeknownst to the Assembly of Freedom though, another missile is actuallying to them soon. And this missile is entering their doorstep unhindered and unnoticed.


    It didn''t take long for Kayn and Gilbert to be shown to their new residents in one of the hotels of Freedom City. As they were important personnel of one of the higher-ups of the Assembly of Freedom, the hotel was located just a few hundred meters away from their headquarters.


    "I''ll leave you here for the meantime as I still have important matters to take care of in the Daze Vige right now," Maria quickly left along with her men.


    Kayn and Gilbert don''t need to ask Maria to understand that she is assigned to fix the event they orchestrated in the Daze Vige. The aftermath it brought to the Assembly of Freedom was extreme since it is close to their headquarters, so she can''t afford to waste a lot of time, especially in the aspect of just making sure that the two of them are properly amodated. As a matter of fact, if it didn''t coincide with her n, she would have simply just ordered one of her men to take care of them.


    Upon seeing Maria leaving, Kayn and Gilbert locked the door and activated its istion feature in order to prevent anyone from hearing their discussion.


    "So, what''s the next step?" Gilbert asked.


    "We charm Wesley," Kayn expresses.


    Gilbert was instantly shocked.


    "How on Earth can we even do that?" Gilbert was curious. It was only by chance that they were able to get close to Maria.


    "Trust me," Kayn muttered confidently.


    ¡­..


    The next day.


    "Food contest," Kayn proposed.


    "Food contest?" Maria narrowed her eyes. "Why?"


    "You see, great food can greatly elevate the morale of everyone," Kayn exins.


    At this moment, they are walking around the leftover of what used to be the Daze Vige.


    Countless craters from the explosions scattered almost everywhere across the territory, especially in the residential district as Kayn had purposely targeted the ce in order to make it seem like Seven was also targeting them.


    Maria fell into deep thoughts after hearing Nyak''s reason. She''s been having headaches since yesterday evening because of the countlessints she received from the people who used to reside in the Daze Vige.


    As expected, they''ve beenining about having no ce to stay. She naturally knows that theirints are nothing but mere rants as they seem not to have any problems with sleeping in the wildernessst night.


    Nevertheless, Chief Kylo told her that she has to take care of their needs or else they might not be ready for the uing war.


    And speaking of the devil, they just received news this morning that in less than twelve hours the Green Horn City will officially dere war against them.


    That was the exact cause of her headache.


    "Go on," Maria motioned her hand for Nyak to continue speaking.


    "We can stage both an eatingpetition and a food cookingpetition where everyone affected can participate,"


    Maria instantly became intrigued.


    Seeing that he has piqued Maria''s interest, he continued. "In the eatingpetition, we can assign a few head chefs along with their assistants to cook the meal for the contest. They''ll be cooking the same kind of food that all contestants will enjoy eating and just like every eatingpetition, whoever finishes eatingst will be crowned the winner,"


    "How about the price?"


    "We can simply make the price an exception voucher for participating in the war,"


    Maria raised her eyebrow.


    "There can only be one winner, so whether that person participates or not wouldn''t really affect the war that much,"


    "Indeed," Maria found it reasonable. One person missing wouldn''t affect anything. Unless of course if it is one of the higher-ups. "Let''s make an exception for allowing higher-ups and elite members from participating,"


    "Okay," Kayn nodded at Gilbert who''s currently taking notes of everything after Maria gave them the signal to continue.


    "As for the cookingpetition. We obviously can''t allow participants with mediocre talent in cooking to join as that might backfire on us but at the same time, we also can''t prevent people who are interested in joining. So, we''ll have to make an elimination round to determine who can participate or not,"


    "That would take a lot of time," Maria shook her head.


    "That''s why we will allow professional chefs like us to participate as well. Once they see that there''s little to no chance for them to pass the elimination round, they''ll get discouraged from participating,"


    "I am listening," Maria understood that Nyak wants to fix the contestant.


    "Of course, that wouldn''t eliminate everyone, but it would for sure make the elimination round shorter for us," Kayn continued. "Then after the elimination round, the real cookingpetition will begin where those that got picked willpete in different rounds,"


    "There should only be a few rounds," Maria reminded, since they are pressed for time.

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    Chapter 258: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 61


    Kayn nodded. "Just three rounds, I think that would be more than enough,"


    "Alright," Maria agreed. "What would the three rounds be?"


    "First round would be the appetizer. The second round would be the main dish, and thest round would be the desert,"


    "I see," Maria understood.


    "We''ll have Judges, maybe just three, including you, of course. To decide who should go to the next round and who will be crowned the winner,"


    "I need to find two Judges¡­" Maria fell into deep thoughts.


    "I suggest Wesley,"


    "No way!" Maria shook her head unhesitatingly.


    "Is there a problem with him?"


    "Do you know about his Gift?"


    "Yes, he can charm people using food,"


    "Exactly! That''s why we can''t let him get close to any food-rted matters unless ites to eating¡­"


    Maria realized.


    "It''s exactly because his Gift is rted to food that''s why he is a perfect fit to be a Judge,"


    "Alright," Maria finally relented. "I''ll just assign men to guard him and prevent him from doing anything,"


    "And do you have any suggestion for thest Judge?"


    "How about his majesty, Chief Kylo,"


    "That''s impossible!" Maria rejected. "He''s very busy taking care of bigger matters,"


    Kayn sighs regretfully. If they were able to invite Chief Kylo, he would have been able to end this war easily.


    "I don''t have anyone else in mind," Kayn shook his head. Honestly, he is only familiar with Chief Kylo and Wesley in the Assembly of Freedom. He knows the name of their other important members, but he has never met them even once before.


    "Okay," Maria decided to think of it herself. "And what''s the price for thepetition? Would it still be a voucher?"


    "That would be impossible," Kayn shook his head. It should be something that can attract the attention of professional chefs. The voucher to be excluded from the war can only attract ordinary people and soldiers, not professional chefs. "Ingredient,"


    Maria understood. "Alright, I''ll take care of that. In the meantime, I want you two to prepare for the cookingpetition as you both will be participating,"


    "In that case, who will take care of the preparation?"


    "I''ll assign one of my men to manage it,"


    "Okay," Kayn was delighted. He was expecting that he''ll be managing everything since he had proposed the idea. Good thing that Maria thought of something else.


    "Good luck in the cookingpetition," Maria uttered before leaving to take care of other important matters.


    Not long after Maria left, a woman who introduced herself as Evelyn approached Kayn and Gilbert to ask for a note about the food contest.


    Gilbert dly gave Evelyn the note as they watched her start preparing for it.


    ¡­..


    It was during lunch break that the food contest, which is now called Pre-war Cooking Show, officiallymenced.


    As there were plenty of open spaces caused by the explosions yesterday, they didn''t have any trouble looking for a venue. But in order to amodate a lot of people though, they went ahead and took down a few more buildings to expand the area.


    They also leveled the ground and made a few decorations to fit the theme.


    The first event that took ce was the food-eatingpetition.


    Because of Maria''s influence, they were able to invite three head chefs along with theirplete team to take care of cooking the food for the contestant.


    And with the promise exception voucher, hundreds of people participated in the food-eatingpetition causing the venue to bustle with multiple activities.


    Merchants took advantage of the event to sell their overpriced merchandise.


    Thieves use the crowd as cover to steal.


    And other people settle their personal grudges.


    It was very weird.


    However,  Kayn and Gilbert found it reasonable considering that this is the Assembly of Freedom.


    Food-eatingpetitions don''t usually take long to finish. Although there are a lot of people who participated, not all of them have a huge appetite to continue eating for a long time. So, around twenty minutester, they finally picked a winner for the event.


    Unfortunately, because of the nature of the Assembly of Freedom, the winner didn''t live for long, especially considering that he was so full from eating.


    Chaos was issued upon the appearance of the exception voucher.


    It took roughly around ten minutes before the scuffle was settled down by the security team assigned to the event.


    Ultimately, approximately fifty individuals lost their lives, and the exception voucher found its way into the possession of a notorious gang leader whom few dared to provoke.


    "I was honestly expecting more," Gilbert can''t help chuckling at the scene of the security team carrying tens of corpses out from the event.


    "Having fun?" Maria interrupted.


    "Madam Maria?"


    Kayn and Gilbert were surprised.


    "Yes¡­ I guess," Gilbert can only pretend that he was enjoying people dying. He was genuinely enjoying though, especially since it was the members of the Assembly Of Freedom who are suffering. He''s even starting to believe that if they are given the chance to host more events, they might even reach the point where they can eliminate the entire organization.


    "Are you prepared for the cookingpetition," Maria wanted to know.


    "I saw all of the professional chefs participating in thepetition, I don''t think I can beat any of them yet," Kayn scratched his head. He wasn''t lying. Even though he has cooked for himself countless times and has more experience when ites to cooking, professional chefs are way different. They have bonuses from choosing the Merchant ss and those bonuses can sometimes even be the deciding factor for their dish.


    "Just do your best," Maria gave Nyak a thumbs up for good luck.


    "I will," Kayn nodded with a smile.


    Gilbert also pretended to appreciate.


    Maria left since she still has to prepare herself as one of the Judges.


    To be honest, Kayn wasn''t worried about making it through the elimination round. His main focus was on getting Wesley to try one of his dishes. Just achieving that would bring him closer to his real goal of Charming Freedom.


    "The next event would be the long awaited Cooking Competition," Evelyn, who took the position of host, announced.

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    Chapter 259: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 62


    "Allow me to introduce the three Judges for this cookingpetition," Evelyn gestured towards the entrance of the backstage. "Firstly, we have the esteemed Maria, the sixth member of the Assembly Knights, who is beloved by all."


    A round of apuse echoed as Maria''s small and petite body walked out from the backstage.


    Maria waves her hand to greet the whole crowd cheering at her before going over to take a sit on the first judge.


    "Our second Judge, the right-hand man of Chief Kylo, and also the third member of the Assembly Knights, our beloved Wesley!"


    Wesley walked out from the backstage.


    Unlike with Maria though, Wesley received countless boos. This was evidently because the event is rted to food.


    Wesley was already used to it. So, he just waves his hand briefly before going to the sit of the second judge.


    Maria and Wesley greeted each other in courtesy.


    "And ourst judge, the Messiah of War, and the second member of the Assembly Knights, Christopher,"


    The moment Christopher emerged from backstage, Kayn''s gaze instantly became piercing, and murderous intent could be felt around his body.


    Natas immediately understood the reason for Kayn''s reaction.


    Christopher was one of Kayn''s treacherous allies. In the future, the former was officially given the title Messiah of War by Nichs after escaping from ''The Bridge'', implying his prowess and great capability when ites to fighting in huge battles. Though the real reason for it was that wherever Christopher goes, there''s a high chance for war to follow after.


    Eventually, after Kayn entered the ''Tower'' for thest time, Christopher received the title Monarch of War from Nichs, evidently because he was one of the main yers for Kayn''s death.


    Kayn just found right this instant during the time Christopher was inside ''The Bridge'', he was actually a member of the Assembly of Freedom. If he had known about this piece of crucial information back then, he would have never trusted thetter. But on second thought, it''s next to impossible for him to find out considering that the entire Assembly of Freedom was defeated by Old Mayor George. Even though there were surviving members, they would surely keep a low profile or possibly change their identities altogether in hopes of starting anew.


    Gilbert instantly noticed Kayn''s unstable emotion, so he patted thetter in hopes of pulling him back. "What''s the matter?"


    "Change of ns," Kayn started calming down.


    Gilbert looks at Christopher who is currently waving at the crowd as he mutters. "Do you know that man?"


    "Yes," Kayn nodded as murderous intent slightly appeared in his eyes.


    "Is that one of the people who you said betrayed you?" Gilbert still vividly remembered when Kayn talked about being betrayed by some people in the past.


    "Yes," Kayn confirmed once more.


    "Understood," Gilbert turned serious. He doesn''t have to ask Kayn about what he ns on doing to Christopher as it''s quite clear to him already that Kayn is going to make the man suffer a life worst than death. "From now until you enact your revenge, I''ll follow whatever you tell me to do,"


    "Thank you," Kayn appreciates Gilbert''s offer. "But, I''ll have to deal with this myself,"


    It is a personal vendetta, after all.


    "Don''t hesitate to tell me if you need anything, alright?" Gilbert still offered to help.


    "I will," Kayn isn''t a fool. As soon as he realized that he needs help, he will ask for it immediately. He will not hesitate because the main goal here is to make them pay for betraying him, not to die while doing so.


    "Thepetition is about to begin soon, so let''s prepare," Kayn informed Gilbert as the two of them went to the contestant''s booth.


    Each of the participants was allowed to take one assistant with them. In this way, they will be able to finish preparing their meal quickly.


    The primary motive is evident ¡ª there is no time to spare for this event, especially with war looming on the horizon. Its main objective was to simply uplift people''s spirits and provide a temporary distraction from the chaos and disaster of yesterday.


    And as one can see, it was proven very effective.


    After announcing the judges for the cookingpetition, the host informed all participants to go to their cooking stations as the elimination round would begin shortly after.


    Numerous contestants quickly went to their respective cooking stations and prepared for the announcement to start.


    As expected, because of the presence of quite a number of professional chefs, barely anyone from the crowd decided to join.


    Since this was still the elimination round, not the mainpetition yet, the Judges personally pick the theme for it.


    The theme was; favorite food.


    "This is clearly to eliminate those people who aren''t professional chefs," Kayn muttered. It is quite obvious the theme favorite food means the judge''s favorite food.


    As long as one gets the approval of at least one of the judges, one can immediately pass the elimination round. Unfortunately, only professional chefs know about the favorite food of each judge, so it is next to impossible for ordinary contestants to pass this round.


    "Are we going to cook fried chicken?" Gilbert asked Kayn.


    "We will, but we''ll also cook the favorite food of the other Judges," Kayn smiles as he glimpses at Christopher.


    Unlike the other professional chefs who only know or have an idea of the favorite food of one of the judges, Kayn knows all of their favorites.


    Maria likes fried chicken.


    Wesley likes fish.


    And Christopher is gourmet, so he likes his food unique from what ismonly served in any restaurant. In other words, a one of a kind dish.


    It might seem difficult to meet Christopher''s standard, but in truth, as long as one mix and match different ingredients to create a one-of-a-kind dish and make it taste great, he''ll instantly like it.


    The reason is that Christopher honestly just wants to pretend that he is sophisticated. But once someone digs deeper into him, they''ll easily understand that he doesn''t even know practically everything that he is doing. And that he is nothing more but a dog with great strength who only does things that his master orders him to do.


    "You go prepare the fried chicken, while I take care of the fish," Kayn ordered Gilbert before quickly preparing for the three dishes he intended to serve.


    Gilbert nodded and swiftly started moving.


    The rest of the contestants also started as soon as they heard the theme.


    On the other hand, the ordinary contestants did their best to observe the professional chefs in order to get an idea of what the Judge''s favorite dishes are.


    As if prepared already for that, all professional chefs pulled a curtain around their cooking station to block the other chefs from seeing what they are trying to prepare, this includes Kayn and Gilbert, as well.


    With no other choice, the ordinary contestants ultimately decided to just prepare a dish that they personally love. Anyways, the theme was favorite food. If they are lucky, the judges might reconsider as long as they like their dishes.

 Chapter 260 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 63

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    Chapter 260: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 63


    Although the vision of the audience for the professional chefs was blocked by curtains, their cheering still reverbs around the entire venue as they express their support for the ordinary contestants who are currently showcasing each of their different talents and styles in cooking.


    This was purposely done by the ordinary contestants in order to get the attention of the judges and hope that they will increase their chances of getting epted because of that.


    Unfortunately, because this was scripted to be against the ordinary contestants, none of the Judges turned around to look.


    Maria, Wesley, and Christopher continued conversing with each other as they haven''t seen one another for a very long time ever since they came to the Slumbering Forest due to various different tasks assigned to them by Chief Kylo.


    It was quite rare for three out of the six members of the Assembly Knights to gather together, so they nned to make the most of it.


    Regardless, the ordinary contestants still tried their best.


    Unbeknownst to everyone, the curtain was actually purposely suggested by Kayn in order to prevent anyone from seeing him add Undead Apples to the dishes.


    With everyone''s sight blocked from his cooking station, he was able to freely do anything that he wants.


    "Done,"


    "Done as well,"


    Both Kayn and Gilbert were able to finish the fried chicken dish and the sweet and sour fish for both Maria and Wesley.


    "So, what''s the third dish?" Gilbert can''t help asking as he doesn''t have a single clue about what Christopher''s favorite dish is.


    "Very simple," Kayn grabbed two pieces of fried chicken before starting to chop them into really small pieces. After he was done so, he grabbed one of the sweet and sour fish and also did the same. Of course, he removed the bone.


    "Don''t tell me," Gilbert quickly realized what Kayn was doing. He slightly panicked and tried to stop thetter.


    But it was already toote for Gilbert to stop Kayn as thetter already mixed the two different dishes together.


    "Now," Kayn grabbed a few truffles and caviar that he had prepared before entering ''The Bridge previously. Albeit, he hadn''t readied them specifically for this kind of asion but rather for his personal use in case he misses the taste of food back on Earth, yet they serve a perfect use for this event.


    "That¡­" Gilbert was in disbelief while looking at the food. "Are you perhaps nning to embarrass Christopher?"


    "Yes,"


    "Wouldn''t that be a bad idea?"


    "He''ll never know," Kayn confidently smiles. With truffles and caviar, any pretentious people would believe that they''ve tasted the best dish ever.


    "Lastly," Kayn waves his hand, immediately taking out a bunch of edible gold. In a careful manner, he applied all of them to Christopher''s dish in order to mask thebination of fish and chicken.


    "You''re insane," Gilbert muttered while already expressing his sympathy for Christopher. This man was definitely going to be in for a huge smack in the face.


    After ten more minutes, Evelyn announces the end of the elimination round.


    "Contestant, you may present your dish in front of the judges,"


    As there were plenty of participants, all of them simply had to serve the dish they cooked in front of their cooking station and wait for the Judges toe and taste them.


    Because Kayn and Gilbert''s cooking station was located at the center, they had to wait for a bit of time before it was finally their turn.


    "Fried chicken!" Maria eximed in excitement after seeing her favorite dish was served by her personal chefs, Nyak and Gilbert.


    "You never changed, Maria," Wesley chuckled before turning his head to look at the dishes. In an instant, his eyes shone brightly as heid his eyes on the sweet and sour fish. "This is for me?"


    "Told you that my personal chefs were very special this time," Maria proudly puffed out her chest.


    "You two are quite simple-minded," Christopher muttered before his eyes were attracted by the dish covered entirely with edible gold mixed with truffles and caviar.


    "Who''s simple-minded now," Maria rolled her eyes before chuckling. "Anyways, since my personal chefs prepared three dishes, why don''t we pick the fried chicken first, then the sweet and sour fish, andstly that, I don''t know what it''s called?"


    "It is called Mashup," Kayn described.


    Hearing the name,  Gilbert can''t help but hold himself fromughing. That''s right, it is a mash-up of everything.


    "Quite a weird name, but okay, I''ll take it," Maria doesn''t understand the reason for it, but it would be called whatever her personal chefs wanted.


    In ordance with Maria''s instructions, they began by sampling the fried chicken first.


    In just one bite, both Wesley and Christopher understood why Maria picked these two to be her personal chefs.


    The chicken was tender and juicy, and more importantly, the sauce they added to it fit perfectly well with everything.


    Speaking about Maria, they saw her grabbing the rest of the fried chickens and stuffing them inside her small mouth. Surprisingly enough, they all fit inside.


    "You really like it eh," Wesley was d to see that Maria is enjoying the dish, since from the first contestant until the most recent one she didn''t enjoy it the way he did.


    "Let''s go to the next dish," Maria excitedly uttered while the food was still in her mouth.


    "Alright, alright," Wesley tried to make Maria calm down first.


    Just like with the fried chicken, the sweet and sour fish was also delicious. Albeit, the former was obviously cooked in a special waypared to thetter. Needless to say, both Wesley and Christopher understood it considering that the two chefs were Maria''s personal chefs.


    Nevertheless, the sweet and sour fish passed their evaluation as well.


    Now, it is time for the final dish called Mashup.


    None of them know exactly the ingredients used for this dish since it was wrapped fully with edible gold, but they are all excited to taste it after being satisfied with both the fried chicken and sweet and sour fish.

 Chapter 261 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 64

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    Chapter 261: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 64


    Grabbing a spoon each, Maria, Wesley, and Christopher each went to take a scoop of the Mashup.


    Excited and at the same time curious, they slowly put the spoon into their mouths.


    In the next moment, both Maria and Wesley''s faces turned ugly as they both stared to look at Kayn and Gilbert at the same time.


    Seeing their gaze, Kayn pointed at Christopher with his lips.


    Understanding what he wanted them to do, the duo turn to look at Christopher.


    To their surprise, they saw the man eating the Mushup as if it was the most delicious dish he has ever tasted in his life.


    Both Maria and Wesley were in disbelief at seeing the ridiculous action of Christopher.


    The Mushup was basically just thebination of fried chicken and sweet and sour fish. In other words, it was garbage!


    "Do you like it?" Wesley asked.


    "Yes," Christopher nodded.


    "Why?" Maria narrowed her eyes.


    "As a gourmet, I find this dish very unique and special," Christopher nodded his head as if finding his words reasonable enough.


    Wesley shook his head in disappointment. He seriously thought that Christopher was a real gourmet, turns out that he was just a pretentious man all along. He wasn''t that surprised though, considering that this is the Assembly of Freedom, an organization full of lies and deception.


    "Idiot," Maria expresses.


    "Pardon?" Christopher looks at Maria, confused at why she insulted him.


    "He meant the chef, not you," Wesley quickly interrupted. "Never mind what she said, okay? Let''s just go to the next contestant,"


    "But I still want to finish the te!" Christopher protested.


    "I suggest you don''t do that,"


    "Why?"


    "Because¡­ you still have to leave some room for the other contestants'' dishes,"


    "Okay¡­" Christopher felt reluctant, but he doesn''t have any choice but toply with Wesley.


    Wesley hurriedly left along with Christopher, leaving Maria on her own.


    Maria quickly turns to Nyak and said. "How did you know?" She''s really confused at how Nyak was able to tell that Christopher was just a pretentious person.


    "I wanted to know what type of judges I was dealing with,"


    "How wise," Maria was satisfied. "Keep me a few of those fried chickens, I want to eat them during dinner, alright?" She reminded.


    "Understood,"


    "Also, keep some of the sweet and sour fish for Wesley, as well,"


    After saying that, Maria left to follow after Wesley and Christopher who has already begun judging the next contestant.


    "A hypocrite and a pretentious man, what a pair those two are," Gilbert said in a remark.


    "Wrap everything, we are done here," Kayn instructed as he walked away from his cooking station.


    They''ve already achieved their goal, so they don''t have to stay any longer in thepetition. Also, they have another important matter to take care of.


    "Alright!" Gilbert nodded. As there was still a lot of the Mashup left, he decided to give it away to the audience nearby for fun.


    As expected, chaos immediately issued as soon as one of the audience received the te of Mushup.


    Using the chaos as cover, both Kayn and Gilbert left the venue and returned to their hotel room.


    Upon walking inside the room, they immediately saw a familiar man standing over the window.


    "Randy," Kayn called out with a smile.


    "Kayn," Randy greeted back.


    That''s right. It was Randy, one of Jericho''s loyal Executives.


    "You said in the report that you need to report something urgently to Green Horn City, may I know why?" Randy didn''t beat around the bush.


    "Come and sit first," Kayn motioned his hand to the sofa.


    Randy nodded andplied.


    Gilbert followed along.


    As soon as the trio sat on the chair, their discussion began.


    "We are changing the n," Kayn directly informs.


    "What do you mean?" Randy was caught by surprise.


    "We got three out of the six Assembly Knights in our control," Gilbert exins. "One of them being Wesley himself,"


    "Seriously?!" Randy was rendered in shock.


    "Do you see a sign of joking on my face?"


    "Not really, but how did you do it?"


    "Didn''t you pass by the cooking show at the Daze Vige?" Kayn became curious.


    Randy scratched his head. "I didn''t¡­ I immediately came here as I don''t want to waste time and possibly get caught because of that,"


    "There was a cooking show, and the three judges for the cookingpetition were Maria, Wesley, and Christopher,"


    "Christopher? Do you mean the Messiah of War Christopher? The second member of the Assembly Knights?" Randy wanted to know if he had heard it correctly.


    "That''s right!" Gilbert proudly nodded. "But that''s not important. Wesley is the real goat amongst the three,"


    "The Assembly of Freedom will never know what hit them!" Randy agreed. It is alreadymon knowledge that Wesley has a lot of people in their organization under his control. And now that he is under Kayn''s control, it automatically makes them under Kayn''s control as well.


    "That''s not the goal," Gilbert shook his head. He exins. "The real purpose of the Undead Apple is to revive the dead and turn them into loyal soldiers who are unafraid of death,"


    "You mean¡­"


    "We now pretty much have an army of both living and non-living with us," Gilbert interjected.


    "So, what''s the new n now?"


    sping both hands together, Kayn started exining. "As soon as the war reaches its climax, I will activate the people under Wesley''s control and his Undead army from the rear. We will attack from both sides to sandwich the Assembly of Freedom right in the center,"


    "So, basically we''ll force them to fight on two fronts?"


    "Exactly!" Kayn confirms. "They won''t see iting, so we''ll be able to inflict some damage to them before they are able to react. By then, they should be exactly where we wanted them to be,"


    "I understand," Randy nodded and realized the importance of his mission. "I''ll make sure that this gets to Old Mayor George and Jericho as soon as possible,"


    "I''ll trust you with that," Kayn pushed a ss of water to Randy. "Before you go, I reckon that you are very thirsty from your trip,"


    "I am," Randy nodded and drank the ss of water.


    After seeing Randy leave, Kayn and Gilbert sat opposite each other.


    "Why''d you do that?" Gilbert asked with a solemn look on his face.


    "Do you seriously think that we can trust just anyone to deliver such an important message?" Kayn waves his hand, storing the ss of water inside his Storage Ring.


    Unbeknownst to Randy, that water he drank just now actually contained the juice of a single Undead Apple.


    "So, you''re going to deliver the message yourself, is that what you''re telling me?" Gilbert wanted to rify.


    "If it''s necessary,"


    Gilbert shook his head. "I hope you''re wrong because Randy is one of our allies,"


    "I hope that I am wrong as well. Otherwise, we''ll be hunted by the entire Assembly of Freedom right in the middle of their own city," Kayn also prays that it will note to a point where he has to activate the charm he secretly put on Randy.


    Gilbert shivered at that thought.

 Chapter 262 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 65

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    Chapter 262: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 65


    Not long after Randy left, a loud announcement echoed throughout the entire Freedom City informing everyone that the Green Horn City has now officially dered war against the Assembly of Freedom.


    The speaker continued. "As we speak, the Green Horn Vige is attacking both Slumber Vige and Dormant Vige to the east,"


    "As expected," Kayn already knew that Old Mayor George will immediately attack the Slumber Vige and Dormant Vige the instant they dere war against the Assembly of Freedom. This was because they have to be quick so that they can immediately send reinforcement to the Dream Vige.


    "Right this moment, our soldiers in the Hush Vige are preparing for a counterattack. In thirty minutes, they willunch an attack on the Dream Vige. At the same time, our forces stationed in the Daze Vige will split into two forces, the main force will attack the Drowsy Vige, while the second force will act as the reinforcement for the Hush Vige,"


    "Everyone, please go to your respective station,"


    The announcement ended.


    "This is bad!" Gilbert became rmed. "Both Jericho and Master Khalid are in Dream Vige, there''s no one left tomand the Herald Guild in the Drowsy Vige,"


    "Jericho should have prepared already for this kind of scenario," Kayn was confident that Jericho already expected the Assembly of Freedom will attack the Drowsy Vige, considering the fact that it is located to the north of the Daze Vige. In that case, thetter should have made preparation already.


    All of a sudden.


    "We have unfortunate news to announce. One of our scouts returned and informed us that the Drowsy Vige no longer exists, I repeat, the Drowsy Vige no longer exists,"


    "Until further instruction, the main force will remain on standby at the north gate of the Daze Vige,"


    The announcement ended once more.


    "That must be Jericho''s doing," Kayn was certain about it. Though he is very curious about how exactly was Jericho able to make a single Vige disappear in just a matter of a few hours.


    "Underground," Gilbert realized. "In my recent visit to the Drowsy Vige, Jericho informed me that they are currently doing improvements to the underground passageway in order to fix the w he noticed in the Daze Vige. Perhaps this is the solution he found,"


    "An underground vige?" Kayn remembered the Evergreen Vige. A surface vige and an underground vige. Bybining the two, they can pull the trick of making an entire vige disappear within a few hours.


    "The only question is, until how long the Assembly of Freedom would fall for it," Kayn is very interested in knowing the result of such a strategy. If it is proven effective, he would take note of it for his territory once he enters the ''Tower''.


    "It would probably not be long," Gilbert believed.


    It was quite clear from the announcement just now that the scout from the Assembly of Freedom is still gathering more information about the unexpected disappearance of the Drowsy Vige.


    Gilbert added. "My guess is, it wouldn''t take more than a day," He would be shocked if the Assembly of Freedom still doesn''t find out about the underground passageway since it exist in almost every territory around the Slumbering Forest due to the influence of the Herald Guild.


    "We''ll find out in the future,"


    They can''t guarantee anything until the next day.


    In the meantime, both Kayn and Gilbert decided toy low for a while as they wait for the update of Randy''s report. Anyways, they''ve already achieved more than what they expected.


    As he waited in his room, Kayn would asionally activate his charm to Randy in order to get an update on thetter''s whereabouts.


    dly enough, Randy is on his way to the Hush Vige. Albeit he still didn''t let down his guard.


    When the thirty minutes time was up, a loud horn rang all over Freedom City, marking the beginning of the march of the reinforcement force to the Hush Vige.


    Although Kayn was far away, he could still hear the loud marching of their metal boots and the nking noise of the siege machines as they moved forward to the south.


    The long-awaited war between Green Horn City and the Assembly of Freedom has finally begun.


    Contrary to everyone, Kayn and Gilbert took some rest. There is practically nothing more for them to do right this moment aside from waiting.


    As if exhaustion got the better of Kayn, his consciousness slowly fade away to sleep. Heyfortably on his bed, getting a good rest.


    A knocking sound instantly woke Kayn and Gilbert from their sleep.


    Kayn looks around his surrounding and instantly noticed that it was already evening.


    Despite that though, the entire Freedom City was in mor.


    "Who''s there?"


    "It''s Maria,"


    Instantly, Kayn and Gilbert remembered that they were supposed to cook for Maria this evening.


    Kayn nodded at Gilbert as thetter quickly to the kitchen and started preparing.


    Afterward, Kayn fixed himself beforeing to the door.


    The instant the door opened, Maria bolted right inside the room and found herself afortable spot on one of the chairs for the dining table.


    "Is it done yet?" Maria asked with an adorable tone in her voice.


    Maria was like a kid that returned home after a long day at school.


    "Coming right up!" Gilbert''s voice echoed in the kitchen.


    Good thing that all they have to do was heat up the fried chicken they brought from the cooking contest.


    Out of respect, Gilbert also heats up the sweet and sour fish.


    Not long after, Gilbert exited the kitchen with a tray of rice, fried chicken, and fish and sour fish.


    "Here''s your dinner, Madam Maria," Gilbert served.


    "Stop with the honorifics. Just call me, Maria," Maria muttered as she grabbed the spoon and the fork.


    "Alright, Maria," Kayn smiled.


    In the next moment, Maria started devouring the food on the table, implying her impatience and hunger all this time.


    It didn''t take long for Maria to finish everything on the table, including the sauce. She quickly wiped her mouth with a tissue that Gilbert kindly provided her.


    Once she was done with that, Maria walked to the sofa in the living room and made herself at home.


    "Come, sit," Maria motioned her hand for both Nyak and Gilbert to sit down.


    Kayn instantly felt that something was wrong. Still, he went to one of the chairs and sat on it along with Gilbert.


    The duo shared an unspoken understanding, readying themselves for whatever surprise awaits them.


    "So, Kayn and Gilbert, how''s your stay in the Freedom City?" Maria blurted out.

 Chapter 263 The War that Decides the Fate of The Bridge Part 66

    263 The War that Decides the Fate of ¡®The Bridge¡¯ Part 66


    Chapter 263: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 66


    As if a nuclear bomb was dropped from the ceiling of their room, Kayn and Gilbert instantly jumped backward from their seat with their respective weapons ready in their hands.


    "Since when?" Kayn asked.


    "I always suspected your identities," Maria has never trusted her two personal chefs ever since she found them walking around the barracks of the Hush Vige back then.


    "Kayn," Gilbert signaled for Kayn to activate his charm on Maria once things go south.


    "I know," Kayn already prepared for it.


    "You two may calm down," Maria motioned her hand.


    In an instant, a strong pressure forced both Kayn and Gilbert to sit back on their sofa.


    Telekinesis.


    That was Maria''s Gift.


    Kayn knew about it beforehand. As such, he didn''t panic and simply let Maria do whatever she ns on doing.


    In addition to that, he didn''t feel an ounce of murderous or killing intenting from Maria, implying that she doesn''t have the thought of killing them, at least not yet.


    There''s no way of telling when Maria would change her mind, but until then, he''ll wait it off and see what she wants.


    "It was just a pure guess," Maria smiles. "I didn''t expect that I would get it right,"


    "I guess we shouldn''t have reacted that way," Kayn slightly feel regretful.


    "It was because we were so tense," Gilbert realized.


    "Probably," Kayn feels the same. He might be the number-one Hero in the past, but he isn''t now. If he makes the dumb mistake of believing that he is undefeatable still, it won''t take long for him to cease existing from this timeline.


    "Anyways, I don''t mean any harm," Maria released her telekinesis. "Honestly, it''s the opposite. I want to establish an alliance with you,"


    "An alliance?" Kayn narrowed his eyes in suspicion and doubt.


    "I don''t think anyone knows this, but the Assembly of Freedom is actually no different from the Thieves Guild Alliance," Maria started exining. "It might look like a formidable organization on the surface, but the truth is, it is actually just a bunch of strong people and their group gathered together to make ourselves look very powerful,"


    "At least that''s what I believed until I discovered that there''s an even huge organization behind our alliance back,"


    "Do you mean Circus,"


    "How''d you know?" Maria was surprised.


    "They are quite well known on Earth. An evil organization that brings terror and chaos inside the ''Tower''. Even the Ten World Leaders are having headaches in dealing with them,"


    That''s right! The organization Circus has long already existed. Its history span from the very moment the ''Tower'' made its ultimate appearance on Earth.


    Although that''s not all there is to the organization. It was said that Circus also existed way before the ''Tower''. appeared Their hands are pretty much involved in almost every single illegal matter and they''ve just expanded their operation when they started gaining superpowers.


    "I see," Maria finally realized just what sort of thing she got herself into. She admits that''s a Viin, but not the type that wants to rule the world. The only thing she wants is to be able to do whatever she wants to do without any restrictions or rules to follow whatsoever. "It seems my decision is right,"


    "You''re not controlling her, are you?" Gilbert looks at Kayn.


    "What do you mean controlling?" Maria instantly became curious.


    "Nothing," Gilbert swiftly keep his mouth closed.


    Maria raised her hand, immediately lifting Gilbert to the ceiling. Using her other hand, she started breaking the ss window of the building to the side.


    Kayn and Gilbert immediately understood what Maria intended on doing.


    "Kayn!" Gilbert shouted at Kayn.


    In the next moment, Maria waves her hand.


    Bang!


    Gilbert was shoved to the cracking ss window as his eyes stared at the heights outside in fear.


    The ss window continued cracking as its web slowly approached the edge.


    "Okay, stop! I will tell you!" Kayn finally relented after finding out that Maria wasn''t joking.


    Instantly, Maria let her hand go.


    Bang!


    Gilbert slumped on the sofa near the ss window while breathing heavily. He glimpses behind him and realized just how close he was to dying. Even though his level is high, it still won''t be enough to survive the fall.


    "In thest time''s operation, I was able to steal Wesley''s Storage Ring that contains Undead Apple inside,"


    Maria instantly understood.


    "Just like what everyone who possesses the Undead Apple would do, I used it in every meal that I cooked for you,"


    "So, you''re telling me that any time you want to, you can make me fall at your mercy?" Maria released her murderous intent.


    "I can, but I won''t," Kayn tried to defuse the situation.


    "And why should I believe you?"


    "Because you propose an alliance with me,"


    "That''s not enough reason,"


    "For me, it goes against my principles to harm my allies, even once," Kayn asserted truthfully. Having experienced the depths of betrayal, he was determined not to inflict the same pain on those who genuinely believed in and trusted him. Moreover, Maria is not yet the same Human Hunter Maria he had known before. This presented an opportunity to gain another ally and potentially shift the course of the war in their favor, bringing it to a swift end.


    "I know for a fact that Wesley won''t do it,"


    "I am not Wesley,"


    "You aren''t a Hero either,"


    "Fair enough," Kayn agrees. "But I still won''t do it!"


    "How about you release my charm, in that way I will believe you,"


    "I am not a fool, Maria," Kayn shook his head. "The moment I let go of the one single thing that can save us, that means putting our lives into your hand. I''m afraid I can''t do that,"


    "And besides, if my intention was to control you, I would have seized the opportunity when you attempted to harm Gilbert just now," Kayn expressed his hope that these words would prompt Maria to realize something.


    Fortunately for Kayn, Maria seems to have been enlightened by his words.


    "I see,"

 Chapter 264 The War that Decides the Fate of The Bridge Part 67

    264 The War that Decides the Fate of ¡®The Bridge¡¯ Part 67


    Chapter 264: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 67


    "Let''s continue with the discussion of an alliance, shall we?" Kayn motioned his hand.


    "The instant I notice that you are up to no good, I will immediately kill you both," Maria crossed her arms together.


    "The only time I will activate the charm is when you try to harm us. Until then, you can trust me that I won''t do it," Kayn assures. His words are the only thing he can offer to Maria as he obviously can''t remove the charm.


    "I''ll believe you, just this once,"


    Noticing that Maria was finally calm, Kayn proceeded to ask again. "So, why do you want to establish an alliance with me again?"


    "Quite simple," Maria waves her hand, proceeding to get a bunch of documents from her Storage Ring. She then pushed the documents to Kayn.


    Grabbing a document each, Kayn and Gilbert started reading its content.


    To the duo''s surprise, the information written in the document was all about Kayn.


    "ording to all the information I''ve received about you, you like to do whatever you want to do," Maria grabbed a few documents for herself. "This one says you left your squad in order to go on a solo adventure,"


    "Here, it says you join Jude''s party just because you wanted to and even used them to achieve a goal or some sort,"


    "Oh, this one is what I liked the most, you talk back to Old Mayor George and don''t hold back on whatever you wanted to say,"


    Kayn can only scratch his cheeks while listening to Maria blurting out how liberated he has been acting all this time.


    "I like this one!" Gilbert chuckled while reading a piece of document. "Apparently, you like to visit taverns in order to satisfy your carnal desires,"


    "What?!" Kayn immediately grabbed the document from Gilbert''s hand. After confirming that it says exactly the same as what thetter said, he turned to look at Maria and asked. "Where''d you get all of these?"


    "From my men," Maria smirks. "Ever since the event where you attack Chief Kylo and sessfully stole one of his items, information about you has be very easy to get,"


    "Practically everyone who wants to earn some profit from this war has been selling all sorts of information about you, albeit it likewise made it difficult to determine the true from the lies,"


    "Nevertheless, my men are quite swift in connecting the dots and finding out what to believe and which to disregard,"


    "I highly doubt that," Kayn pushed the document to Maria. "Because this one is fake! I use the tavern to gather information, not to pick up some girls,


    "It was funny," Maria chuckled.


    "I agree," Gilbert nodded.


    "Damn! If my girlfriend hears of this, I will be in for huge trouble," Kayn shook his head.


    "And so I heard. It seems like you hold quite a famous status back on Earth ¡ª the son-inw of the Mayor of the Moon Dragon City,"


    "You''re overestimating it," Kayn realized that Chief Kody and Chief Ken had already shared plenty of information with the Assembly of Freedom.


    "No need to be humble,"


    "I am not,"


    It might seem to be high status to the people here, but back on Earth, everyone actually looks down on the status and the only people who respect it are Mayor Sebastian''s people.


    That''s because the son-inw of Mayor Sebastian is nothing but just an ordinary person. The title alone doesn''t hold any significance to the people who hold real status. Unless he proves himself worthy of it, people would disregard him.


    "Anyways, enough about that," Maria finally decided to change the topic. "The reason why I am proposing an alliance with you is because I believe you will be able to grant my wish of freedom to do whatever I want,"


    "Can you exin further the definition of your word ''Freedom''?" Kayn wanted to rify it since the word has quite a broad meaning behind it.


    "I just want to do whatever I want,"


    "That''s the problem, I can''t grant you whatever you want. Unless you specify it, I will never be able to defend you when the timees," Kayn sighs helplessly.


    "Well, I just do whatever I want whenever I feel like doing it. Say, do you know what you''ll be doing tomorrow or what you''ll be thinking next?"


    "Fair enough," Kayn understood. "Still, there''s a limit to the freedom I can grant you. For example, I can''t let you kill whoever you want,"


    "I am not like that!" Maria eximed. "I¡­ I only kill those people who deserve to die,"


    Grabbing a pen and a piece of paper from his Storage Ring, Kayn began writing the so-called ''Freedom'' that Maria desires. "Killing people who deserve to die without needing the dictation of thew. What else?"


    Maria started thinking. "I want to eat whatever I want without needing to pay,"


    "Dine and dash,"


    Maria''s eyebrow twitched but she still continued. "Experiment wherever I want,"


    "What sort of experiment?"


    "My telekinesis,"


    "Conduct experiment on her Gift wherever she wants,"


    "I also want that my men would receive the freedom to do whatever they want as well,"


    "I am afraid, I can''t grant that,"


    "Why?"


    "Because they are not you,"


    "Then how about you feed them with Undead Apple so that if they do something excessive, you can punish them?"


    Kayn doesn''t understand exactly why Maria proposed that. "Do I have the right to deem what''s excessive and what''s not?"


    "You have to consult me first,"


    "Alright," Kayn added it to the list. "What else?"


    "I want to be able to add more to the list in the future,"


    "Gilbert," Kayn looks at Gilbert.


    "Yes?" Gilbert raised his eyebrows.


    "Will Old Mayor George be able to grant Maria these rights?"


    "I guess so¡­" Gilbert wasn''t sure about it, but in his opinion, it shouldn''t be a problem. At least as far as what''s on the list right now. "How about we report this to Old Mayor George just to make sure?"


    Hearing Gilbert''s suggestion, Kayn smiled. What the former doesn''t know is that was exactly what he wanted.


    "You go and report this to Old Mayor George and tell me his opinion about it. In the meantime, I''ll stay here alongside Maria," Kayn turns to Maria. "You''ll guarantee my safety, right?"


    "As long as no one else finds out, yes," Maria nodded.


    "In that case," Kayn signals to Gilbert that he can go.


    "Make sure you stay alive until I return," Gilbert reminded before quickly leaving.

 Chapter 265 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 68

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    Chapter 265: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 68


    With Gilbert gone, Kayn doesn''t have to worry anymore about being threatened by Maria again.


    "I know what you just did," Maria stares intensely at Kayn. She wasn''t a fool not to realize what thetter intended from the start. "You think that by removing Gilbert, I will have nothing to use against you? But you''re wrong, I can still inform the Assembly of Freedom of your presence in our territory,"


    "You won''t do that," Kayn smiles confidently. "Because once you do, I''ll also reveal to them that you initiated an alliance with us instead of directly killing us,"


    "They will never believe you,"


    "Yes, they won''t, but they''ll get suspicious of you,"


    "This is really unfair!" Maria protested. "You can charm me whenever you want, yet I can''t do anything to you!"


    "You are level 50!"


    "I guess so¡­" Maria felt slightlyforted knowing that her level is higher than Kayn''s.


    "Anyways, why don''t we call it a day?" Kayn can''t help suggesting.


    "I''ll be staying here," Maria waves her hand, immediately storing all the furniture in the living room and recing it with her queen-size bed.


    Kayn was rendered speechless.


    "I just want to be sure that you are safe," Maria exined herself. "And also, I don''t want you ying tricks on me. If I take my eyes off you for even a minute, I am afraid that there''s a high chance you''ll cook up some scheme or something,"


    "I understand," Kayn decided to give up persuading her to leave his room. Anyways, it''s much better this way. Albeit a bitplicated as he feels secure and at the same time threatened by Maria''s presence.


    "Go and do whatever you want to do, I''ll just go to sleep," Maria let out a yawn beforeying on her bed and closing her eyes.


    Kayn can''t help but admire howidback Maria is right now despite knowing the threat that he can control her whenever he wants.


    "I guess she really doesn''t intent on doing something bad to me," Kayn muttered as he walks to his room.


    "Let''s call it a day,"


    ¡­..


    The next day, Kayn woke up still feeling tired. That''s because he was having trouble sleeping straight as every sound he hears outside instantly makes him fully alert and cautious, thinking that Maria is trying to kill him.


    "Good morning!" Maria quickly greeted Kayn the moment he walks out of his bedroom. "How was your sleep?"


    "It was more like a nap," Kayn yawned loudly while stretching his arms.


    "I made coffee," Maria passed a cup to Kayn.


    "Thank you," Kayn epted the coffee and immediately took a sip. As if a jolt of lightning hit his entire body, his exhausted feeling instantly disappeared. "That''s nice!"


    "d that you like it," Maria smiles. "Drink that up quickly because we still have a lot of things to do today,"


    "I have a lot of things to do?" Kayn raised his eyebrows, confused.


    "Starting today, you will follow me wherever I go. You will absolutely not leave my sight and you should not go as far as one kilometer away from me,"


    "That''s¡­" Kayn felt hesitant about it.


    "This is for your own good and mine," Maria started exining.


    "Okay, okay, I''ll go along with you," Kayn quickly cut Maria off from talking any further as he doesn''t want to hear more about it. He can''t help but feel tired once again. "I''ll brew more coffee before we go,"


    "You''ll definitely need more than that," Maria went to the dining table and started eating her breakfast.


    "You cooked your meal?"


    "I won''t eat anything you cook until we officially be allies,"


    "Suit yourself," Kayn started cooking his meal.


    After doing their respective morning routines, both Kayn and Maria left the Freedom City and return to the Daze Vige.


    Apparently, a single day wasn''t enough to take care of every single problem in the Daze Vige. There was still more remaining. Luckily though, they were just small matters.


    With the assistance of Maria''s men and Kayn''s help asionally, they were able to sort everything out before the end of the afternoon.


    "Thank you," Maria express her appreciation.


    "Not a problem," Kayn nodded.


    The only reason why he decided to help Maria was because the matters were mostly rted to the construction of the Daze Vige and repairing the damages that he had caused. This was perfect as he could get a better understanding of the defenses of the territory.


    Moreover, he had actually purposely added loopholes to his suggestions in the defense which he is hoping to take advantage of during the siege of the Daze Vige in the future.


    "Now, do you understand why I brought you with me?" Maria suddenly asked.


    "Yes," Kayn felt grateful. He initially thought that Maria was being way too cautious in fear that he would do something to her. But during the time he spent with her the entire morning, he realized that she simply wanted him to gather information about the Daze Vige.


    The information he had gathered would no doubt prove crucial in the future for the Green Horn City''s side.


    "Next, we will go to the Freedom City to report my progress," Maria stood up from her chair.


    "Would I still be following along with you?"


    "You will," Maria informed. "However, this time, you will have to stick very closely to me. You have to stay five meters around me and will absolutely remain silent throughout the entire journey. I don''t want you using your slick tongue because almost all higher-ups recognize you that way,"


    "As a matter of fact, Wesley started suspecting your identity yesterday. If it wasn''t because I lied that I found you in the Daze Vige by coincidence, he would have pursued the matter further,"


    "It seems like I''ve caused you trouble," Kayn felt slightly apologetic about it. If he had known that the Assembly of Freedom have be very sensitive to his manner of speaking, he would have just cooked the meal, made them taste it, and be done with it.


    "That''s why this time I want you to be quiet, especially around Wesley,"


    "Alright," It''s quite evident to him now that Wesley has learned and studied a lot about him after thest time.


    With that being said, both Kayn and Maria left the Daze Vige and return to the Freedom City.

 Chapter 266 The War That Decides The Fate Of ‘The Bridge’ Part 69

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    Chapter 266: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The  Bridge'' Part 69


    As they were going to report an important matter, Maria led Kayn straight to the headquarters of the Freedom City to meet up with Chief Kylo and the rest of the higher-ups present in the territory right now.


    "May I know who we will be meeting?" Kayn can''t help asking.


    "I believe it would be Chief Kylo, Wesley, Christopher, Canaan, and Hassan"


    "Canaan and Hassan?" Kayn was familiar with these two names. "Are they the third and fourth Assembly Knights?"


    "Yes," Maria confirmed.


    "Are they the only ones?" Kayn felt that it was strange for only Chief Kylo''s subordinates to be present and no one else.


    "Well, there is also the guild leader of two other allies, Abram and Gustavo," Maria mentioned two more names. "Abram is the guild leader of the Forest Bandit Guild and Gustavo is the guild leader of the Spiderweb Guild.  Both Guilds are involved in illegal matters, that''s why they joined the Assembly of Freedom,"


    After all, Viins can''t possibly join the Green Horn City''s side since it conflicts with their interests. Not to mention, there''s no way that Old Mayor George would ept them. He''ll most likely just suggest that they don''t involve themselves in the war.


    However, there''s no way that they''ll do that as they can already guess that the moment the Assembly of Freedom falls, there would be no one else to step forward to be at the forefront to contest against the Green Horn City.


    That''s the exact reason why they are joining this war.


    It didn''t take long for Kayn and Maria to arrive at the penthouse of the headquarters. It was where the meeting would be held.


    "There''s a guest lounge over there, you stay inside and just behave,"


    "I thought that I can only be five meters away from you?"


    "Not in this part," Maria shook her head before stepping inside the penthouse.


    Seeing Maria leaving, Kayn has no other choice but to go to the guest lounge.


    As he walked inside, he was instantly greeted by a tavern-like atmosphere.


    A bar counter with a bartender.


    Wooden table and wooden barrels as chairs.


    And some bar games like darts and billiards.


    Additionally, the interior was really boisterous and loud, seemingly imitating a bar.


    "A tavern?"


    That''s right! The guest lounge is a tavern.


    Nevertheless, the loud noise caused by the tavern doesn''t escape the room, evidently because of a magic spell that''s been cast to iste any sound inside.


    "This is great," Kayn smiles. Just like every tavern, this ce is going to be a good source of information for him. He finally understood why Maria left him here.


    "Now, where should I begin?" Kayn started looking around, searching for a way to pass his time while waiting for Maria to return.


    As he doesn''t want to get the attention of people here, he didn''t stay long at the entrance and went to look for a seat.


    He spotted a seat in an inconspicuous corner, so he quickly made his way over there.


    Along the way, he can''t help but eavesdrop on the conversation of some groups, making him slow down as he approached.


    "Did you hear, the Slumber Vige is as good as gone,"


    "That quick?"


    "It isn''t officially destroyed yet, but the soldiers of the Green Horn City is already at their gate yesterday,"


    "We haven''t heard a single news from them yet, so I guess they''ve already been defeated?"


    "Most likely,"


    "How about the Dormant Vige?"


    "They''re still holding on. But until our side provides reinforcement, it wouldn''t be long until they follow the Slumber Vige,"


    "I wonder when our main force would leave,"


    "It seems like there''s still no news about the Drowsy Vige,"


    "Is that even important? The Slumber Vige would long already be gone if they don''t move soon!"


    "If it''s okay to interrupt," Kayn finally decided to butt in.


    "Who are you?" A bearded man looks at Kayn suspiciously.


    "I am Nyak, one of the secretaries that work in the headquarters," Kayn chooses to hide that he works for Maria as he doesn''t want to implicate her and cause her trouble again. "I can''t help but be intrigued about your conversation, so I hope you don''t mind that I listen a bit,"


    "It''s alright," The bearded man sees no problem with it.


    The rest of the men nodded and expressed that it wasn''t a problem as well. They then motioned their hand for Kayn to sit along with them.


    Seeing this, Kayn quickly abandoned his thoughts of sitting over the corner as he sat and join the group.


    "If it is okay to ask, are you guys one of the Assembly Knights men?"


    "No, we are Abram''s personal guards,"


    "I see, so you''re members of the Forest Bandit Guild,"


    "Heard about us?"


    "Of course," Kayn''s eyes lit up. "It was said that you''ve been terrorizing the forest all over ''The Bridge'' for a very long time now,"


    "I know right? It''s very great what we are doing!"


    "Exactly!" Kayn pretended to agree.


    "Anyways, what do you want to tell us?" The bearded man no longer desires to beat around the bush and waste time in useless pleasantries.


    "I don''t know if you''ll believe me if I tell you this piece of information," Kayn made it sound interesting. "But I''ve heard that the Assembly of Freedom already decided to abandon the Slumber Vige,"


    "Can this information even be trusted?"


    "I got this information from an insider, one of the elite members under Sir Christopher,"


    "Do you know why they decided to abandon the Slumber Vige?" The bearded man doubted it.


    "I don''t think that''s true,"


    "Indeed. If the main force can''t provide reinforcement, then they can just make the Freedom City fly over there and assist personally instead of sitting on the backline,"


    "Oh," Kayn realized. "It seems like you haven''t heard yet. The Assembly of Freedom can no longer make the Freedom City fly,"


    In an instant, the bearded man and the rest of hispanions became shocked.

 Chapter 267 The War that Decides the Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 70

    Chapter 267 The War that Decides the Fate of ¡®The Bridge¡¯ Part 70


    Chapter 267: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 70


    "How''s that possible? I''ve just seen the Levitation Scepter along with Madam Eme not long ago," The bearded man doesn''t believe it.


    Kayn finally knows the name of that unknown woman back then during the ball.


    "That was clearly a fake," Kayn shook his head to disagree. "Remember the previous chaos in the Freedom City not long ago?"


    "I do. It was said that Kayn along with his squad members sneak inside the Freedom City and into the ball to cause chaos in hopes of assassinating Chief Kylo. They failed though, but it wasn''t all good for our side since we''ve lost a significant number of allies,"


    "You only heard half of it," Kayn felt pity knowing that the allies of the Assembly of Freedom were left in the dark about such an important and crucial piece of information. "Madam Eme was also present during that ball and she brought the Levitation Scepter with her,"


    "During the chaos, she stored the Levitation Scepter inside her Storage Ring which Kayn and his squad were able to steal from her,"


    Kayn started recounting the exact events that took ce during the chaos at the ball. Every now and then, he would exaggerate some parts in order to make it seem like the Assembly of Freedom lostpletely.


    "In the end, they massacred the people who decided to save themselves and run to the Daze Vige,"


    "They killed all of their allies?"


    "Yes," Kayn nodded.


    "I did hear about that. I didn''t expect that it was actually true," The bearded man was convinced. "I think we have to tell our guild leader about this,"


    "That''s right!"


    The rest of hispanions express their agreement.


    "Not now, or else your entire guild might get included in the list," Kayn quickly discouraged them.


    "You''re right," The bearded man agreed. "Why are you telling us about this anyway?"


    "Just like what I said, I was intrigued by your conversation just now,"


    "Well¡­" The bearded man felt proud of himself. If it wasn''t because he initiated an interesting conversation, they would have never heard of this crucial piece of information. "Thank you for informing us about this, buddy,"


    "No problem, I just want to win the war, and knowing about this would help us prepare for the worst, right?"


    "That''s right!" The bearded man nodded. But in truth, he was snickering at Nyak''s foolishness. Now that they know what actually happened, they''ll make sure they get the fullpensation they deserve or else the Assembly of Freedom can kiss their assess goodbye because they will not join in the war.


    "How about informing the others here?" One of the bearded man''spanions suggested, fully understanding what their leader intends on doing.


    The flicker of greed in the bearded man and hispanion''s eyes wasn''t able to escape from Kayn''s attention, inwardly making him feel delighted.


    "Are you sure? That might bring you trouble though?" Kayn pretended to be concerned.


    "We''ll just inform the Spiderweb Guild about it," The bearded man patted Kayn''s shoulder as he stood up from his chair.


    "Rest assured, we will be right back,"


    "Why don''t you go grab yourself a drink while we do the rest of your goal for you?"


    One of the men tossed Kayn a coin, which he quickly caught while acting delighted about it.


    "Alright!"


    Not long after, the bearded man and hispanions arrived at the table of the Spiderweb Guild. Just like what they mentioned, they started sharing the information they''d heard from the man who imed to be one of the secretaries of the headquarters.


    While that was happening, Kayn went to the bar counter and ordered himself a drink.


    "What did you tell them?" The bartender can''t help asking.


    "Say, do you offer the same service as other taverns when ites to trading information?"


    "Do you want to buy information or sell information?"


    "Sell information,"


    "We do," The bartender nodded. "Let me check for you at the back if we still have any vacant rooms open,"


    "If there isn''t, I don''t mind going to your other branch and taking up one of the rooms there," Kayn proposed.


    The bartender felt delighted and quickly left. "I''ll be back,"


    Greed.


    He finally realized that this is the best weapon to use against the people rted to the Assembly of Freedom.


    "Considering that they have a limited amount of resources, it''s no surprising to see everyone hungry to earn more," Natas muttered beside Kayn.


    "Exactly," Kayn agreed.


    "How about Maria? How will you inform him that you left the headquarters?"


    "Through the bartender, of course,"


    "Aren''t you afraid those people will know who you really are?"


    "I am not, because they will be busy fending off for themselves,"


    At this moment, both the men of the Forest Bandit Guild and the Spiderweb Guild are busy discussing how they should deal with the new piece of information they''ve received.


    It''s very evident that the two are strong and solid allies that look for each other''s back.


    And this also proves that the meeting right now inside the penthouse is an alliance talk between the Assembly of Freedom and the two guilds.


    "They''ve probably realized that they arecking allies, that''s why they are gathering more,"


    "That''s expected since they''ve pretty much massacred a lot of them not too long ago,"


    Finally, the bartender returned to the bar counter to inform Kayn of his news.


    "Unfortunately, we have no vacant room left here, but if you want, I can let one of my men bring you to our other branch not far from here as I''ve received information that there''s a vacant room there,"


    "Such an obvious lie," Natas snickered.


    There''s no phone in ''The Bridge'' or a way to instantlymunicate with people, especially considering they are on the top floor of the headquarters of the Assembly of Freedom. So, it is impossible for the bartender to receive news from their other branch in that short moment that he had left.


    It''s very obvious that the manager of this tavern wants their business to earn more after hearing what Kayn did just now. So, in order to do so, he is sending thetter to where he can get the most profit from whatever piece of information that causes two powerful guilds who are holding a meeting with Chief Kylo right now to promptly hold a meeting.

 Chapter 268 The War that Decides the Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 71

    Chapter 268 The War that Decides the Fate of ¡®The Bridge¡¯ Part 71


    Chapter 268: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 71


    "Lead the way," Kayn dly epted. Of course, he decided to leave a note to the bartender for Maria to know his whereabouts.


    Noticing Kayn leaving, the bearded man quickly approached him and asked where he is going.


    Taking this opportunity to advertise himself, Kayn didn''t hesitate to reveal that he''ll be selling more information about what he just told them to the other branch of this tavern using the same excuse that he intends on making everyone prepare for the worst.


    Hearing this, the bearded man instantly felt delighted. "We''lle to youter to ask for more information. Would that be okay?"


    "This time, you''ll have to pay, though," Kayn informs.


    "We understand and it doesn''t matter how much it would cost,"


    "Rest assured, I won''t price it so much as I am dedicated to my cause,"


    "We''ll help you as well,"


    The bearded man bid farewell and watches Kayn leaving the tavern.


    Kayn followed one of the waiters of the tavern as he lead him to their other branch just a few blocks away from the headquarters.


    Instead of going to the front door, he was taken to the backdoor which has a hidden door connected to a hallway that has a bunch of rooms where people sell information.


    "You''ve been assigned room 7. The bartender in charge of this ce will inform you if ever there is anyone interested in knowing what information you are selling,"


    "How would they know what information I am selling?" Kayn was curious as he hadn''t mentioned to any of them what he told the men of the Forest Bandit Guild.


    "We already heard,"


    "That was fast," Kayn became cautious.


    "We have a lot of people inside the tavern. One of them was eavesdropping on your conversation, that is why,"


    "I see," Kayn finally realized that he wasn''t the only one paying attention to the people inside the tavern a while ago. Next time, he''ll make sure that there is no one else eavesdropping nearby in case it might ruin his n.


    "So, expect a lot of people to visit you as your information is very valuable," The waiter walked out of the door. But before leaving, he reminded, "And danger, too,"


    "Thanks for the heads up," Kayn muttered before walking to room seven and sitting on one of the chairs inside.


    "I know you have thought of everything before deciding to do this. But, once you''re discovered, you''ll have no other choice but to go in hiding and your n with the Undead Apple will be temporarily put on hold," Natas felt worried.


    "Not really," Kayn waves his hand, immediately taking out a bunch of snacks from his Storage Ring.


    Seeing this, Natas instantly understood what Kayn intended to do. If his memory serves him correctly, thetter had added Undead Apple to all of those snacks.


    "The best ce to serve food without the people caring about its ingredients is in the tavern," Kayn arranged the snacks on the side to make them look presentable. "This will also be a perfect hiding spot for future operations,"


    Nobody would suspect that the number one wanted person of the Assembly of Freedom would be hiding inside the tavern close to their territory. Just the shady nature of taverns, especially the one in the Freedom City, is the perfect cover-up for everything that he intends on doing.


    It didn''t take long for Kayn''s first customer to knock on his door.


    "Come in," Kayn calmly uttered.


    The door of the room opened as the bartender led two men inside. Afterward, he quickly left.


    "And you two are?" Kayn initiated.


    "I am Abram, the Guild Leader of the Forest Bandit Guild,"


    "And I am Gustavo, the Guild Leader of the Spiderweb Guild,"


    "It seems like you two immediately came here the moment you heard from your subordinates the information I gave to them for free," Kayn can already guess what happened. He motioned his hand for the two guests to take a seat and make themselvesfortable.


    "That''s right,"


    Abram sat on one of the chairs before Gustavo followed.


    "Do you want some snacks?" Kayn pointed at the snacks he had prepared by the side.


    "I''ll take that dumpling,"


    "I want the fishball,"


    "Alright," Kayn stood up and served Abram and Gustavo their order before returning back to his seat and proceeding with the main matter. "So, what do you want to know?"


    "Everything,"


    "That''s unfortunate," Kayn pointed at the sign behind him. "Each client can only ask three questions per day, that''s the rule. It doesn''t matter how much you pay, because I am not the one who establish this tavern and I don''t wish to go against it,"


    "We understand," Abram nodded. "Since there are two of us here, that means six questions, right?"


    "Yes,"


    "Alright, my first question is¡­"


    After receiving the answer to their six questions, Abram and Gostavo didn''t waste any time as they left the room with a satisfied look on their faces. It was very apparent that they got what they came to know from Kayn.


    Not long after Abram and Gostavo left, the bartender led another guest to Kayn''s room.


    In the same manner as the previous guests, Kayn answered three following questions from the second guest.


    Then the next client came, followed by another, and another. Eventually, a soft knock sounded.


    "Maria?" Kayn can already guess who it was.


    "Yes," Maria announced.


    "Come on in," Kayn immediately weed Maria.


    The instant Maria came in, she immediately sted the tablet to the side with her telekinesis. Her face was fuming in anger.


    Bang!


    The door closes, which instantly activated the istion spell installed inside.


    "I reminded you over and over again not to leave, and the instant I took my eyes off you, you immediately disappeared!" Maria uttered angrily. "Do you know how worried I was?"


    "I apologize, but I have my reasons,"


    "No need to tell me because I already know!" Maria stared intensely at Kayn before eventually letting out a sigh and sitting on the chair beside her. "The Guild Leader of both the Forest Bandit Guild and Spiderweb Guild retracted their request for alliance not long after they left the penthouse,"


    "It was so sudden, but when I discovered you were gone, I immediately know that you were involved with it,"


    "Was it so obvious?" Kayn chuckled.


    "Luckily, this time, no one suspected anything and they all believe that it was the personal choice of the two Guild Leaders," Maria smiled. "Albeit, the two Guild Leaders weren''t as lucky as they met their unfortunate deaths not long after they left the Freedom City,"

 Chapter 269 The War that Decides the Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 72

    <h4>Chapter 269 The War that Decides the Fate of ¡®The ?Bridge¡¯ Part 72</h4>


    Chapter 269: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 72


    "They''re not dead though," Kayn shook his head.


    "That''s right, they were able to escape alive after leaving their subordinates alive," Maria muttered before her eyes widened in shock. "Wait! How did you know?"


    Kayn immediately pointed at the bunch of snacks beside him.


    "You¡­" Maria was in disbelief. "You didn''t control them, right?"


    "I didn''t, I simply informed them of the truth and it was solely their decision not to establish an alliance with the Assembly of Freedom,"


    "What truth did you tell them?"


    "That the Levitation Scepter is no longer in the hands of Chief Kylo and that he also lost the Kingmaker,"


    "Remind me not to make you an enemy in the future," Maria could only express his pity to the two Guild Leaders. Without them knowing, they''ve already be victims of Kayn. "Is this the reason why you came here?"


    "There''s more,"


    Knock! Knock!


    Despite the fact that there is still a customer inside Kayn''s room, the bartender still wees two more others. This was only possible because thetter has already fallen into his charm.


    To Maria''s shock, two huge figures of the Assembly of Freedom walked inside the room.


    Wesley and Christopher.


    "Are you insane?!" Maria jumped in front of Kayn with a sword in her hand.


    "Calm down," Kayn patted Maria''s shoulder. "Look at their eyes,"


    Following Kayn''s instruction, Maria quickly noticed that Wesley and Christopher''s eyes seemed to be nk and in a dazed state.


    "You''re controlling them?" Maria looks at Kayn in surprise.


    "That''s right," Kayn moved to the side where there are a bunch of snacks. "You both, start eating,"


    Nodding their heads in acknowledgment, Wesley and Christopher started filling themselves with all the snacks on the table.


    "But¡­ wouldn''t it attract people''s attention that two huge figures suddenly came to this tavern?" Maria returned back to her chair as she watches Wesley and Christopher eating to their heart''s content. She already knows that the two have fallen victim to Kayn''s charm.


    "That will be the case if I don''t take control of this entire tavern," Kayn agrees.


    In the next moment, Wesley threw a Storage Ring to Kayn.


    Without much trouble, Kayn took out a bunch of items from the Storage Ring.


    Hundreds of Undead Apples.


    "Since Wesley can only use Undead Apples whenever he is away for a mission, it had umted to this much over time," Kayn muttered as he looks at the piles of Undead Apples. In addition to that, the strict regtion when ites to Wesley, causes thetter to barely be able to make use of his Gift.


    Technically, he wasn''tpletely lying back then when he informed Jericho and the others about being able to use Wesley''s Undead Apple.


    Since he and Wesley literally share the same Gift now, he can practically use thetter''s Undead Apple without any side effects. And just like what they''ve mentioned before, he now can get two Undead Apples per day.


    "Chief Kylo is a fool!" Natas shook his head. "If I was in his shoes, I would never make Wesley stay in the Freedom City, and instead I will allow him to travel all over ''The Bridge'' to make use of his Gift to the best of its abilities,"


    The most likely reason why Wesley''s Gift was restricted this much could only be because Chief Kylo feared it. He is afraid that if he gives Wesley enough freedom, a time mighte in the future when he will overthrow him from his throne.


    Both Kayn and Natas understood this. But on second thought, this is only natural considering the very nature of the Assembly of Freedom. There''s no telling when or where the members of this organization would suddenly feel the urge to rece their leader. Perhaps as a means to protect himself, Chief Kylo had to put serious regtions and restrictions on all their members that can pose a threat to his position.


    Simrly to Gilbert, Maria can''t help asking. "Are you sure that Wesley wouldn''t be able to take control of our victims instead since we are using his Undead Apples?"


    "I''ve already tested it plenty of times," Kayn assures Maria. "And besides, I don''t n on letting go of my control on Wesley,"


    "Then what about his responsibility in the Freedom City? He is practically the one managing its entire operation,"


    "Let''s say that he got tired of it and left,"


    "You n on making him disappear?"


    "He''ll be staying with me and supply me with a steady source of Undead Apple. That''s his purpose now,"


    "The entire Freedom City would look for him,"


    "They won''t be able to find him,"


    "That''s impossible!" Maria doesn''t believe Kayn.


    "You really don''t know how many people are under the control of Wesley, don''t you?" Kayn smiles wickedly.


    Now that he has activated his charm on Wesley, he now has aplete understanding of everyone that has fallen victim to thetter''s charm.


    "Nearly a quarter of the entire poption in the Freedom City is under his control,"


    Maria''s eyes widened inplete disbelief.


    "Now, as long as I make use of those people, Chief Kylo will never be able to find Wesley ever. The only way for him to find thetter is to do it personally,"


    "You might as well say that this is the end of the entire Assembly of Freedom,"


    "Not yet," Kayn shook his head.


    He still hasn''t seen everything about the Assembly of Freedom yet, so until then, he won''t believe that he has already defeated the organization. Chief Kylo should still have more under his sleeves that made him keep hisposure and confidence despite the fact of already losing the Kingmaker and the Levitation Scepter.


    A man who has already lost a few things yet still continued to wage war only means that he still has more to offer. Or, it can also be that he is aplete madman.


    But based on what he had observed so far, Chief Kylo isn''t a madman. He might be mad, but he hasn''t reached the point where he can''t see reasons and understand the current weight of his organization of winning this war against Green Horn City.

 Chapter 270 The War that Decides the Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 73

    <h4>Chapter 270 The War that Decides the Fate of ¡®The ?Bridge¡¯ Part 73</h4>


    Chapter 270: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 73


    "The people under Wesley''s control are only a part of the soldiers and some of the elite members. None of the real powers are under his control," Kayn felt a bit disappointed, but he''ll do it for now.


    "That''s why you''re a very scary opponent. What Wesley wasn''t able to achieve for a very long time, you''ve done in a matter of a few days," Maria said in a remark. In just a matter of a single day, Kayn was able to charm three out of the six Assembly Knights, including herself.


    "Aside from the Assembly Knights, I heard that there are other groups called Freedom Fighters, Liberty Squad, and Unity Rule," Kayn looks at Maria. This was the information he found out after activating his charm on both Wesley and Christopher. The duo shared his subconsciousness, thus allowing him to know more about the Assembly of Freedom. "Do you know where they are?"


    "The Freedom Fighters are in the Hush Vige. You didn''t meet them but they were the reason why the Hush Vige turned into a ughterhouse," Maria revealed.


    "So, they were the perpetrators¡­" Kayn can finally grant Gilbert his vengeance.


    "The Liberty Squad and Unity Rule are part of the main force, so they are still on standby at the Daze Vige. Although, I don''t know if those two groups aren''t doing something else as they wait out of boredom,"


    The three squads don''t normally follow orders because of the authority that Chief Kylo had bestowed on them.


    They''re like the Assembly Knights, except for the fact that they are part of a brigade, hence their freedom is slightly limitedpared to the former.


    "Aside from the three groups, there are a total of five brigades in the Assembly of Freedom. Why don''t we focus on one of them first?" Maria suggested.


    "That''s unexpected," Kayn became surprised as he truly didn''t expect the Assembly of Freedom would possess a single brigade, yet there are actually five of them to top it off.


    A single brigade consists of three to five thousand soldiers. In the case of the Assembly of Freedom, having five brigades means there are twenty-five thousand soldiers in total in their army. Of course, that doesn''t include the individuals who aren''t part of their army.


    Maria started describing each of the brigades.


    "The Revolutionary Brigade are the people who are working in the Freedom City. The majority of the people you have seen working around the Freedom City are members of their brigade, albeit some are interns that desire to join them. They focus on the development and economy of the Assembly of Freedom. Although they are in the rear line most of the time, they couldn''t be underestimated as their leaders are extremely known Chiefs of ''The Bridge'',"


    "Next is the Freedom Fang Brigade, it is the major force behind the Freedom Fighters. Just like what their name suggests, they act as the fangs of the Assembly of Freedom, their main battle force,"


    "In that case, why do they call the soldiers in the Daze Vige the main force?" Kayn became confused.


    "To confuse the Green Horn City''s spies. In truth, the main force is already in the Hush Vige, and the so-called main force waiting in the Daze Vige is simply the two brigades, the Liberty Fire Brigade and the Unity Circle Brigade,"


    "Although they aren''t the main force, you still shouldn''t underestimate them because their respective major general is almost as strong as the number one in the Assembly Knight when they both fight together,"


    "Magnus¡­" Kayn can''t help mentioning the name.


    That was the name of the number one in the Assembly Knights.


    He still hasn''t met the man, but he already heard plenty of stories about him ever since he came to this ce.


    It was described that Magnus is a battle mage infamous for his fiery battle style, a type of battle technique that takes advantage of fire element magic and mana duringbat. Because of his style of fighting, he covers himself with armor that has excessive fire resistance in order for him not to harm himself during a fight.


    There were plenty of people saying that Magnus and Friedrich areparable in strength and that in the past when they battled against each other it ended in a draw.


    Honestly, he hasn''t seen Friedrich fighting seriously yet, so he isn''t sure of how powerful exactly Magnus can be.


    "The major general of the Liberty Fire Brigade and Unity Circle Brigade is respectively Moie and Marlon, infamously known as Twin Earth and Nature de. Just like Magnus, the duo are battle mages as well,"


    "Is there any chance that they are part of the Phoenix Beast Republic?"


    "I am not quite sure, but I''ve seen them fight before and there were simrities with the Phoenix Beast Republic''s battle techniques," Maria can''t guarantee it.


    "Is that so," Kayn was certain though. Earth and Nature de. That was a name of a battle technique in the Phoenix Beast Republic. It isn''t a well-known technique though as its requirement can only be met by a few minorities, but everyone who uses the technique were able to carve a name for themselves in the future.


    Just that, he hasn''t heard anyone with the name of Moei and Marlon amongst those people, so he doesn''t have to worry about them.


    Moreover, the Earth and Nature de has a very apparent weakness ¡ª the fire element. That''s probably why they cannot defeat Magnus.


    "Thest brigade is called the Freedom Wings Brigade. I honestly haven''t seen them yet, but it was said they are Chief Kylo''s personal army. So, I believe they are people that took residency in the Tenderfoot Vige,"


    "Tenderfoot Vige¡­" It has been a very long time since he heard someone else mentioning the name of that Vige again. "So, they are the loyal soldiers of Chief Kylo..."


    The people inside the tent back then during the battle in the Green Horn Vige are probably the higher-ups of the Freedom Wings Brigade.


    "Wesley is actually a part of the Freedom Wings Brigade, so he might know more about them," Maria looks at Wesley who is still busy eating the snacks Kayn had prepared. He doesn''t know what Kayn is exactly nning on doing to both Wesley and Christopher, but they both can be considered as good as dead now that they are under Kayn''s charm.

 Chapter 271 The War that Decides the Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 74

    <h4>Chapter 271 The War that Decides the Fate of ¡®The ?Bridge¡¯ Part 74</h4>


    Chapter 271: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 74


    Among the five brigades, Kayn realized that he can try and take control of three brigades, respectively the Revolutionary Brigade, Liberty Fire Brigade, and Unity Circle Brigade.


    This was great as this means taking control of more than half of the Assembly of Freedom''s soldiers. And in addition to Wesley''s puppets, even if it is still impossible to bring down the entire Assembly of Freedom, he can more or less still bring about a great deal of damage to the organization.


    Now, the only question left is where to begin.


    "In the meantime, why don''t you return first to deal with your matters while I stay here and continue looking for victims?" Kayn suggested to Maria.


    "Alright," Maria nodded before pointing at Wesley and Christopher. "How about them?" Any client whoes here and sees these two would definitely flinch in fear.


    "Wesley will stay, while Christopher will return to his job," Kayn couldn''t help but feel slightly regretful about it as he wanted to kill Christopher as soon as possible. But it isn''t time yet, as he wants thetter to suffer more before finally taking hisst breath.


    "Here," Kayn gave a cloak to Wesley. "Cover yourself up so that no one will know who you are,"


    Wesley nodded and immediately covered himself with the cloak.


    Seeing Wesley on a cloak, Maria nodded in relief and said. "That''s good enough,"


    "I''ll be leaving then," Maria bid farewell along with Christopher.


    Maria went back to the Daze Vige to oversee the progress of the reconstruction while Christopher returned to the headquarters before Kayn deactivated his charm.


    Christopher will never know that he has fallen under Kayn''s charm. Albeit he''ll be suspicious that there''s something wrong about him as his memory will have a nk gap in between.


    While Kayn was charming more and more people in the tavern, an uproar took ce in the Freedom City as they found out that Wesley has disappeared.


    As expected, the most restless person was Chief Kylo as he ordered his personal army to look for Wesley.


    For the first time ever, the Freedom Wings Brigade made an appearance in the Freedom City.


    Although Kayn didn''t see them, he heard a series of information from the tavern guests that he had already secretly charmed by using the tavern kitchen. In other words, the entire tavern is now under his full control.


    He had taken inspiration from Wesley after engaging in a conversation with thetter to talk about how he has been using the Undead Apple up until now.


    During their talk, he had finally confirmed the presence of a secret sixth brigade, the Deathescaper Brigade. Simr to what he and Gilbert had suspected, it is an undead army made up of over three thousand Undead soldiers. It is technically still a brigade, albeit a small one.


    It is quite obvious already that these are all the Undead people Wesley has gathered ever since awakening his Gift.


    "8-10 years worth ofbat power," Kayn is slightly hesitant about wasting such precious manpower as he can use them once he enters the ''Tower'' to boost his territory and increase its development.


    However, he obviously has no other choice but to do it. Otherwise, he won''t be able to quickly end this war and proceed to unlock the treasure he came here in ''The Bridge''.


    He already has all the necessary ingredients to enter that ce ¡ª Springwater Source Bonsai, Mountain Heart Flower, Molten Magma Core, and Forest Spirit Seed.


    Moreover, he now possesses the Kingmaker, which is a great addition to his arsenal, at least until he confirms its description.


    The only thing hindering him from proceeding is this war.


    Night came and it was finally time for Kayn to leave the tavern and return to his room to meet up with Maria and call it a day.


    Contrary to Kayn though, everyone from the tavern didn''t leave. They stayed inside and continued doing what they always ought to do whenever they visited the tavern.


    Every now and then, a new group of guests will enter the tavern, but because Kayn is no longer present, he wasn''t able to increase his influence any further.


    As much as Kayn wanted to stay, he couldn''t because he had to inform Maria of his progress, or else she will be left in the dark about what he is doing and that isn''t good for their alliance. Albeit it wasn''t official yet, he is starting to believe it''s only going to be a matter of time before it happens, especially now that his force has increased.


    "A sixth brigade¡­" Maria couldn''t believe that all this time Wesley actually has his own force hidden in the depths and dark. Not only that, the sixth brigade is actually just hiding underneath the Freedom City all this time, acting as mere skeletons and corpses stuck to the bottom of the territory.


    "I don''t want to imagine what you will do with these many soldiers in your call," Maria slightly shivers at the thought of fending off thousands of Undead soldiers. Unless they burn them to ashes, they will continue on ughtering everyone their master considers their enemy.


    "What about Wesley? Is there any chance that he''ll break free from the charm?" Maria was very worried about this. She knows a thing or two about charm and people who possess such a Gift. It was said that people who master the use of Charms are most unlikely to fall under one, especially with a simr charm to their Gift.


    "That''s why I return to our room," Kayn motioned his hand for Wesley toe forth. With a wave of his hand, he took out the <<Kingmaker>> from his Storage Ring. "There''s no guarantee that he won''t break free from his own charm, but there''s a sure method so that he will never be able to betray me,"


    "Now, swear your allegiance to me," Kayn looks at Wesley with a mischievous smile on his face.


    <<Cost of Loyalty>>


    A gold color light slowly covered the entire body of Wesley as the ceremony for swearing his loyalty to Kayn began.


    In the next moment, as if Wesley was slowly regaining his consciousness, his body shaken and struggled to break free from some sort of chain.

 Chapter 272 The War that Decides the Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 75

    <h4>Chapter 272 The War that Decides the Fate of ¡®The ?Bridge¡¯ Part 75</h4>


    Chapter 272: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 75


    In response to Wesley''s reaction, Kayn deactivated some of his charm on the former. Just enough so that he can regain control of his mind, simr to what he did to Seven back then.


    "Where am I?" Wesley muttered as he looks around his surrounding with his eyes.


    "Maria?" Wesley instantly recognizes one of hisrades who is currently standing just a few meters in front of him. "What''s happening?"


    "Why can''t I control my body?"


    "Did you use your telekinesis on me?" Wesley asked as he looks at Maria''s hand, immediately noticing that she isn''t using her Gift. Instead, he noticed another figure.


    "Who are you?" Wesley asked as he looks at Kayn.


    "Wait¡­ Aren''t you one of the personal chefs of Maria?" Wesley swears that this man was the personal chef who cooked that delicious sweet and sour fish.


    "You''ve already been tricked by this before, yet you still fall for it again," Kayn slowly removes his disguise.


    "Kayn?!" Wesley was rendered shocked. "Maria! What are you waiting for? Kill him!"


    "I am afraid, I can''t," Maria shook her head.


    "You¡­" Wesley quickly observes Maria from top to bottom, thinking that she has fallen into the same state as him. But he failed to see any signs of that. "You can kill him! Why are you not doing it?"


    "That''s because," Maria looks at the <<Kingmaker>>, hoping that she can use it as an excuse to exin why she can''t harm Kayn. But realizing that it would be a bad decision, she finally admitted, "I have proposed an alliance with Kayn,"


    "An alliance?" Wesley finally understood. Maria''s considered a traitor now. That is why she doesn''t want to kill Kayn. "Since when?"


    "Just yesterday," Maria no longer choose to hide.


    "What did he offer you that made you betray us? We can definitely offer you more, so think about it and capture Kayn!" Wesley still chooses to continue persuading Maria to reconsider.


    "That''s no longer an option," Maria sighs heavily. "I honestly don''t want to betray the organization, but I found out that they are part of an even bigger organization back on Earth,"


    "In that case, wouldn''t that be better?"


    "It''s an organization that wants to rule the world and destroy it afterward,"


    "That¡­" Wesley was shocked.


    "It is called Circus,"


    "Circus?!" Wesley was familiar with it. This was an organization that''smits even more grievous sins than criminals. As a matter of fact, their members are beyond the definition of Viins. "That''s great, right?"


    Contrary to Maria, Wesley was delighted at that discovery.


    Wesley always wanted to join Circus. In fact, that was his dream. He never truly expected that the Assembly of Freedom is a part of it.


    "For you, it might be. But not for me," Maria expresses. "The main reason why I joined the Assembly of Freedom was because I can freely do whatever I want. But once I join Circus, it would be no different from being in a cage where I am limited from doing anything,"


    "But everyone would fear you! Hence, you still can do it,"


    "You''ll be hunted by Heroes more powerful than you,"


    "Then you run, and the next day do it again!"


    "What if there''s no longer a next day?"


    "That¡­" Wesley realized. "It shouldn''t be possible, yourrades would not let that happen,"


    "Are you sure?"


    "Look here, I don''t know why you are hesitant in joining Circus, but for people like us, that''s the only paradise we can go,"


    "That''s because your Gift can be misunderstood as what Viins use, while mine isn''t. And I am not as grief-stricken as you that I''ve fallen to the abyss of purely believing that I can only do bad things and nothing more,"


    "Isn''t that the truth?!" Wesley startedughing. "You, me, and practically everyone else in the Assembly of Freedom. The reason why we joined the organization is because our Gifts are meant for evil!"


    "No," Maria disagrees.


    In the first ce, telekinesis is not a Gift for a Viin, rather it depends entirely on the user herself.


    "I became a Viin because that was the only choice I had at that time,"


    Kayn remained silent as he wants to know what made Maria choose to be a Viin.


    To tell the truth, in the past, he only believed that Viins became Viins because they are driven by their own self-interest. But when he was joined by a bunch of Viins in hisst attempt to enter the ''Tower'', he realized that there actually exist some Viins who were driven to a corner until they reached a point in time where they so desperately want to save themselves or to save someone else that being a Viin is the only choice they can pick as bing a Hero was no longer an option for them to choose.


    "Unlike you who went the wrong way and came to the Tenderfoot Vige, I was one of the lucky individuals that choose the correct path andter on arrived at the Green Horn Vige," Maria reminisced to her happy memories. "I met plenty of kind and good-hearted people over there who taught me how to use my Gift to help others and to find a way to escape from this god-forsaken ce,"


    "We traveled together, in monsters to be stronger, and discovered brand newnds across ''The Bridge''. But¡­" Maria reached the part of his memory that she doesn''t want to bring back. "In one of our missions, we were set up by our client because of greed. They desired one of the items we possess, and so they want to kill all of us. In our desperation to escape, our leader chooses to stay behind so that he can buy enough time for the rest to escape,"


    "Unfortunately, it still wasn''t enough as they were still able to catch up on us," Without noticing it, a tear fell from Maria''s right eye. She continued. "Because I was the youngest and the person who holds the most potential in our group, everyone decided that it is better to save me,"


    "Simply put, the only reason why I remained alive until today was because myrades believed and hope that I can save everyone from ''The Bridge'' someday,"

 Chapter 273 The War that Decides the Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 76

    <h4>Chapter 273 The War that Decides the Fate of ¡®The ?Bridge¡¯ Part 76</h4>


    Chapter 273: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 76


    "That''s a very touching story," Wesley smirked. "But who cares? You''re a Viin now. That''s the only thing that matters. And It is impossible for you to be a Hero again, let alone redeem yourself,"


    "I don''t hope to redeem myself nor do I even have the thought of bing a Hero," Maria shook her head. "The only thought that I want from the very beginning is to be free; freedom to do whatever I want, freedom to continue living my life without the fear of dying because of somebody else, and freedom from this ce,"


    "At first, I thought the Assembly of Freedom can give me that¡­"


    Wesley immediately interrupted. "It''s literally in our motto to stay in ''The Bridge'', so why are you having problems with it now?"


    "Do you seriously think that I care whether we stay in ''The Bridge'' or go back to Earth? Regardless of where we are, it doesn''t matter to me,"


    "But think about it, now that we are part of Circus, that means to say that we are getting trained to officially be their members by using ''The Bridge'' as a training ground to groom us,"


    "It''s only going to be a matter of time before we eventually leave ''The Bridge'' and if you''re seriously believing that it means we are now part of the real Circus, you''re wrong! Because we''ll definitely start from the bottom and slowly climb our way up!"


    "Considering that this is Circus we are talking about, I highly doubt a lot of us will make it, including both of us as well. Perhaps even Chief Kylo will notst long,"


    There''s no doubt about Chief Kylo''s capability in leading an organization. However, when ites to individual skills, there''s only one word to describe him ¡ª weak. In fact, he is so weak that he can''t even hope to defeat an old man and retired Hero like Old Mayor George, let alone members of Circus. His only saving grace would be to rely on his men.


    Maria came close to Wesley. "Where''s the freedom with that?"


    "That¡­" Wesley knows that Maria is right.


    "I just don''t want to be tied to an organization that doesn''t give me the freedom I want, especially for my own life,"


    Wesley lowered his head. "So, that''s why you betrayed us. Such a shallow reason and you betrayed all of your friends and people who helped you reach where you are right now,"


    "Are you an idiot? I made myself like this! I strive and work hard on my own to reach level 50. None of you fools helped me, it was all on me all along!" Maria rolled her eyes.


    Kayn snickered and asked. "Does that even exist in the Assembly of Freedom?"


    "You''re right, it doesn''t!" Wesley started bing hysterical out of his desperation to be saved by somebody else. "But still you''re a traitor!" He looks at Maria. "And once a traitor, will always be a traitor!"


    Wesley turns to look at Kayn. "She might have sided with you today, but in the future, there''s no telling if you''ll not be put in the same position as me right now,"


    "That''s impossible," Kayn pulled Wesley''s chin while wearing a wicked look on his face. "That''s because she is under my charm just like you as well,"


    In an instant, Wesley''s eyes widened.


    "He''s right," Maria confirmed. "And if that''s the only way for Kayn to trust me, I''d rather have this within me until the day I die," Hearing Wesley''s words just now, she realized that Kayn would most likely not fully trust her even if they be allies. She understood that because even she won''t trust anyone with a history of betraying somebody else. In that case, she can only trust that as long as she doesn''t harm Kayn, he will also not do anything to harm her as well.


    "It''s not only the two of you who are already under my control, even Christopher and some guild leaders are already in the palm of my hands," Kayn pushed Wesley''s head as he tightened his grip on the Kingmaker.


    "The Kingmaker?" Wesley finally noticed the weapon. "What are you nning to do to me?"


    "<<Cost of Loyalty>> I reckon that you are familiar with that Active Skill,"


    "No!" Wesley abruptly shook his head. "I''d rather die than swear my loyalty to you!"


    "Is that really want you wanted?" Kayn waves his hand, taking out the Molten Ice Sword from his Storage Ring. "Because I don''t mind granting you that. But then again," He pointed at the Undead Apple on the table. "I can always use that instead of using the Kingmaker,"


    "In that case, you will never be able to use my Gift again," Wesley doesn''t believe that Kayn will kill him and revive him from the dead using the Undead Apple. Because anyone who is revived from the dead will lose their Gift. The only thing that will remain would be their skills and talent.


    "I know that you''ll lose your Gift once you die," He has tried it with Chief Kody, Chief Ken, and Seven already. "But that doesn''t mean I can''t make you suffer a life worst than death for destroying my n, right?"


    "You''re supposed to be a Hero, right? Why does it feel like you''re worst than us?" Wesley is now feeling doubtful of what exactly Kayn is supposed to represent.


    "I heard not long ago someone saying the same thing as you,"


    Seven.


    "And my answer remains the same," Kayn repeated once again. "My age as a Hero was long already over ever since I was betrayed by my own kind. Now, all that''s left within me is overflowing vengeance and the goal of destroying what tried to destroy me,"


    "In that case, what are you supposed to be?"


    "An Anti-Hero? I guess¡­"


    "An Anti-Hero?" Maria repeated as she fell into deep thought.


    "Neither a Hero nor a Viin," Wesley realized something. "You''re free from the responsibility a Hero possesses, but you won''t be hated by the people like Viins experience,"


    "I think I like that idea better,"


    "Is that so?"


    "As long as I swear my loyalty to you, will I also have the chance to be an Anti-Hero?"


    "Depending on if you serve a purpose to me, definitely,"


    "Then what about Maria?" Wesleyins.


    "She''s going to be my ally soon,"


    "What if I also be your ally,"


    "You''re a different case,"


    "Why?!"


    "Because you didn''t approach me voluntarily, instead I made you change your mind,"


    "I guess so¡­" Wesley understood. "You promise that you will not order me to kill myself?"


    "As long as you keep being useful,"


    "Fair enough," Wesley is more intrigued by the idea of bing an Anti-Heropared to bing a member of Circus. The former''s future is unprecedented. Meaning, they''ll be its founder. And there''s no telling for certain what will happen to them. On the other hand, he already has an idea of what it would be like to be part of Circus. If he doesn''t be strong enough, then he''ll be prey for the strong.

 Chapter 274 The War that Decides the Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 77

    <h4>Chapter 274 The War that Decides the Fate of ¡®The ?Bridge¡¯ Part 77</h4>


    Chapter 274: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 77


    Without wasting any more time, Wesley started swearing his loyalty to Kayn.


    "I swear¡­"


    The ceremony for the <<Cost of Loyalty>> doesn''t really take that long.


    All the target has to do is say a bunch of words that imply they swear eternal loyalty to the holder of the Kingmaker, which is Kayn, and then it is over.


    "It''s done," Wesley stares at Kayn, hoping for thetter to let him go now.


    "Now you go back to my charm," Kayn activated his charm to Wesley once more.


    "What¡­?!" Wesley expressed his shock before his eyes turned to a daze.


    "Was that really necessary?" Maria can''t help looking at Kayn suspiciously.


    "Yes, because we are going to sleep," Kayn walks to his room. He can''t afford to let a conscious Wesley walk around without any restrictions in his room. Just Maria alone has already caused him not to have enough sleep, another one might just mean he won''t have any sleep.


    Along the way, he sent an order subconsciously to Wesley to make him go to sleep on the only sofa left after Maria cleared almost everything yesterday.


    Maria can only look at Wesley in pity before going to her bed and calling it a day.


    ¡­..


    The next day, while Kayn and Maria were eating their breakfast, he finally relented his control over Wesley, allowing thetter to take control of his body once again.


    "A bastard!" Wesley finished what he wanted to sayst night.


    "I guess I have to take control of you again,"


    "No, no, no! Wait!" Wesley hurriedly uttered to stop Kayn. Looking around his surrounding, he immediately noticed that it was already morning. He then senses that his body had ample restst night, which is why he is rejuvenated and also exins that Kayn didn''t mistreat him while he was under his charm. "I promise I''ll be good,"


    "Come and eat," Maria invited Wesley to the table.


    As he approached the table, Wesley immediately saw his favorite sweet and sour fish amongst the dishes served. He is already aware of how great Kayn''s cooking skill is. So, without any hesitation, he grabbed a te, put some rice on it, and immediately started devouring his breakfast.


    "Told you he''ll fall for it," Kayn opened his palms to Maria.


    "What was I thinking," Maria felt stupified of herself as she handed Kayn a pouch full of a hundred coins.


    "You two¡­" Wesley instantly understood what just happened. He looks at the sweet and sour fish while fighting the tears that desire to get out of his eyes right now.


    Unbeknownst to Wesley, Kayn had added Undead Apple to the sweet and sour fish.


    All of a sudden, the trio heard a knock on the door.


    "That must be Christopher," Maria quickly went to the door.


    Wesley momentarily paused from eating his breakfast and remembered Kayn mentioning that Christopher has already fallen victim to his charm, prompting him to continue eating again.


    As soon as Maria opened the door, both Gilbert and Christopher quickly walked inside.


    "Thank you for sending someone reliable to fetch me," Gilbert expresses his appreciation to Kayn.


    "No big deal," Kayn went to Maria''s bed. "So, what''s Old Mayor George''s respond?"


    "He agreed, but she''ll have to¡ª" Gilbert looks at Maria. "Be under Kayn''s management and supervision until the war is finally over,"


    "That will prevent me from being free to do whatever I want," Maria looks at Kayn hopeful that he would reconsider.


    "He basically meant that yes, but I''ll take full responsibility," Kayn smiles at Maria.


    "So, our alliance is done?"


    "That''s right," Kayn nodded. "Starting today, we are officially allies,"


    Maria instantly became delighted. "So, how about your charm over me?"


    "I rememberst night you said that you''ll let it remain in you," Kayn chuckled.


    "That¡­" Maria was only joking, but she is afraid Kayn took it seriously.


    With a wave of his hand, pink-colored smoke drifted out of Maria''s body before disappearing into nothingness. That pink smoke was the charm of the Undead Apple.


    "You¡­" Maria stares at Kayn in disbelief.


    Even Wesley looks at Kayn in doubt and shock, wondering why thetter did that.


    It wasn''t only the duo who didn''t expect such a thing to happen, Gilbert immediately jumped close to the door out of fear that Maria will threaten to throw him out of the window once more.


    "Don''t misunderstand, I didn''t remove all my charm on you," Kayn shook his head. "There''s still some left, twelve hours to be exact, which should be more than enough for me to kill you or to run away as far as possible from you,"


    "That won''t be necessary," Maria assures that there won''te a day where Kayn would have to use that to her.


    "That charm will also prevent you from doing things excessively," Kayn added.


    "I understand,"


    With that being said, everyone quickly finished their morning routines.


    Once they were done, Kayn returned to the tavern along with Gilbert and Wesley to continue with their n of Charming Freedom. On the other hand, Maria returned to the Daze Vige to take care of her own matters.


    Themotion caused after Wesley''s disappearance still continued as the Freedom Wings Brigade search expanded throughout the entire Daze Vige.


    It was thetest and hottest news that wee everyone the moment they woke up and take the first sip of their coffee.


    Because of the risk factor posed by Wesley''s disappearance, Chief Kylo had no other choice but to pretend that they have found Wesley and revealed a fake one to the masses.


    In fairness, the fake Wesley looked identical to the real Wesley, albeit the real reason for that was because that man possess the Gift to copy someone''s look after possessing a part of their body, including but not limited to their hair.


    "Patter¡­" Wesley muttered.


    Patter, the fourth member of the Assembly Knights, his Gift allows him to copy the identity of someone else for an hour.


    It is a pretty convenient Gift, but it''s not practical considering it can only allow one to disguise as somebody else for one hour.


    Kayn needs more than an hour, so he abandoned the thought of copying Patter''s Gift.

 Chapter 275 The War that Decides the Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 78

    <h4>Chapter 275 The War that Decides the Fate of ¡®The ?Bridge¡¯ Part 78</h4>


    Chapter 275: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 78


    Chief Kylo''s method of using Patter to disguise as Wesley was proven very effective as everyone started calming down after hearing the news that Wesley was found.


    As for the reason for Wesley''s sudden disappearance, Chief Kylo exins that it was to take care of his personal needs.


    Being members of the Assembly of Freedom, they quickly understood what it meant.


    In the end, the topic instantly shifted from Wesley''s disappearance to which among the women in the brothel in the Freedom City or the Daze Vige he screwed up yesterday to the point that he left his duties for nearly a single day and made Chief Kylo and the entire Assembly of Freedom so worried that they panicked just to search for him.


    It was quite evident from their reaction alone that it isn''t just Chief Kylo who is afraid of Wesley, but the majority of members of the Assembly of Freedom are also afraid of thetter as well, or to be exact, his Gift.


    "I can''t believe he actually turned me into a lusting bastard!" Wesley was fuming in anger. But he was helpless to change anything as he can''t go against Kayn''s order of staying in the tavern. If it wasn''t for this, he would have gone out and defended his image.


    "It''s quite obvious that you people aren''t capable of thinking rationally," Gilbert can''t believe that with there being a lot of excuses to use, Chief Kylo actually thought of saying that Wesley was away because he has to satisfy his carnal desire. It might have calmed people down and made them understand the situation, but it brought another problem as a result.


    "Since the higher-ups decided to screw some women during the war, people would now start doing the same," Gilbert added.


    "He is indeed a good leader, but sometimes his judgment is quite wed," Kayn agrees.


    Since this was a problem that the Assembly of Freedom has to deal with, Kayn and Gilbert decided not to bother with it and focus on their mission of Charming Freedom.


    As the news about an informant in a certain tavern that knows a lot about what''s really going on inside the Assembly of Freedom secretly spread amongst the allies of the organization, more and more guild leaders and Executives of various allied forces came to satisfy their curiosity.


    It was passed on secretly, so nobody from the Assembly of Freedom was able to get to know of such information, at least not yet.


    Time quickly passed as Kayn answered one client after another.


    "At the rate of our progress, it''s only going to be a matter of time before the Assembly of Freedom gets to hear of this," Gilbert informed Kayn. As of this moment, he is disguised as one of the bartenders of the tavern who is in charge of leading the clients to Kayn''s room.


    "Our Undead Apples will also run out," Wesley reminded.


    Kayn exins. "There''s no way for us to cook meals simr to restaurants as that would appear suspicious and would attract unnecessary attention to us,"


    That was why they are only serving snacks. Though, as a result of that, they have to use one Undead Apple for just a few snacks.


    Moreover, people with higher status don''t really eat tavern food because of its taste, so there is no way for them to take advantage of the kitchen too.


    Not to mention, there are a few guests that order two or more snacks as they listen to Kayn.


    "We can only hope that the quality would be able to defeat quantity," This is their only hope.


    Initially, Kayn thought that quality would always be better than quantity, but he realized that not all allies are actually powerful, including their guild leaders and Executives. In that case, even if theymand a considerable force, it can barely hope to contend against a few squads from the army of the Assembly of Freedom.


    "My minions can''t be under the charm for long as they might start suspecting something is strange about them once we deactivate it," Wesley gave out another reminder to Kayn. This was the exact reason why he only activates them when necessary and whenever he is sure that he won''t have to make use of them anymore ¡ª either because they''ll be dead or that they don''t have any use.


    Activating them for a prolonged period of time will leave nks in their memories and as those nks increase, so would their suspicion.


    In addition to that, every use would consume a duration for their charm. And in Wesley''s case, higher quality personnel means less duration since he barely has the chance to charm them once again as he had never thought of the same strategy as Kayn where he will force them to eat more Undead Apples.


    "I know," Kayn already took that into consideration, that is why he isn''t wasting time and in fact had already thought of another means. "We''ll leave tomorrow and return to the Dream Vige,"


    Wesley raised his eyebrow. "Why?"


    "They won''tst for more than forty hours if we don''t return. And if what Maria said is true that they are facing the main force, then that time would even be shorter," Kayn looks at Gilbert.


    Gilbert understood. "When I left yesterday, the enemy forces has already begun constructing boats and bridges to counter the moat we made. Also, our supply is steadily decreasing since they have to secretly leave the Dream Vige to prevent the enemy forces from finding out about our secret tunnel,"


    "The source of water for the moat has also been blocked by the enemy soldiers, thus we can only rely on the mages to resupply the water in the moat,"


    "Have they not thought of using the underwater cave system?"


    "They did, but they''re still connecting a tunnel to the moat,"


    "Underwater cave system?" Wesley instantly became curious.


    "You''ll know about it once we return to Dream Vige," Kayn doesn''t n on letting Wesley know more about their n yet even though it is impossible for thetter to betray him now. This is just a precautionary measure as he still doesn''t know the extent of the Active Skill <<Cost of Loyalty>> yet.

 Chapter 276 The War that Decides the Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 79

    <h4>Chapter 276 The War that Decides the Fate of ¡®The ?Bridge¡¯ Part 79</h4>


    Chapter 276: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 79


    "How about Maria?" Gilbert wonders.


    "She''ll stay here, of course," Kayn doesn''t want to officially bring Maria yet to the Green Horn City''s side.


    In fact, he is still hesitant of making Maria embrace the life of a Hero once again, as that doesn''t fit her present character or her future.


    He also doesn''t want to affect much about Maria''s future, including the fact that she became a Viin, as he still wants her to reach her fullest potential. He''ll only be changing the part where she joined Circus, that''s all.


    "Wouldn''t it be awkward for everyone if Ie with you as well?" Wesley scratched the back of his head. After all, everyone knows him well and they had even fought against each other. It wouldn''t even be strange if they kill him the instant they saw him.


    "Rest assured, my team is a separate force from the Green Horn City. You could say that we are mercenaries,"


    "Mercenaries-my-ass," Wesley rolled his eyes. If Kayn''s squad is really a mercenary force, they would never do things on their own ord and instead wait for Old Mayor George''s order.


    "Simply put, we are a separated force from the Green Horn City and have the right to do whatever we want," Gilbert interrupted.


    "Like the Assembly Knights?"


    "Yes, but has even more privileges and freedompared to the Assembly Knights or even the Green Horn Knights,"


    "Would Friedrich be there?"


    "No, but Emmet''s squad is present to assist us instead,"


    Hearing that, Wesley breathed a sigh of relief. He would never go to Dream Vige as long as Friedrich is present as he is afraid thetter would kill him the instant he sees his face.


    "Have you done something really bad to Friedrich that he''ll consider killing you immediately?" Kayn can''t help being curious about it.


    "Not really," Wesley shook his head.


    "He''s just been an annoying thorn to Friedrich and the rest of us from Green Horn Knights for a very long time," Gilbert interjected. Even he would consider immediately killing Wesley if he was in Friedrich''s shoes.


    "I see," Kayn understood.


    "The feelings are mutual," Wesley coldly harrumphed. The Green Horn Knights have been ruining his n time and time again as if they have some sort of vendetta against him.


    "That''s the reason why you''ll be dying soon," Gilbert couldn''t be anymore happier that they''ll be returning to Dream Vige soon. He can''t wait to see what Wesley would be like once they get there.


    "Let''s pack our things and inform Maria before leaving,"


    They''ve already done most of the job they came here to do. Hence, it is time to leave.


    With the intent of destroying the calm that the Assembly of Freedom had just brought to its people, Kayn started a fire on the tavern and the surrounding infrastructures.


    Unfortunately, because it was in the Freedom City and due to the previous operations they''d brought to this territory not so long ago, people were more than prepared for any fire, thus it was solved before it could even spread any farther.


    Nevertheless, they''ve achieved their goal of killing the people that no longer served any use in the tavern. That was the original goal as those people don''t have any purpose for the next chapter of their n anymore.


    It also serves as an alert to Maria toe to their room for an urgent matter.


    "Let me guess, you instigated that?" Maria was already familiar with the way Kayn does things. As long as arson is involved, there''s a high chance that he is the culprit behind it.


    "It was to give you a signal,"


    "That was a signal? I can''t wait to see how you''ll send me a message. Perhaps you''ll even burn the entire Daze Vige by then," Maria rolled her eyes.


    "Probably," Kayn chuckled.


    "So, what''s this all about?" Maria sat on her bed.


    "We''ll be returning to the Dream Vige today,"


    "Okay, then let''s go," Maria already stored all of her needs inside her Storage Ring ever since she transferred to Kayn''s room to make it convenient for her to change and do her morning routines.


    "You won''t be going with us,"


    "Why?!" Maria instantlyined. They''re already allies, so she doesn''t understand why she is not allowed to go with them.


    "You''ll be attacking the Assembly of Freedom from the rear alongside Wesley''s minions,"


    "So, I''ll have to babysit Wesley, too?" Maria stares at Wesley intensely.


    It was quite clear that Maria doesn''t want to.


    "Wesley will be going with us. We can''t afford to let the puppeteer be in the center of the enemy''s territory,"


    After all, if ever Wesley dies, the Undead army will instantly disappear and so would the charm controlling the victims to his Undead Apple. By then, only a few people under his control would be left to assist Maria.


    "So, I''ll be left all alone? I don''t want to!" Maria objected.


    "You won''t be staying here for long," Kayn assures Maria. "Once we solve the matter with the Dream Vige, the real war would soon follow. By then, it wouldn''t be long until we make use of our hidden card in the Assembly of Freedom,"


    "Are you sure?" Maria calms down.


    "We can''t afford to reveal any signs yet, so until then, please be patient and continue with your duty in the Assembly of Freedom," Kayn requested.


    "What if they send me to the Drowsy Vige to help invade the territory?"


    "They shouldn''t, right? After all, they still haven''t found where they''ve gone to,"


    "No," Maria shook her head. "They already did,"


    "Since when?" Kayn was greatly rmed by this unexpected news.


    "Ever since morning yesterday. They only informed us today because of Wesley''s sudden disappearance,"


    It seems like he has disrupted something really crucial for their side because of his stunt.


    Once again, he ended up with a fair exchange against the Assembly of Freedom.


    "So, what''s their n?"


    "The Liberty Fire Brigade and the Unity Circle Brigade already left just now to attack the Drowsy Vige,"


    "This is bad!" Gilbert looks at Kayn.


    "We''ll have to go now," Kayn nodded at Gilbert and Wesley before turning to Maria. "Don''t think that this has changed my mind. You still have to stay here,"


    "I¡­" Maria pouted. She really doesn''t want to stay in this ce as she feels like any time from now something really bad is about to happen to her. She doesn''t know how to exin it, but it''s like Chief Kylo has something really big prepared that involves everyone in the Assembly of Freedom.

 Chapter 277 The War that Decides the Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 80

    <h4>Chapter 277 The War that Decides the Fate of ¡®The ?Bridge¡¯ Part 80</h4>


    Chapter 277: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 80


    Kayn, Gilbert, and Wesley hurriedly left Freedom City.


    Because of the influence they''ve built themselves over the time they''ve stayed in the Freedom City, as a result, they have already constructed a secret tunnel leading outside of the territory.


    As soon as they got out, men under their charm were already waiting for them with horses prepared for their departure.


    Even with their current level, running on foot to get to the Dream Vige would still take a considerable amount of timepared to horses, especially high-level horses.


    Before finally leaving, Kayn and Wesley both activated the charm they put on every single guard stationed on top of the wall. In this way, they were able to disappear without anyone seeing them.


    The trio swiftly made their journey south, to the direction of the Dream Vige.


    Since they were using horses, it only took two hours for them to reach the Hush Vige.


    With the Hush Vige in sight, they instantly slowed down and steer clear away from the perimeter of the Hush Vige in order to avoid getting caught by their guards stationed on the walls.


    They made their detour to the west as it was the safest direction to go considering that the east would lead to the Slumbering Forest where it is uncertain what both sides involved in the war are preparing.


    "Should we go to the source of water for the moat first and reim it?" Gilbert can''t help suggesting after noticing the direction they are going now.


    Just a few kilometers to the west would be the river that supplies water to the moat surrounding the northern part of the Dream Vige.


    At this moment, the river is protected by members of the Assembly of Freedom, preventing anyone from the Dream Vige from essing the river.


    "We don''t have any Mages, so it would be impossible to destroy whatever they are using to block the river," Wesley objected. He can already guess the Assembly of Freedom has constructed a damn around the river.


    "Nothing to worry about," Kayn took out a few dynamite.


    "Arson, again? Seriously?!" Wesley can''t help but be stupefied. Just how many times has it already been that Kayn used dynamites and burn down infrastructures for his purpose? "How about I suggest something else when we get there?"


    "We''re good," Gilbert directly rejected. He believes Kayn has another idea in mind, which is why he is using dynamites.


    "Suit yourself," Wesley ceases persuading Kayn and Gilbert.


    With the speed of their horses, it didn''t take much longer for the trio to get to the river.


    They immediately spotted the cause of the blockage of the river.


    As expected, it was a dam.


    A mini-size dam, to be exact.


    They quickly disembarked on their horses in order to get a better view of the dam.


    "This is perfect," Kayn muttered after analyzing the structure of the dam.


    Gilbert understood.


    "What do you mean?" Wesley wonders.


    "You see the difference in the water level?" Gilbert pointed out. "Because they''ve built a dam, the water level of the west side is much higherpared to the east,"


    "What about it?" Wesley still doesn''t get it.


    "Now, imagine what would happen if we destroy the dam," Gilbert chuckled. "It will create a big wave, strong enough to topple every single bridges and boats the Assembly of Freedom has prepared,"


    "That¡­" Wesley finally understood why it is always better to use arson in this kind of thing. Destruction brings about more destruction. And in this case, the Assembly of Freedom would be suffering once more.


    "They should have expected that this can be a dual-edged de for them, so we have to tread carefully," Kayn reminded.


    "No need," Wesley stepped forward. "It just so happens that I have a few men under my charm in their ranks,"


    Not long after, ten men arrived in front of them and immediately kneeled down in front of Wesley.


    "You can hand them the dynamites and leave the rest of the work to them," Wesley proudly uttered. With this n, they won''t have to do anything and could just simply watch as everything unfolds.


    "Alright," Kayn doesn''t see any problem with that. In fact, he prefers to do it this way. "But make sure to clean your own mess,"


    "I''ll just pull the same thing you did," Wesley smiles wickedly. He was implying back when Kayn made a lot of people do kamikaze in the Daze Vige


    "Do whatever you want," Kayn stepped aside and decided to leave everything to Wesley.


    "Okay," Wesley started instructing the men on what they should do.


    Without any objections, the men stuffed all the dynamites inside their clothes before leaving for the direction of the wall of the dam.


    "All we have to do now is to wait,"


    "Wait?" Kayn chuckled. "Hop on your horse, we will use the chaos as cover to get inside the Dream Vige,"


    "Seriously?!" Wesley hurriedly jumped on his horse.


    Kayn, Gilbert, and Wesley quickly left the dam and went ahead in the direction of the Dream Vige.


    After a few minutes, a series of loud explosions echoed throughout the river, and a thick ck cloud of smoke that pirs to the sky appeared.


    A few secondster, they felt the strong shockwave caused by the explosion, pushing some of the tall trees to the east direction while uprooting some small ones from the ground.


    Soon following that was a powerful tremor that seems to be getting closer to them.


    It was clearly the water being unleashed from the destroyed dam.


    "We have to hurry!" Kayn eximed as he whipped the horse with its leash.


    Nyeeh!


    The three horses let out a painful cry before hurrying their footsteps.


    As they looked behind them, they could see strong gushing water seemingly chasing after them a few hundred meters away.


    "We won''t make it in time!" Gilbert realized.


    "We will!" Kayn started whipping his horse


    As the horses galloped faster, their eyes soon caught sight of the Dream Vige walls with some parts engulfed in mes and billowing columns of smoke. Small holes could also be seen around the walls, evidently from the sessful assault of the siege machines.


    Despite the onught from the Assembly of Freedom, the vige stood resilient, its defenses still holding strong.


    Looking up the walls, they could see dozens of men firing at the front with magic spells, arrows, and bullets. There were also some men hurrying to repair the damage to the walls.


    Meanwhile, the forces of the Assembly of Freedom are slowly getting closer and closer to reaching the shore of the Dream Vige using boats and bridges as means to approach.

 Chapter 278 The War that Decides the Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 81

    <h4>Chapter 278 The War that Decides the Fate of ¡®The ?Bridge¡¯ Part 81</h4>


    Chapter 278: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 81


    "They''re holding on a lot better than I initially expected," Kayn can''t help but mutter in a remark.


    Along the way here, he was already expecting the walls to have been destroyed and crumbled to the ground, and they have no other choice but to use what''s left of it to hold their ground and continue to defend until the reinforcement finally arrives. Yet, it has already been more than thirty hours, probably close to forty, yet the walls still didn''t fall.


    "Now what?!" Wesley looks at Kayn and Gilbert.


    "We go to the bridge," Gilbert maneuvered his horse in the direction of one of the three bridges around the moat.


    When they constructed the moat, they specifically built three bridges that directed to the north, northeast, and northwest.


    They''ve chosen the northwest bridge as it is the closest to them.


    Obviously, the forces of the Assembly of Freedom had thought of using the bridge to get inside the Dream Vige. But, because of how narrow it was and the fact that it is a choke point, they abandoned the idea and went to find other methods instead.


    Contrary to them, however, they don''t have to worry about it.


    "There are so many soldiers ahead!" Wesley expresses his concern.


    "Over there!" Gilbert pointed at the part where there were only a few rows of soldiers in the formation.


    Kayn, Gilbert, and Wesley didn''t hesitate as they charged inside the weakest part of the formation of the Freedom Fang Brigade and made a path straight to the bridge.


    Since nobody was prepared for the sudden arrival of the trio, thus there wasn''t any sort of defense that prevented them from breaking inside.


    Bang!


    The orderly formation of soldiers was swiftly disrupted by the charging horses, sending them flying and clearing a path for the trio to reach the bridge.


    Simrly to the Freedom Fang Brigade, the forces inside the Dream Vige also didn''t expect the sudden arrival of these three people.


    "It''s Kayn, Gilbert, and¡­ is that Wesley?!" Jericho strangely looks at thest person. "Anyways, open the gate!"


    Hearing Jericho''s order, the gate of the southwest bridge slowly opened.


    Seeing the gate opening, the soldiers of the Freedom Fang Brigade stationed close to the southwest bridge immediately started chasing after Kayn''s group, intending to get inside the gate and prevent it from closing down so that the rest of their force can get in.


    All of a sudden though...


    Whaaasssh!


    The distant roar of surging waves suddenly echoed across the horizon, rapidly approaching the bridge with great force.


    "What the!" Jericho stared with wide eyes at the iing disaster. He quickly turns to look at Kayn''s direction and started waving his hand to motion them to hurry up.


    Kayn clearly knows already what was about toe as they have brought it along with them. Hence, he stood up on top of the horse while bncing himself, making sure that he won''t fall.


    Seeing Kayn''s action, Gilbert and Wesley nodded at each other before following.


    Meanwhile, the eyes of the soldiers from the Freedom Fang Brigade immediately lit up upon seeing the huge wave as they hastened their chase after Kayn and his group. In their minds, their n has immediately changed from helping their force to get inside the bridge to helping the crashing wave to get inside the Dream Vige.


    As long as that huge wave gets inside the Dream Vige, it would be easy for their Freedom Fang Brigade to invade all the gates as the soldiers of the Dream Vige would be busy taking care of themselves.


    Witnessing the strange sight of the trio standing on their respective horses, Jericho quickly understood what they intended to do next, thus he directly ordered the men stationed at the southwest gate. "Slowly close the gate!"


    The soldiers didn''t understand and thought that they are going to abandon Kayn and his group, making them hesitant about it.


    "Just do it!" Jericho eximed.


    Hearing Jericho''s loud outburst, the soldiers no longer hesitated as they started slowly closing the gates.


    Kayn nodded his head and quickly grabbed the leash of the horse.


    As they got closer to the gate, he prepared himself in order to be ready to jump inside at the perfect moment.


    Kayn reminded. "Make sure to pull your horse before jumping," In that way, they can save the horses from getting swept by the wave.


    "Understand!"


    Gilbert and Wesley both acknowledged.


    When they were finally close enough to the gate, Kayn, Gilbert, and Wesley immediately jumped inside. Because their strength was enough to pull a horse, the horses were easily brought along their jumps.


    Bang!


    The gate closes.


    Whasssh!


    Quickly afterward, the sound of crashing waves came forth echoing behind the gates.


    Whoosh!


    Two Mages immediately cast an earth wall spell on the gate to hold it down and prevent it from breaking due to the strong crashing waves.


    In addition to that, two pairs of mages respectively went to the north and northeast gates to cover the gates with earth walls.


    The roar of the giant wave continued to travel from west to east, devouring anything and everything along its path as if a hungry dragon starved for many days.


    Nothing was spared; the bridge to the three gates, the boats, the small bridges, and the unlucky soldiers from the Freedom Fang Brigade who were in the moat.


    Boom!


    A loud explosion sounded as the wave crashed to the ground on the other side of the moat.


    The excess water instantly started flooding the nearby surroundingnd and it continued heading in the direction of the Slumbering Forest, tumbling almost every small tree along the way.


    As the wave subsided, a downpour of rain ensued, casting a somber atmosphere over the moat and unveiling the destructive aftermath it had inflicted upon both sides.


    For the Green Horn Vige, only the walls were damaged. And due to the quick response of the mages, they were able to swiftly fix all holes and prevent the walls from crumbling down.


    On the other hand, a significant portion of the Freedom Fang Brigade''s formation was decimated, with the unfortunate soldiers left lifeless in the moat, their bodies floating as victims of drowning.

 Chapter 279 The War that Decides the Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 82

    <h4>Chapter 279 The War that Decides the Fate of ¡®The ?Bridge¡¯ Part 82</h4>


    Chapter 279: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 82


    Nobody expected that Kayn and his group would make such a great entrance.


    However, in the end, it was a perfect execution and a huge sess for the Dream Vige side, causing the morale of the Freedom Fang Brigade to subside.


    In the next moment, the battle came to an abrupt halt as both forces began to regroup and assess the extensive damage caused by the unforeseen catastrophe brought upon the battlefield by Kayn and his group.


    The forces of the Dream Vige used this opportunity to heal their injured and to repair every single damage around their walls in order to prepare for the next round.


    On the contrary, the Freedom Fang Brigade retreated slightly away from the Dream Vige as they soon got a clear number of their total casualties.


    It was grave, very grave.


    In total, they''ve just lost a quarter of their entire force, totaling more than one thousand five hundred soldiers.


    Needless to say, this wasn''t just from the wave alone. It was their total casualties from the start of the battle until now.


    In addition to those casualties, they were left bewildered and perplexed by the surprising sight of Wesley entering the Dream Vige alongside their top adversary, Kayn.


    As far as they know, Wesley disappeared from the Freedom City yesterday and was foundter in the morning today, thus how on ''The Bridge'' is this man with Kayn right now?


    In order to think of what to do next without the possibility of being disrupted, they had no other choice but to retreat away from the Dream Vige.


    Meanwhile¡­


    Whoosh!


    Dozens of des pointed at Wesley''s neck from all different directions.


    In response, Wesley raised his hand, in hopes that they won''t try to cut his head off.


    "It''s alright!" Gilbert pushed everyone away from Wesley before helping thetter get up. "Are you alright?"


    "Yes," Wesley appreciated Gilbert''s assistance.


    "What''s happening here, Kayn?" Jericho approaches the man who was just deemed a Hero by everyone in the Dream Vige.


    "This is not a good ce to talk, let''s pick elsewhere to continue with our conversation," Kayn looks around and sees a lot of people watching them right now.


    "Clear the surrounding," Jericho outright rejected Kayn''s request and instead propose his men to vacate the ce so that they can talk.


    Quickly, unneeded personnel were ordered to go back to their assigned jobs and stop being nosy on the current matters.


    While it was crucial for everyone to be aware of the situation and understand why Wesley was present in the Dream Vige, it would be more prudent to share the information once all uncertainties have been resolved, so as to avoid unnecessary confusion and turmoil.


    Now, only the essential personnel remained,prising Jericho, Master Khalid, Jude, Charles, Lilith, and Emmet. While the rest of the members of the third squad of the Green Horn Knights were assigned to secure the perimeter, ensuring that no one approached them without permission.


    "Didn''t you receive Randy''s news?" Kayn doubtfully asked.


    "We did, but we didn''t expect that you''ll bring Wesley here!" Jude stares at Wesley with his staff ready to cast a magic spell to kill thetter at any given moment.


    "There was a change of ns,"


    "How can we be sure that you are indeed Kayn and haven''t sumbed to Wesley''s charm?"


    "Well," Kayn felt troubled.


    Without any warning, Kayn took out the Kingmaker from his Storage Ring.


    "This should do it," Kayn looks at Wesley. "Swear your allegiance to me once again,"


    "Do I really have to do it again?" Wesleyins.


    "I guess it can''t help if you''ll be dying today,"


    "Alright, I understand!" Wesley hurriedly interjected.


    In the next moment, Wesley started swearing his allegiance to Kayn once again.


    As soon as that was done, everyone was finally relieved that Kayn hasn''t fallen victim to Wesley''s charm yet. Instead, it was Wesley who is serving Kayn right now.


    "By the way, shouldn''t Maria have apanied you too?" Jericho can''t help asking. ording to the report he received from Randy, Kayn has supposedly seded in charming Maria, Wesley, and Christopher.


    "We had to make her stay so that she can be of assistance once we start the attack on the rear of the Assembly of Freedom," Kayn exins.


    "Is that part of the change of ns you''ve mentioned just now?" Jude wonders.


    "It''s not really a change of ns. More like an addition to the existing n," Gilbert interrupted.


    "Alright,"


    Everyone understood.


    "Can I start informing everyone of the new addition to the n?" Kayn looks at everyone. Since their curiosity has already been satisfied, it should be about time that they stop beating around the bush and start discussing important matters.


    "Yes," Jericho nodded his head before waving his hand, immediately taking out a bunch of chairs and a table from his Storage Ring.


    With that, Kayn started informing everyone of his progress during his stay in the Daze Vige and Freedom City.


    It took around thirty minutes for Kayn to finally finish exining and answering everyone''s questions about the addition for their p.


    Strangely enough, there were still no signs of the Freedom Fang Brigade attacking the Dream Vige again after such a long time has passed.


    In order to find out what the enemy is currently doing, they came up on top of the wall to see the formation of the Freedom Fang Brigade.


    "They''re also in the midst of discussing something important," Gilbert said in a remark after noticing a group of people talking with each other while sitting around a table.


    "That''s Garvin, the major general of the Freedom Fang Brigade," Wesley started describing. "He is a level fifty Knight who fights as if he is a Guardian by using a sword and a shield,"


    "Those two people he is talking with are the pair of deputies of their brigade, Ekin and Ss. Both are Knights as well, and they respectively use axe and spear,"


    "The rest are Executives or high-ranking offers of their brigade,"

 Chapter 280 The War that Decides the Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 83

    <h4>Chapter 280 The War that Decides the Fate of ¡®The ?Bridge¡¯ Part 83</h4>


    Chapter 280: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 83


    "Do you happen to have anyone in their ranks under your charm?" Jericho suddenly asked.


    "That''s the problem, I always have someone under my charm everywhere," Wesley proudly responded.


    Contrary to Wesley''s expectation of receiving praise from everyone, he was met with piercing gazes from them. It has now be quite clear to him that he still has to work extremely hard in order to get the approval of everyone. Otherwise, his efforts and contribution would just be overlooked or worst be misunderstood.


    "We''ll use themter," Kayn reminded before turning to Jericho. "I''ll be takingmand from now on. In the meantime, inform everyone of the news that Wesley has sworn his allegiance to me through the Kingmaker,"


    "Wouldn''t that be bad?" Jericho felt slightly hesitant about it. After all, Chief Kylo should be dying to get back the Kingmaker every single minute of each passing day.


    "That''s the intention," Kayn understood the risk factor of announcing that the Kingmaker is in the Dream Vige. But, that''s their only way if they want to gather the entire force of the Assembly of Freedom in a single ce.


    "The Dream Vige won''t be able to hold on with the mass of their force," Jericho objected. He doesn''t believe that it is a good idea. They should prepare this thoroughly first before deciding.


    "I am not expecting the Dream Vige to hold on, anyways," Kayn shook his head. This wasn''t a negotiation, he already made the decision when he was on his way back.


    "Are you certain about this," Jude interjected.


    "We''ve thought about this multiple times throughout the journey, and time and time again we arrived at the same conclusion," Gilbert butted in.


    Kayn started exining. "The Slumber Vige and Dormant Vige have already been destroyed, and as we speak the Liberty Fire Brigade and Unity Circle Brigade are on their way to the Drowsy Vige,"


    "No way!" Jericho was instantly rendered shocked. "It should be impossible for them to find out this soon,"


    "They already did, two days ago. And because of the disruption I''ve caused, we were informed toote as they''ve already left when we got to know," Kayn still doesn''t regret his decision to disrupt the Assembly of Freedom though. Even if he was given another chance, he''d still do the same.


    "This is bad!" Jericho looks at Master Khalid.


    "Even if I travel on our fastest horse, it would still be impossible for me to get there on time," Master Khalid shook his head. "And yes, that includes going to the center of the Slumbering Forest as a shortcut,"


    "Our only way of making them retreat is if we give them a big enough reason to turn back," This was one of the reasons why he decided to reveal the Kingmaker in the Dream Vige.


    The Drowsy Vige is in danger, and none of them know about it. Also, it is next to impossible for them to inform anyone from there as they are extremely far away. To be exact, they are located at the south of the Slumbering Forest, while the Drowsy Vige is at the north.


    While they can enter the center of the Slumbering Forest to get there quickly, it still wouldn''t be enough as the Liberty Fire Brigade and Unity Circle Brigade have left the Daze Vige a long time ago.


    "Are you sure that they would do that?" Jericho wants to be certain first because he''d be risking his life and the entire Herald Guild once he does this.


    "I can guarantee that for you," Wesley stepped forward. "I have witnessed how frustrated and unreasonable the ns Chief Kylo has proposed to us just to get the Kingmaker back. There was even a point where he is willing to risk the entire Assembly of Freedom just to get it,"


    "Well, after all, it is a legendary weapon," Jude found it reasonable enough.


    The possibility of finding a legendary weapon is almost close to impossible. Not to mention, finding another one again. Unless one''s luck is over the top, that''s the only way they could get another legendary weapon.


    Kayn has witnessed countless instances where people risked everything they have in order to possess a legendary weapon, and he has also seen numerous asions where people steal it from somebody else.


    That is how difficult it is to get one legendary weapon.


    So, Chief Kylo''s response isn''t shocking. In fact, it is within their expectations, especially considering that he knows the capability of the Kingmaker.


    "I understand," Jericho finally relented. "I''ll inform everyone and will take the extra step of making sure the Freedom Fang Brigade really gets to know about it as well,"


    "I''ll leave the job to you," Kayn believes that Jericho will be able to get the job done perfectly.


    After Jericho left, Kayn started deligating tasks for each and every one.


    For thest task.


    Kayn looks at Lilith. "I want you to secretly leave the Dream Vige and go meet up with the reinforcement ahead of time to inform them of our n,"


    "I am afraid I can''t do that," Lilith looks at the major general of the Freedom Fang Brigade, Garvin. It was only because of her presence in the Dream Vige that the man still hasn''t made a move yet. Once she leaves this ce, everyone in this territory will be at his mercy.


    "I am sending you because you are the fastest among everyone here,"


    "I still won''t agree," Lilith shook her head.


    "How about I''ll go instead," Gilbert volunteered.


    "Your job is to guard Wesley and make sure he doesn''t betray us,"


    "He is free to go, I don''t n on betraying you anymore," Wesley motioned his hand for Gilbert to quickly leave.


    "Here''s a suggestion," Lilith approached Kayn. "We can send an average soldier out of the Dream Vige along with one of the fastest horses in our stable. I guarantee you that he''ll still be able to get to our reinforcement not slower than me. In fact, you can even do that yourself,"


    "I think you''ve misunderstood. You are the fastest among everyone that Old Mayor George would believe here," Kayn pointed at him and Gilbert.


    He had personally witnessed Old Mayor George rmending Lilith to Friedrich personally. The only reason for that is if he trusts her enough to rmend her to be the recement of Gilbert and to be one of the members of the first squad of the Green Horn Knights, which is the squad he trusts the most.


    Lilith turned silent before finally muttering. "When do I leave?"


    "Right now!"


    The earlier Lilith leaves, the quicker she gets back to the Dream Vige and continues deterring Garvin from turning the entire territory into a simr state to the Hush Vige ¡ª a madhouse.

 Chapter 281 The War that Decides the Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 84

    <h4>Chapter 281 The War that Decides the Fate of ¡®The ?Bridge¡¯ Part 84</h4>


    Chapter 281: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 84


    Lilith waited for the perfect timing before leaving Dream Vige through one of the tunnels in the underwater cave system. With her level, she swam really fast and in just a matter of a single minute, she was already out in the Slumbering Forest going to the southeast direction.


    "Now, all we have to do is make sure Garvin doesn''t find out that Lilith is away," Kayn turns to look at the north where their enemy forces are stationed.


    At this moment, the Freedom Fang Brigade is still discussing something really important.


    Unbeknownst to them though, Natas is just standing beside them while eavesdropping openly on their conversation.


    "How do you n on doing that exactly?" Wesley still can''t believe that Kayn actually decided to send out their most powerful ally away from the Dream Vige at the most crucial part of the battle. If it wasn''t for the fact that thetter had made him swear to the Kingmaker right in front of everyone''s eyes, it wouldn''t be surprising if they believe that he is controlling Kayn with his charm and sending Lilith away is part of his n so that nobody can deter Garvin anymore fromying waste to the entire Dream Vige.


    "People who are level fifty might be considered the powerhouse inside ''The Bridge'' but that doesn''t make them immortal," Kayn scoffed. He had defeated plenty of Heroes and Viins who are level fifty in the past while still being at his current level. So, he isn''t really afraid of them. Needless to say, there are exceptions, like Maria and Lilith. The level of these two people doesn''t equate to their full power. He is certain of that.


    "I know, but that still doesn''t answer my question of how you''ll pull that off,"


    Kayn ignored Wesley as he looks at Jude instead and asked. "Jude, are the catapults ready?"


    He was referring to the catapults that they disarmed during their previous invasion of the Dream Vige.


    During their nning before they left the Dream Vige, he had specifically ordered them to repair the siege weapons so that they can make use of them once the Assembly of Freedom invades them.


    Although they were only able to salvage some of the siege weapons as the rest were thoroughly destroyed during the battle. Nheless, they can be useful once they are finally repaired.


    Jude nodded to confirm. "We''ve already prepared all of them at the warehouse,"


    "You go tell our men to leave a quarter of them in the warehouse while bringing the rest in front of the walls," Kayn ordered.


    "Alright!" Jude acknowledges before quickly leaving along with Charles.


    "How about us?" Emmet stepped forward.


    "Gather your men here, I''ll tell all of you what to do next," Kayn responded.


    Emmet immediatelyplied and brought Miya, Amy, Eliam, and Van in front of Kayn.


    "Miya, Amy, and Eliam go to the northwest,"


    "Van will be at the northeast, and Emmet, you''ll stay with me,"


    "Alright!"


    Everyone immediatelyplied.


    "Now, we wait," Kayn looks at their enemy camp once again.


    Time quickly passed.


    All the catapults were soon brought to the north wall and were then strategically positioned in three different locations¡ª northeast, north, and northwest. In this way, they can cover a wider range, and wouldn''t be at the risk ofpletely getting destroyed by a single attack.


    Not long after that, the meeting area of the enemy camp suddenly went intomotion after a messenger approached them.


    Garvin instinctively looked in the direction of the Dream Vige and was immediately met with Kayn''s gaze.


    Kayn smiled before taking out the Kingmaker from his Storage Ring as if to confirm the news to Garvin himself.


    Instantly, Garvin stood up from his seat with a look of shock stered all over his face before being followed by his two deputies, Ekin and Ss. The duo put their hands on their respective weapons as if ready and prepared to attack at any given moment.


    The rest of the Executives around the meeting table also stood up.


    "Come-and-get-it-if-you-dare," Kayn muttered word by word with his mouth in hopes that Garvin would be able to get it.


    As expected, Garvin understood.


    However, contrary to what Kayn was hoping, Garvin simply shook his head before returning back to his seat. He also motioned with his hand for the rest to calm down and return to their seat.


    "Too bad, he didn''t fall for it," Kayn was slightly disappointed.


    "What''s wrong with you?!" Wesley eximed in panic at Kayn. "You were supposed to prevent him from attacking us, yet you tried to provoke him,"


    "It worked, right?"


    The end justifies the means.


    In the end, Garvin didn''t attack them.


    That''s all that matters.


    "What if it didn''t?"


    "That''s why I had the catapults prepared,"


    Without a doubt, Garvin would intercept and prevent the catapult attack from striking his army, particrly since he had recently suffered a significant loss of a quarter of his entire force.


    "For goodness sake, they are desperate to get the Kingmaker!"


    "It is Chief Kylo who is desperate, not them," Kayn turned around. "Even if they know their leader desperately wants the Kingmaker, the most reasonable thing to do is to wait for his order instead of making a move on their own,"


    "How can you be so certain of that?" Wesley is still doubtful about that.


    "Because the Assembly of Freedom functions like a mercenary," Kayn had heard from Maria before that the organization is just simr to the Thieves Guild Alliance. In that case, a mercenary group.


    Following the way a mercenary group functions, they won''t do anything unless their leader would tell them to do it.


    The only people who are excepted by that rule who are currently present in the area are the Freedom Fighters, which he isn''t worried about as he had long already prepared Emmet''s squad specifically to deal with them if they dare to attack.


    Speaking about the Freedom Fighters, Kayn asked Wesley. "Howe I still haven''t seen those people?"


    "Perhaps they''re having fun at the Hush Vige. You might not know this, but even Garvin can''t control them. Most of the time, they only follow Chief Kylo''s direct order, and asionally the Assembly Knights and they hated us so much because we always leave them with no other choice,"

 Chapter 282 The War that Decides the Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 85

    <h4>Chapter 282 The War that Decides the Fate of ¡®The ?Bridge¡¯ Part 85</h4>


    Chapter 282: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 85


    "The Freedom Fighters?" Emmet interrupted their conversation. "They were actually here the whole time yesterday. I don''t know where they went afterward, but our scouts saw them going to the Slumbering Forest,"


    "Do you know what they were doing before going to the Slumbering Forest?" Kayn couldn''t help but feel suspicious about it.


    Unlike the Freedom Fang Brigade which works in the conventional way, squads like the Freedom Fighters don''t.


    The very reason why they received some form of freedom from Chief Kylo is because of the fact that they have their own way of doing things that don''t go in line with the force they are a part of. They are basically unpredictable.


    In other words, they are special, and special people always have their special way of doing things.


    In order to find out what sort of special way the Freedom Fighters are nning, they''ll have to deduce it from their recent actions.


    "Nothing special aside from checking the waters around the moat,"


    "Water?" Kayn doesn''t like what he is hearing. He turned to Wesley and asked. "What''s the known specialty of the Freedom Fighters?"


    "Rescue mission and reconnaissance," Wesley doesn''t understand what''s getting Kayn so worked up.


    "This is bad!" Kayn looks at Jude, Charles, and Emmet.


    Quite timely enough, Jericho has finally returned from his task.


    "What''s with themotion?" Jericho asked. He had just returned from spreading information everywhere around the premises of the Dream Vige about the Kingmaker, yet upon his return he was immediately greeted by a looming atmosphere.


    "Great!" Kayn was delighted. "The four of you, check every possible entrance that leads to the underwater cave system around the Dream Vige, including those that we still haven''t excavated but are underneath the territory,"


    "What''s the matter?" Jericho doesn''t understand what''s the reason yet.


    "It is possible the Freedom Fighters have be aware of the underwater cave system and is nning of making use of it to secretly get inside the Dream Vige,"


    Hearing that, everyone''s face turned solemn. They didn''t bother asking more and swiftly left to start their search.


    "How about me?" Gilbert pointed at himself.


    "This time, you both will act as my personal bodyguard," Kayn turns in the direction of the Freedom Fang Brigade once again.


    "Including me?" Wesley seriously doubts what he just heard.


    "Yes,"


    "Does that mean you trust me with your life now?"


    "Not really," Kayn shook his head. "You''ll be acting as my shield,"


    "You¡­!" Wesley feels wronged.


    "Get used to it," Gilbert chuckled.


    While Jericho and the others were out searching, Kayn focused his attention on Garvin and the rest of the higher-ups of the Freedom Fang Brigade, patiently waiting for their next course of action.


    Although he has the choice tounch a sudden attack right now, as that would no doubt surprise them and would definitely eliminate a considerable portion of the enemy''s army. He decided not to as he can''t predict what the likely oue would be yet. With such uncertainty, the risk is going to be very high for them. In addition to that, his goal is something else.


    Furthermore, he is trying to buy as much time as possible for Lilith. The longer it takes for the Freedom Fang Brigade to attack them, the closer they are to achieving victory for their n.


    After around an hour of observing, the meeting between Garvin and the higher-ups of the Freedom Fang Brigade seems to finallye to an end.


    As if to confirm that, Natas made his way back to Kayn.


    Kayn looks at Natas meaningfully.


    "Your guess is right. They will postpone invading the Dream Vige until they receive further updates from Chief Kylo," Natas started exining. "They''ve already sent messenger birds and personnel to the Hush Vige and Daze Vige to spread the information as quickly as possible to every single member of the Assembly of Freedom,"


    "In addition to that, they''ll wait for reinforcement from the Hush Vige before continuing their attack, which would take more than a day to reach the Dream Vige. So, you can rest assured that there won''t be any battle yet,"


    "Although, they did mention leaving things to the Freedom Fighter in the meantime. I don''t know what it meant exactly, but it sure does imply they don''t n on giving up inflicting damage to our side despite this unspoken temporary ceasefire,"


    "In that case," Kayn muttered. "Everyone, prepare the catapults!"


    "Prepare the catapults!"


    The order was immediately passed on to the rest of the soldiers.


    "What are you doing?!" Gilbert was greatly rmed.


    "I thought that you were nning on buying time for Lilith?" Wesley became confused.


    "Change of ns," Kayn exined. "We are going to stir the rats,"


    "Stir the rats?"


    "Are you going to bring mayhem and chaos to their formation?"


    "Yes,"


    "It''s uncertain how they would take it, but are you sure of the oue?"


    "Are you sure of the oue? Are you an idiot?!"


    "We have to believe Kayn,"


    "I do believe him, but attacking the Freedom Fang Brigade right now is not a way to buy time. Instead, we should be sending some men over there right now to confirm whether this is really a ceasefire or not,"


    "And what would that achieve? This is clearly an unspoken ceasefire,"


    "That''s not the point! We are simply buying time for our side,"


    "Sending men over there would just make it obvious that we are up to something. And besides, we are at war with a bunch of unreasonable and unpredictable groups of people, so there''s seriously no telling what they would do to our diplomat,"


    "Quite down you two!" Kayn promptly interrupted, irritated at the two for immediately cutting him off before he could even bother to exin the reason why. "What I meant about stirring the rats is to force the hiding members of the Freedom Fighters in the Dream Vige to show themselves,"


    Instantly, both Gilbert and Wesley finally understood what Kayn meant. No wonder thetter described them as rats.


    They turned quiet as they started analyzing how exactly Kayn would be able to achieve that.


    In the end, they arrived at nothing.

 Chapter 283 The War that Decides the Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 86

    <h4>Chapter 283 The War that Decides the Fate of ¡®The ?Bridge¡¯ Part 86</h4>


    Chapter 283: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 86


    It''s understandable why Gilbert and Wesley fail toprehend how Kayn ns to provoke the rats to reveal themselves. The rats are within the confines of the Dream Vige, while Kayn aims to strike at the Freedom Fang Brigade positioned outside. No matter how much they ponder, they cannot grasp the connection between the two.


    "Attacking the main force would provoke the subsidiary force," Kayn exins.


    Upon hearing Natas'' report just now, his suspicions regarding the Freedom Fighters attempting a covert infiltration of the Dream Vige were essentially confirmed.


    The only usible method for such an operation would involve utilizing the underwater cave system, particrly considering their previous surveince of the moat''s waters.


    However, the challenge lies in identifying the specific underwater tunnel the Freedom Fighters intend to use, given the considerable number of such passages beneath the Dream Vige, some of which may have eluded detection thus far. It is even possible that they have already infiltrated the vige at this very moment.


    So, it''s going to be extremely difficult for Jericho and the others to find the members of the Freedom Fighters.


    Setting aside these concerns, the most effective way to provoke the Freedom Fighters into revealing themselves is by cing them under immense pressure and time constraints, leaving them no other choice but to take immediate action rather than patiently awaiting an opportune moment to strike as if a dagger hanging on top of Kayn''s head.


    By targeting the main force, he can create a situation where the members of the Freedom Fighters perceive him as distracted, thus presenting them with what seems like the perfect opportunity for a surprise attack. However, due to the current temporary ceasefire and Garvin''s unlikely willingness tounch a counterattack without Chief Kylo''s orders, there is a risk that the Dream Vige will cease its assault and exploit the ceasefire to recover from the inflicted damage thus far, effectively nullifying the distraction.


    Adding to theplexity, there is an underlying pressure stemming from the team''s individual desire to acquire the Kingmaker for themselves and present it to Chief Kylo before Garvin seizes the opportunity sooner thanter. This way, they can im the full reward exclusively, ensuring greater benefits for each of their members.


    Of course, the oue when the members of the Freedom Fighters reveal themselves is still going to be uncertain. After all, he doesn''t know the exact capability of the Freedom Fighters yet. To be honest, he isn''t even certain whether Emmet and his third squad of the Green Horn Knight would be enough to handle them or not.


    Although, if that really turns out to be the case, then he''ll just simply make a move personally and eliminate them himself.


    Nevertheless, it doesn''t change the fact that he has achieved his goal by then.


    "Now we understand,"


    Both Gilbert and Wesley finally understood.


    Simply put, attacking the leader will provoke the minions to protect the leader. But, since this is the Assembly of Freedom they are talking about and also with the variable called Kingmaker, the minions would highly likely try to prevent the leader from taking action so that they''ll be able to enjoy the profit on their own.


    "In other words, you n on taking advantage of their own self-interest?" Wesley muttered.


    "Exactly!" Kayn nodded.


    In the next moment, Kayn no longer waste any time as he raised his right hand and issued. "Fire!"


    Whoosh!


    The catapults unleash a barrage of massive projectiles, hurtling toward the position of the Freedom Fang Brigade.


    Garvin and the rest of the higher-ups of the Freedom Fang Brigade instantly noticed the iing projectiles, prompting them to issue a response before itnds on their army.


    Unfortunately, because of how sudden the attack was, the Freedom Fang Brigade wasn''t given enough time to defend.


    Boom!


    Bang!


    Booosh!


    It was a direct and effective hit!


    Just when the members of the Freedom Fang Brigade believed the danger had passed, another round of projectiles was unleashed, hurtling toward them once more.


    This time though, they were already prepared, so they were able to defend sessfully. Albeit, it still caused some casualties in their ranks.


    "Causing amotion, check!" Gilbert''s excitement started building up.


    "Mages and Marksmen!" Kayn called out. "Fire!"


    Whoosh!


    Whaash!


    A series of arrows and magic spells rained down along with the next round of assault from the catapults.


    Boom!


    Bang!


    Cling!


    Thwack!


    ng!


    Different sounds echoed throughout the formation of the Freedom Fang Brigade as they suffered an unexpected onught of attacks from the soldiers of the Dream Vige.


    Although it didn''t take that long as they were soon finally able to construct numerous defenses to block the series of attacks.


    Strangely enough, after they were done, instead ofunching a counter-offensive, they instead went into a defensive stance.


    "As expected,"


    It was exactly like how Kayn expected things would y out.


    "Continue and don''t stop!"


    "Understand!"


    All soldiers acknowledge, thinking that they now have the upper hand.


    Unbeknownst to all of them, they were actually pawns to set up the stage for the actual main show for today.


    "Wesley!" Kayn turns at Wesley. "Depending on your action, it will decide whether I and we should trust you or not, so I hope you won''t disappoint us,"


    "What do you need me to do?" Wesley is already feeling the excitement of Kayn''s n quickly unfolding.


    "Go and find Jericho and the others and make themy on wait for the arrival of our uninvited guests,"


    "Are you serious?!" Wesley can''t help doubting what he just heard.


    "Here''s the opportunity you''ve long been waiting for, Wesley," Gilbert motioned his hand as if wanting Wesley to get out as soon as possible.


    This was clearly Gilbert''s revenge for Wesley''s action not long ago.


    "Screw you!" Wesley sneered at Gilbert.


    Without wasting any more time, Wesley jumped down the walls and immediately started looking for Jericho and the others.


    Noticing that Wesley is long and far gone, Gilbert meets Kayn''s eyes and finally asked. "I know why you made Wesley leave,"


    Kayn smiles, d that Gilbert was able to quickly catch on.


    "So, what are the two of us doing?"

 Chapter 284 The War that Decides the Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 87

    <h4>Chapter 284 The War that Decides the Fate of ¡®The ?Bridge¡¯ Part 87</h4>


    Chapter 284: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 87


    Kayn and Gilbert stayed at the wall, seemingly overlooking the battle and fully focused onmanding their army on the wall of the Dream Vige to continue with their barrage of attacks to the feeble and poor defense that the Freedom Fang Brigade had hurriedly constructed to block their attacks.


    Contrary to a short while ago, the Freedom Fang Brigade finally proved to Kayn and Gilbert the true reason why they were chosen as the main army of the Assembly of Freedom.


    What was once thought to be a weak defense started getting stronger and tougher as every single minute passed. Eventually, the wall they constructed turned no different from the wall of Freedom City.


    And as if to make it into an actual wall, two tall and huge towers were constructed, and soon their ballista were mounted inside the walls with a small hole opening for their arrows to shoot.


    It was truly an exemry sight.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that they are their enemy, Kayn would have apuded their swift and precise technique in constructing a temporary defense.


    Contrary to what everyone from the Dream Vige was expecting, the Freedom Fang Brigade still didn''t choose to attack.


    Their patience was noteworthy despite the fact that they are members of the Assembly of Freedom.


    "Wouldn''t it just be useless if we continue attacking them like this?" Gilbert expresses his concern.


    Now that there''s a wall, the attacks they''reunching have proven to barely cause any effect on the Freedom Fang Brigade. In fact, there haven''t even been any casualties to their army from the moment the wall was constructed.


    Aside from causing damage to the wall, the attacks are doing nothing else.


    "Catapults, start lighting up the stones!" Kayn finally decided to upgrade the attack.


    In the next moment, the soldiers manning the catapults started drenching the stones with oil and lighting it up with fire right before itunches into the sky.


    Whoosh!


    Burning balls of mes soon started raining on the walls of the Freedom Fang Brigade.


    "Roll up the barrels!"


    Next, it was time to make their soldier take a shower using oil.


    Whooosh!


    Bang!


    Boom!


    Whaaash!


    A series of loud explosions sounded as the barrels started exploding the instant they make contact with the mes on top of the walls.


    Since it was oil inside, the explosion causes them to ssh everywhere nearby.


    A simr sight to when Kayn and his army first invaded the Dream Vige took ce.


    Once again, the people suffering from the arson were the members of the Assembly of Freedom.


    Unfortunately, this time the upgrade of their attack barelysted long as the Freedom Fang Brigade already prepared themselves for it.


    It was alreadymon knowledge that the Dream Vige possessed an excess supply of oil in their territory. That''s because it was in the battle report how Kayn and his army used the defense strategy of the Dream Vige against them.


    Numerous mages cast the same magic spell which allowed them to take away all existing oxygen nearby their walls.


    With no oxygen, it bes impossible for the fire to continue burning.


    Consequently, the unending session of barrels would ignite upon contact with the lingering mes on the ground, causing a rapid explosion, which would then swiftly be quenched upon reaching a certain perimeter around the walls.


    Naturally, because of the absence of oxygen, there''s not a single soldier who remained in the wall.


    In the end, the new defense of the Freedom Fang Brigade created a vacuum.


    Unbeknownst to the Freedom Fang Brigade, that was exactly what Kayn intended to achieve.


    There are a few noteworthy things that a vacuum can cause but what Kayn intended to achieve was the so-called extreme temperature variations. Meaning, anything exposed to sunlight bes extremely hot, and a shaded area can be extremely cold.


    This implies that just a slight change in temperature around the vacuum can bring about extremely disastrous consequences to anything within the vacuum.


    Moreover, in an environment where mana exists almost everywhere, including areas with no oxygen around, things can easily go out of control.


    "Mages, freeze the water around their walls!"


    Despite not understanding the reason why, all mages stillplied with Kayn''s order.


    Not long after, a portion of the moat froze and turned into ice. The smoke produced from the cold slowly drifted inside the vacuum.


    "This time, rece the stone balls with barrels of water,"


    The soldiers still don''t understand what exactly is going on. Nevertheless, they continued toply.


    Whooosh!


    The barrels traveled very fast and soon they reached the vacuum wall.


    Boom!


    In just a blink of an eye, a strange and unexpected phenomenon appeared in front of everyone.


    Ice Balls.


    Spiky ice balls, to be exact!


    Boom!


    Whoosh!


    Uponnding on the hard surface of the wall or the ground, the spiky ice balls instantly exploded into pieces, which then creates a strong enough force to propel almost every single ice spike forward.


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Bang!


    A series of loud explosions echoed behind the wall of the Freedom Fang Brigade as pirs of thick clouds of smoke appeared almost everywhere.


    "What?!" Gilbert was caught by surprise as he turned his head to look at Kayn.


    "Wonderful!" Kayn felt delighted.


    "How?!"


    "That''s one of the wonders ofbining science and magic into one," Kayn decided not to exin to Gilbert since it is a veryplicated process.


    "Just where on Earth did you even learn all this stuff? And please don''t even get me started by saying the Starlight Hero Academy taught you all of these," Gilbert wasn''t a fool. Although the Starlight Hero Academy is a top school on Earth, it''s impossible that they teach their studentsplicated stuff likebining science and magic to instantly turn water into ice inside a vacuum.


    "I like to study, that''s all,"


    Naturally, Kayn wouldn''t tell the truth that he had actually learned this knowledge after oveing one of the most difficult challenges around the 900th to 1,000th floor inside the ''Tower''.

 Chapter 285 The War that Decides the Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 88

    <h4>Chapter 285 The War that Decides the Fate of ¡®The? Bridge¡¯ Part 88</h4>


    Chapter 285: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The? Bridge'' Part 88


    Gilbert could only choose to give up asking Kayn about the source of his knowledge as he can already guess based from thetter''s response that he doesn''t n on telling the truth. He understood it though. After all, everyone has a secret or two, it doesn''t mean just because one found out they possess a secret, that they''ll automatically be required to exin it to them.


    "Just call it, Space Magic," Kayn described the event that just took ce.


    "Space Magic?" Gilbert fell into deep thoughts.


    "That''s right," Kayn nodded. Creating a vacuum is the ability of the Space element. So, exining it that way makes a lot more sensepared to exining everything word by word as even he had trouble understanding its principles andws in the past.


    The damage the spiky ice ball had caused to the Freedom Fang Brigade this time around was devastating as they werepletely not prepared for the unexpected result of the vacuum they created.


    Although they still didn''t remove it as they don''t want the Dream Vige to start throwing them ming balls and barrels of oil once again.


    Instead, they constructed a sphere above their heads. In this way, they canpletely block whatever wille their way this time.


    "I guessed we''ve finally pushed them more than enough," Kayn chuckled.


    All of a sudden.


    ng!


    A loud sound of ball rang.


    "What was that?"


    It caught Gilbert''s attention. But after he observed the bell, he found no one.


    "Perhaps it was one of the ice spikes," Kayn shrugged. When the spiky ice balls exploded, some of the ice spikes actually went flying to their direction and hit the wall. Except, this time it wasn''t, and he knows exactly who caused that bell to rang.


    Gilbert disregarded it since it was nothing and instead he asked. "Are we going to continue?" He doesn''t see any point in continuing with this n. In fact, it seems like the strategy has failed as the rats still didn''t show themselves.


    "We''ve already achieved what we had to do," Kayn smiles as he turns around to look at the Dream Vige.


    Unbeknownst to Gilbert, he had actually also sent Natas away along with Wesley. But unlike Wesley who went to find Jericho and the others and prepare them for an ambush. On the other hand, Natas went to directly find the members of the Freedom Fighters.


    And the bell sound just now is Natas way of confirmation to him that the Freedom Fighters are inside the Dream Vige at this very moment.


    Immediately, Gilbert took out a pair of daggers and prepared himself for the worst.


    "This time, let''s make it obvious that we know they are here," Kayn waves his hand, taking out the Kingmaker from his Storage Ring. He decided to use this sword instead of the Molten Ice Sword as he intents on tempting the Freedom Fighters on attacking him.


    That''s right! The next step of their n is to personally search for the Freedom Fighters.


    "Let''s split up," Kayn looks at Gilbert.


    "Alright!" Gilbert nodded his head.


    With that being said, the two went into different directions to search.


    Kayn went east and Gilbert went west.


    Meanwhile in the south, as long as Wesley had already found and informed Jericho''s group, their team should be hiding and patiently waiting over there right now, silently observing Kayn and Gilbert from the shadows.


    "I hope this time they will reveal their location," Kayn anticipates as he purposely moves through the shady alley.


    Needless to say, this isn''t actually a sudden change from their original n.


    By personally searching for the Freedom Fighters who are currently hiding in the Dream Vige, they are making them think that it''s only going to be a matter of time before they''ll get caught. This will achieve the part where they are making them feel that they are pressed on time.


    Moreover, by revealing the Kingmaker, he is increasingly tempting their selfish desires of getting it for themselves in each passing minute. And to add on to that, he purposely went to search all on his own.


    A young man who is carrying a legendary weapon in his hand is searching for them all on his own with his only bodyguard going to the opposite side of the Dream Vige.


    Although this is very suspicious, as long as they don''t find anyone else other than Kayn in the surrounding, they will start believing that he is an ignorant and foolish young man who got caught up by his arrogance after sedding multiple times against the Assembly of Freedom.


    The young man''s action is no different from luring them in, thinking that he can defeat them all by himself.


    As time continous to pass, Kayn started confirming this assumption of his as he senses people are secretly following and observing him from the shadows.


    He doesn''t believe that those people are Jericho and the others, because if it was them, they won''t move this obvious.


    It was like these people wants him to find out in order to see what his next action would be and depending from that it would reveal whether this was all a trap or that he really intents on fighting them all by himself.


    With that realization in mind, Kayn decided to go to an alleyway that leads to a dead-end. Albeit it wasn''t just any dead-end, it has a huge open space which is secretly being used as an entrance to the underground passage underneath the Dream Vige.


    That open space would definitely act as open invitation for the Freedom Fighters prompting them in to fight against him at that ce.


    Kayn soon reached the dead-end corner of the alleyway, and as expected, it didn''t take long for the members of the Freedom Fighters to finally reveal themselves.


    It was a squad made up of a total of six members, two females while the rest were males, respectively a mage, a priest, a guardian, two knights, and an assassin.

 Chapter 286 The War that Decides the Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 89

    <h4>Chapter 286 The War that Decides the Fate of ¡®The? Bridge¡¯ Part 89</h4>


    Chapter 286: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The? Bridge'' Part 89


    Kayn was familiar with this formation. It is called a three to three formation, or also moremonly know as the wless formation.


    It doesn''t follow the usual five team squadposition as it aims to fix their major and main weakness¡ª the rear.


    Based on their teamposition, the Guardian had chosen to defend their Mage and Priest who are both providing support at the rear instead of being at the very front of the formation. Meanwhile, the two knights decided to face him along with the assassin creeping around the corner waiting for the perfect opportunity tounch an attack.


    Although the formation isn''t really as perfect as it ims itself to be. It''s just that the sess rate of using this strategy is more than fifty percent because of the additional person. And depending on the members of the team and theposition of their subsses, this percentage could significantly increase.


    "Finally," Kayn felt delighted. "Just how long were you guys nning on hiding yourselves?"


    "Long enough until you''re exactly at where we wanted you to be," The Guardian smiled widely.


    "How pretentious, I was the one who decided to fight here, not you," Kayn rolled his eyes. "Well, no wonder you are trying to covert the Kingmaker without informing Gavir,"


    "That foolish man doesn''t understand anything other than being the dog of Chief Kylo!"


    "At least he is a loyal dog,pared to the six of you! It''s not even certain whether you''d really give the Kingmaker to Chief Kylo or not," Kayn might have imed that they want to exclusively earned the reward, but he actually doesn''t believe that a hundred percent, especially considering they are members of the Assembly of Freedom.


    "Heh! Of course we will keep that for ourselves!"


    "There''s only one Kingmaker,"


    "Naturally, the leader will keep it!" The Guardian''s eyes instantly lit up at the mere thought of possessing the Kingmaker himself.


    Instantly, the faces of the other five members turned ugly.


    "It seems like they don''t agree with that im," Kayn easily concluded.


    All of a sudden¡­


    "Alright," Kayn threw the Kingmaker to the Guardian.


    Although confused and shocked, the Guardian still decided to catch the Kingmaker while letting go of his sword and shield.


    "You¡­" The Guardian looks at Kayn, unable to know how to react.


    "All yours," Kayn waves his hand, taking out the Molten Ice Sword from his Storage Ring.


    "Don''t be mistaken that by giving the Kingmaker to us we will spare your life!" The Guardian pointed the Kingmaker at Kayn with a sneer,pletely abandoning his sword and shield. Deep inside though, he was still having troubleprehending how he was able to easily get the Kingmaker.


    "I wasn''t thinking of that," Kayn chuckled. He already took out the Molten Ice Sword as he expects they would still try to kill him.


    Unbeknownst to everyone, what he had done just now was exploiting one of the few known weaknesses of the so-called wless formation, though it was only in the future when the strategy he just pulled off was discovered.


    A formation is called a formation exactly because each and every member of the team ys a significant role in the structure they created. In addition to that, their familiarity with each other has reached a level where they can do things without the need tomunicate verbally as they already know what the others would likely be doing.


    Now, imagine what would happen when one of them does another thing. Like for example, the Guardian decided to y the role of a swordsman. Not to mention, this is their leader, the very core of the entire formation, and who also ys the major role of supposedly protecting the Mage and Priest of their party and making sure that the people at the front doesn''t have to worry about the rear.


    Simply put, break their familiarity.


    "Everyone!" The Guardian looks at his men. "Kill him!"


    Whoosh!


    Ignorant and oblivious of the effect, the two Knights charged at Kayn at the same time and soon brandished their swords at him.


    ng!


    Kayn easily parried one of the Knights away from him before dodging the other Knight by simply moving to the same direction where he parried the first Knight.


    In that simple sh, Kayn was able to easily grasped the level of his opponents.


    "Around level 35 - 40, I see," Kayn muttered loud enough for the two Knights to hear.


    The Knights'' eyes instantly widened in surprise.


    "How?" One of them muttered.


    "Take this!"


    The Guardian suddenly poke the Kingmaker to the side as if the sword was ance or some sort.


    ng!


    Kayn parried the attack before jumping backward to evade the iing dagger from the assassin.


    Uponnding, he exerted some force to his right leg before swiftly kicking the side of the assassin.


    Bang!


    The assassin was sent rolling horizontally for a few meters to the side before eventually stopping near the Mages and Priest.


    Without wasting time, the Priest started healing the assassin in order to recover the slight damage he had inquired. Although the only reason she even bothered to do it was because he was the only one who received any damages.


    Taking the opportunity where Kayn''s other foot was in the midst of returning to the ground, the two Knights quickly jumped forward and brandished their swords.


    ng! ng!


    Kayn easily parried the two Knights to both sides.


    Whoosh!


    The Guardian also swing his sword while Kayn was preupied.


    Unfortunately¡­


    ng!


    Simr to the previous Knights, Kayn once more parried the attack.


    After parrying the Kingmaker, he quickly manuevered his hand and hit the head of the Guardian with the hilt of the Molten Ice Sword.


    Bang!


    Afterwards, he sent a kick to the Guardian''s waist.


    Bang!


    Contrary with the assassin, the Guardian was only sent retreating a two meters away.


    Annoyed, the Guardian pointed the Kingmaker at Kayn and blurted. "You''ll pay for this!"


    Kayn shook his head as he can''t help bing disappointed. "I thought you guys were special,"


    The members of the Freedom Fighters turned silent and paused.


    That was the truth. He initially expected the Freedom Fighters to be slightly in the same league as the Assembly of Freedom. It turns out that they are only in the same level as the Executives he had faced in the past when they were clearing the Daze Vige, probably even worst.


    They were just too weak!

 Chapter 287 The War that Decides the Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 90

    <h4>Chapter 287 The War that Decides the Fate of ¡®The? Bridge¡¯ Part 90</h4>


    Chapter 287: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The? Bridge'' Part 90


    "Well, what can I expect from people who are only good at rescue missions and reconnaissance," Kayn shrugged. People who works in that kind of area don''t usually prolong any fights. Once things gets too dangerous, they would simply choose to run away immediately and prioritize their mission over personal feelings.


    "But still, this is very disappointing,"


    And that is why they are weak!


    Needless to say, there are always exception to that rule. It just so happens that the Freedom Fighters aren''t.


    "Take this, you arrogant prick!" The Guardian lunged himself before brandishing his sword.


    The two Knights also did the same as they jumped forward to attack.


    Three attack from three different direction in front of Kayn.


    While it might seem dangerous and life threatening, Kayn thought of it as stupid and ignorant.


    A Guardian leading the charge as if he was a Knight while the two actual Knights decided to follow, thinking that the former is going to act as a Guardian for them.


    That was the problem.


    The familiarity has been broken.


    Moreover, this Guardian seems to have the misconception that Knights and Guardians aren''t that far apart in their fighting style.


    Even though they both uses swords, the Guardian tents to protect instead of attacking like what Knights do. Exactly because of that why it is very easy to parry it since it doesn''t aim at his weaknesses in his form.


    In other words, a sword strike that only intends on swinging.


    ng!


    Kayn easily parried the Guardian''s attack.


    "This¡­" The Guardian was once again surprised at the oue.


    "You are not a Knight!" Kayn sneered before kicking the stomach of the Guardian which thetter had left wide open as if thinking he is carrying a shield to protect it or some sort.


    Bang!


    The Guardian retreated to the side, which purposely hindered the iing sword strike from one of the Knights.


    "Don''t get in my way!" The Knight distinctively decided to use the Guardian as a trampoline to boost its jump towards Kayn.


    An iing sword strike to the front and another to his head.


    Seeing this, Kayn still didn''t panic.


    "Idiots!" Kayn smiled mischievously.


    He lunged himself to the direction of the Knight in front of him.


    ng!


    He parried the attack and made the Knight slip forward.


    At first, the Knight wasn''t worried so he prepared himself to protect himself from the fall and make sure that Kayn can''t follow up another attack. But as soon as he realized that he was now in the location of where hisrade''s sword strike is going tond, he tried to maneuver his body as fast as possible in hopes of dodging.


    Unfortunately, Kayn wasn''t just going to stand quite and watch as the opportunity slip.


    Quickly deducing where the Knight wouldnd next, Kayn activated one of his Active Skills.


    <<Molten Ice sh>>


    Whoosh!


    A scorching de of icy fury surged forth with unparalleled speed and intensity.


    Although he was caught in surprise, the Knight was still able to calmly decide to use a simr Active Skill in response.


    <<Wind sh>>


    Whoosh!


    The Knight assumed that with his current level, his simple <<Wind sh>> would be able to block or parry Kayn''s sword wave.


    That was a mistake!


    As if serving as mere proponent to enhance its power, the fire attribute of the <<Molten Ice sh>> simply absorbed all oxygen content of the <<Wind sh>>, which resulted with its power greatly decreasing.


    Bang!


    The two sword waves came crashing at each other.


    Seemingly like a scissor cutting a piece of paper, the <<Molten Ice sh>> easily destroyed the <<Wind sh>> and right after continued hurling forward toward the Knight.


    <<Light Shield>>


    The Priest swiftly casted.


    Bang!


    If this <<Light Shield>> was casted a few seconds earlier, it would definitely not serve as useless against the enhance power of the <<Molten Ice sh>>.


    In the end, the <<Light Shield>> shattered into pieces like broken ss.


    This time, nothing is stopping the <<Molten Ice sh>> from reaching its intended target¡ª the unfortunate Knight.


    With only one way left of defending himself, the Knight raised both of his arms in front of his head as a shield while inwardly hoping that with his <<Wind sh>>, the Priest''s <<Light Shield>>, and his armguard as hisst form of defense, the damage of the <<Molten Ice sh>> would finally be nullified.


    How mistaken the Knight was.


    As soon as the <<Molten Ice sh>> collided with the Knight''s armguard, it effortlessly sliced through the metal as if it was merely tofu, and right away the head of the Knight came flying to the sky and soon a gushing wave of blood showered the surrounding area.


    Boom!


    The sword strike of the other Knight finally hit the ground, creating a web like crack to the floor and causing a cloud of smoke to hinder everyone''s vision.


    Once again, Kayn is presented with the perfect opportunity to take another life.


    Without wasting any time, Kayn jumped inside the cloud of smoke and not long after that, the head of the second Knight was thrown in front of the Guardian who was still trying toprehend the ever changing and unexpected turned of events in front of him.


    In a matter of a single minute, two Knights died in the hands of Kayn.


    And as for the person who brought their deaths, Kayn is presently standing unbothered while looking at the body of the dead Knight in front of him with an expressionless face. His clothes slightly drenched from the gushing blood of thetter''s corpse.


    In addition to that, there was another headless corpse just a few inches away from the second Knight¡ª it was the assassin.


    It was only at this moment that everyone finally realized that they''ve actually lost three members, not two, as the assassin also went inside the cloud of smoke unnoticed just now, thinking that he can take advantage of it tounch a critical strike to Kayn and avenge the death of hisrade.


    Unfortunately for the assassin, he actually followed hisrade to the afterlife. At least now, the trio will never be lonely while walking to the light at the end of the tunnel.

 Chapter 288 The War that Decides the Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 91

    <h4>Chapter 288 The War that Decides the Fate of ¡®The? Bridge¡¯ Part 91</h4>


    Chapter 288: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The? Bridge'' Part 91


    None of the three remaining members of the Freedom Fighters, the Guardian, Mages, and Priest were able toprehend how exactly everything happened that it turned out for their side to lose three of their members. Not just any members too as the trio are very crucial parts of their wless formation. Without them now, it is going to be next to impossible for the Guardian to protect the Mage and Priest.


    As if to make matters worse for the Freedom Fighters, Gilbert, Jericho, Jude, Charles, Emmet, along with Wesley finally arrived at the situation of the ambush.


    Contrary to what Jericho''s group were expecting when they were rushing to this ce, it seems like they have to save the Freedom Fighters instead of Kayn as the squad was already down three members from their initial six.


    It was only less than ten minutes, yet the situation has already turned out this way.


    Amongst Jericho''s group, Wesley was the most shocked of all as he never expected the young man who he once only thought to be good at conceiving devious ns and bringing forth arson and chaos would be this powerful to the point that he doesn''t have any trouble facing against six foe whose level hovered between 35 to 40.


    The kind of fighting force the Freedom Fighters presented is actually no different from fighting against someone who is level 50. Although it is still different because the former is a collective effort while thetter is an individual strength.


    Nevertheless, this still means that Kayn''s strength is is almost equal or even no different from a person who is bonafide level 50.


    "Close your mouth," Gilbert pulled Wesley out from his thoughts.


    "Howe you aren''t surprised?" Wesley expressed his doubt at Gilbert''s reaction.


    "That''s not even Kayn''s full strength," Gilbert sighs, admitting his inferiority to Kayn. "If you were with me when we cleared a dungeon back then, you would have witnessed how he killed the boss of a dungeon with one single strike,"


    "One single strike?" Jude was surprised.


    "I did hear about that from Friedrich. Though he didn''t say that it was a single strike," Emmet interjected. As far as he could remember, Kayn used everything that he got at the most crucial moment in order to kill the Mountain Gori. "Friedrich described it as being able to execute an attack that possess 300% strength,"


    "300% strength?!" Jericho was immediately rendered in disbelief as he looks at Kayn in another light. He honestly had the same thought as Wesley, simply thinking of Kayn as a strategist instead of someone who possessed great personal strength.


    "Don''t believe that just because he barely does anything and focuses more on nning that he is simply good with thetter. You need to think that the best knives are meant for chopping finer ingredients instead of onions and cabbages," Gilbert exins.


    "It seems like you have gotten so used to your life as chef now," Jericho chuckled.


    "I won''t deny, it was one of the most relieving stages of my life ever since I entered ''The Bridge''," Gilbert genuinely found peace whenever he was cooking, though becaues of always stationed in the middle of the enemy''s base would constantly disrupt that sense of peacefulness.


    "Anyways, what should we do now?" Jude can''t help wanting to know how they should react to the unexpected turn of events.


    "Watch and wait, I guess¡­" Jericho could only think of doing so. After all, he doesn''t want to disrupt Kayn from his prey. In addition to that, he feels like wanting to see more of Kayn''s true power.


    Unfortunately for Jericho''s team, the reason why Kayn is looking up was exactly because he already noticed them from a mile away.


    "Are you guys enjoying watching the show?" Kayn asked loudly.


    Hearing Kayn''s question, the three remaining members of the Freedom Fighters finally realized that they are surrounded.


    Quickly, the Guardian jumped near the Mage and Priest to protect them. Even though he is greatly aware of the fact that his effort is no different from being useless, he still didn''t think twice of staying true to his responsibility as the Guardian of the his team.


    "How unfortunate," Wesley muttered.


    "Wesley?!" The Guardian instantly became shocked at seeing Wesley amongst Jericho''s group. Thinking that he was safe, he smiled in delight and turns his head to glimpse at Kayn. "It seems like you are the one who is surrounded,"


    "You think so?"


    Kayn motioned his hand, and everyone immediately jumped down from the roof and surrounded the Freedom Fighters.


    "You¡­" The Guardian looks at Wesley in question.


    "This is not personal, I just decided to change side, that''s all," Wesley was nowpletely sure that he had made a correct decision of joining Kayn''s side for this war, especially now that he personally saw some extent of thetter''s true power


    "Change side?" The Gurdian finally understood. "Is this the reason why you disappeared?"


    "No," Wesley shook his head. "I was kidnapped,"


    "So, they forced you to switch sides?"


    "Quite the contrary. They made me realized which is the better side,"


    "The Green Horn City?"


    "Of course not," Wesley still doesn''t find joining the Green Horn City as great. In fact, he doesn''t even see it doing anything good for him. "I simply joined Kayn''s side,"


    "Kayn''s side?"


    "That''s right! The Assembly of Freedom isn''t actually just fighting against the Green Horn City, but also against Kayn. And I joined his side of the fight,"


    The Guardian wasn''t a fool, so he quickly realized that Kayn and Old Mayor George doesn''t actually represent one single organization, but separate. Thetter represents the Green Horn City, while Kayn represents an unknown force.


    In hopes of staying alive, the Guardian can''t help proposing. "Is it toote for me to join?"


    "This isn''t a game," Wesley sneered. "Where you can just switch side at any time you want,"


    "But you can vouch for me," The Guardian hope that with his years of service to the Assembly of Freedom, they would return the favor and help them from this situation. Also, he believes that Wesley isn''t genuine with his words. The Wesley he knows was a liar and someone who hides what he truly feels.


    "I can''t," Wesley grabbed the Kingmaker from the Guardian''s hand before pulling it away.


    With the weapon taken from him, the Guardian quickly took out a sword and shield from his Storage Ring. This time, he felt as if a gush of spring water was sted to his body¡ª refreshing and he was relieved that he returned to his origin. He finally realized why they lost.

 Chapter 289 The War that Decides the Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 92

    <h4>Chapter 289 The War that Decides the Fate of ¡®The? Bridge¡¯ Part 92</h4>


    Chapter 289: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The? Bridge'' Part 92


    As soon as Wesley gave the Kingmaker to Kayn, the Guardian instantly understood why Wesley can''t vouch for him. It''s because even his position depends on whether Kayn wants him to continue living or not.


    "You swore allegiance to him through the Kingmaker?" The Guardian can already guess what happened.


    "You see, Kayn values loyalty amongst everything in this world. As long as you''re loyal to him and doesn''t have any chance of even betraying him, he will let you live," Wesley''s mouth twitched. "At least as long as you have a purpose,"


    "Exactly," Kayn confirmed. "You have to also know your ce and responsibility,"


    "I¡­" The Guardian is very much aware that he can''t pull that off. He can''t even follow simple orders from Garvin. That''s because he likes doing things in his own way.


    "That''s why," Wesley waves his hand, taking out an Undead Apple from his Storage Ring. "You have to eat this and die in order for you to be able to join our side,"


    "You must be insane!" The Guardian was shocked.


    "Then, I guess you''ll only be fulfilling the dying part," Wesley pulled away the Undead Apple.


    "I am still going to die if I take that," The Guardian wasn''t a fool. Being under the charm of Wesley is no different from being dead since he won''t have freedom to do everything that he wants. "And what''s up with the dying part? You might as well say that we will die because it is impossible,"


    "I think you''ve misunderstood," Wesley shook his head. "You''re gravely mistaken if you believe the only purpose of the Undead Apple is to make you fall victim to my charm. That''s not even its main use,"


    "What do you mean?"


    "Just from the name itself, it implies Undead,"


    The Guardian instantly realized. "You don''t mean that by eating the Undead Apple before getting killed we will return back to life,"


    "Not back to life, but be Undead,"


    "Undead?!" The Guardian started fumming in rage and anger.


    "So, it is true! You are a sphemy in the name of the God of Light!" The Priest eximed loudly.


    The God of Light she was referring to was one of the Gods inside the ''Tower'' who is one of the main providers of strength for the people who picked the Priest ss. Unlike the other ss, the strength and power of the Priest sses not only from their levels and weapons, but also from their faith and belief.


    "Actually, it isn''t. In fact, I am no different from a Priest like you,"


    "No different?! Don''t even put me in the same level as the likes of you!" The Priest felt insulted.


    "People don''t usually think about this, but Necromancers are also Priest, just that they arete healers," Wesley chuckled.


    "Extremelyte healers," Gilbert corrected while also letting out augh.


    "Exactly, since they heal you when you are about to reach the border of life and death, hence why you are called a living corpse," Jericho added.


    Jude, Charles, and Emmet can''t help letting out augh as well.


    Listening to Jericho''s groupughing at their miserable situation simply serves as fuel to make them lose their minds.


    "Ahhh!" The Guardian eximed loudly as he waves his sword to Wesley.


    ng!


    A bullet parried the sword, which causes it to barely miss Wesley.


    "That was dangerous, you know!" Wesley started breathing loudly after nearly dying. "Just kidding,"


    They were already prepared for it. That was why they are purposely drivign the trio nuts.


    "Stop wasting time and let''s take care of them so that we can return to the wall," Kayn can''t be bothered by them anymore. He waves his hand and stored the Kingmaker inside his Storage Ring again before walking away.


    No matter how hard those people think that they can survive in their situation, it is impossible. Just the fact that Wesley was even able to pull the Kingmaker with his mere hands away from the Guardian''s hand is already a proof alone that they are lost cause.


    "Make sure to bring their corpses so that we can show them to Garvin," Their situation is still grave since Lilith hasn''t returned yet. So, he has to continue finding ways to dy the Freedom Fang Brigade''s assault to the Dream Vige, particrly Garvin.


    Even though Natas has mentioned that they''ll only attack them again tomorrow, that isn''t certain because at any given moment the messenger carrying news from the headquarters could likely arrive.


    Not long after Kayn arrived back at the north wall, Jericho and the others soon followed.


    "Their corpses are inside," Jericho threw a Storage Ring to Kayn.


    Kayn caught the Storage Ring and right away confirmed the presence of the corpses of the Freedom Fighters inside.


    "What do you n on doing to them?" Wesley asked in concern. Although they are now enemies, they were still hisrades at one point in time and had helped him in numerous asions. "If it''s okay with you, after you achieve your purpose, I would like to bury them myself,"


    "Alright," Kayn understood and respected Wesley''s decision. He also starts to slightly admire thetter''s character. Although he had just betrayed his organization, he still values them to some extent and doesn''t want to see their dead bodies being treated poorly.


    Without further ado, Kayn exposed the corpses of the six members of the Freedom Fighters on top of the wall where Garvin or any members of the Freedom Fang Brigade could see them.


    As expected, Garvin soon stood on top of their wall along with Ekin and Ss. Their faces couldn''t be drawn as they expressplicated emotions on their respective faces.


    "Your n haspletely failed! And it cost you to lose six capable men from your brigade," Kayn announced. "I won''t deny, they fought to their deaths in order to bring you the Kingmaker. But unfortunately, they fell to my trap,"


    Kayn deliberately told a lie to Garvin and his men out of respect for Wesley. Though his main goal was to earn Garvin''s respect.


    He had learned from the Freedom Fighters that Garvin is a type of man with principles and loyalty to Chief Kylo. Thetter isn''t the same as the majority of members of the Assembly of Freedom who are self-serving and greedy. People like that, as long as one shows them dignity and ss, they will respond simrly.


    Garvin turned silently and epted his loss.

 Chapter 290 The War that Decides the Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 93

    <h4>Chapter 290 The War that Decides the Fate of ¡®The? Bridge¡¯ Part 93</h4>


    Chapter 290: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The? Bridge'' Part 93


    "We aren''t really a fan of disrespecting the corpses of our enemy, so," Kayn waves his hand, storing all the corpses of the Freedom Fighters inside his Storage Ring, before handing it over to Wesley. "I will allow Wesley to personally bury them,"


    All of a sudden.


    "If it''s okay with you, I''d like to bury my men myself instead of allowing a traitor to do that," Garvin objected. "I don''t want their loyalty to just be tarnished by a traitor,"


    Kayn looks at Wesley, waiting for thetter''s response.


    "I don''t mind," Wesley agreed. This was a lot better than his idea.


    "Alright!"


    Kayn signalled to one of his men to bring the Storage Ring to the center of what''s left of the north bridge after it was destroyed by the surging wave earlier.


    The soldier came and left as quickly as the wind out of fear that the Freedom Fang Brigade would kill him. Fortunately, they didn''t do anything until he went back inside the walls.


    Garvin sent a few of his men to retrieve the Storage Ring and bring it to him.


    Simrly, Kayn ordered everyone to let them do it.


    "In gratitude, let''se to a truce until tomorrow morning," Garvin proposed, showing his appreciation.


    As expected, respect begets respect.


    Although this was only possible because Garvin''s character is honorable and dignified.


    "Since you need time to take care of the matters involving the deaths of the members of the Freedom Fighters, we''ll give you that," Kayn made it sound like he was doing them a favor. In this way, he wouldn''t sound desperate for a truce.


    Garvinpletely disregarded the arrogant tone of Kayn''s voice and left the wall along with his two deputies.


    "Looks like we''ve sessfully bought ourselves enough time for Lilith to return," Wesley was finally able to breath a sigh of relief knowing that they won''t be pressured by Garvin''s presence for some time.


    "Still, don''t let down your guard since there''s no telling whether they''ll go back with their side of the deal or not," Kayn reminded. After all, these are members of the Assembly of Freedom they are talking about.


    Moreover, in a war, there are hardly any concrete rules. Most agreements are merely unspoken understandings between the parties involved in the war. And in each war such unspoken agreement differs.


    "We will be separating the soldiers into two shifts until next day, respectively the afternoon shift and evening shift," Kayn announced. "Half of the soldiers can go to rest now in their respective bankers, while the other half remains on guard around the walls and continue watching over the Freedom Fang Brigade,"


    "Report every hour to anymanding officers in order to keep us updated of any changes in the Freedom Fang Brigade,"


    Every soldiers acknowledges.


    Since there was nothing left to do, Kayn led Jericho and the others to the barracks.


    Upon arriving outside, he instantly noticed the fortified defenses around the barracks. It was as if they''re making the fort theirst line of defense in case the Freedom Fang Brigade breaks the walls and starts invading the Dream Vige.


    This was great, as they don''t have to worry anymore where to retreat.


    In addition to that, the tunnel that they''ll be using to retreat outside the Dream Vige was also transferred underneath the barracks, making it easier now to defend and at the same time slowly leave the vige without anyone realizing.


    "It has been a long day for us, so we''ll take some rest. Wake us up if something bad happens," Kayn said before going to his bedroom.


    Gilbert and Wesley followed behind.


    "Alright, have a good rest," Jericho bid farewell and left along with the others to take care of other important matters. There was still a lot of things to prepare that they had to set aside when the Freedom Fang Brigade arrived.


    Time pass quickly, and soon evening came.


    Although an intense battle had just recently taken ce around the Dream Vige, the sky above the ce still didn''t change a single bit. It remained beautiful throughout the entire time as if nothing exist that can destroy it.


    Except, there is, now¡­


    Kayn.


    Under the cover of the darkness of the night, Kayn, Gilbert, and Wesley left the Dream Vige. Needless to say, Jericho and the others are aware of it.


    The reason why only the three of them left is because they are only going to check something out real quick and possibly confirm their assumption.


    "Are you sure about this?" Gilbert expressed his concern.


    "You are seriously telling me that until now you don''t think this is a good idea?" Wesley looks at Gilbert, feeling strange at thetter''s reaction. When they came to Kayn''s room earlier, he was finally informed about the underwater cave system and the existence of a powerful monster called Kraken hiding underneath the Slumbering Forest. "If you ask me, even without Kayn, as soon as I found out that you have this prepared, I will leave the Slumbering Forest wihtout a second thought,"


    "That''s exactly why I am worried!" Gilbert blurted in irritation. "The entire force of the Green Horn City is present in the Slumbering Forest. Though Old Mayor George is informed of our n, he doesn''t n on telling anybody else until it''s the perfect time to do it, otherwise the Assembly of Freedom mighte to know of it,"


    "Do you think that by then we''ll have sufficient time to reatreat from the Slumbering Forest?"


    "You are at the southeast, while the finale of the war is going to take ce in between the northwest and southwest. What are you even worried about, your side is practically far away!"


    "It''s because we are close to the sea," Gilbert rolled his eyes. "Where do you think the Kraken would be going once it chooses to retreat? To the river up north?"


    "Silence, we don''t want any hiding scouts of the Freedom Fang Brigade finding out that we are outside the Dream Vige," Kayn interrupted.

 Chapter 291 The War that Decides the Fate of ’The Bridge’ Part 94

    <h4>Chapter 291 The War that Decides the Fate of ''The ?Bridge'' Part 94</h4>


    Chapter 291: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 94


    That''s right. The direction where they are going is to the cave at the west of the Dream Vige where the cause of the mana phenomenon above the sky came from.


    With the news of the appearance of the Kingmaker in the Dream Vige, the finale of the war is about to take ce soon.


    It wouldn''t be long until they start executing the numerous strategies they''ve long already prepared for the war toe.


    And when that timees, the Kraken will finally make its appearance.


    To ensure the sessful execution of their final n, they seek to verify whether the Kraken indeed resides in the dungeon near the Dream Vige or if it is another boss-level monster.


    The dungeon in question is named Dream Dungeon, owing to its proximity to the Dream Vige.


    "We are here," Gilbert announced. Because of his familiarity with Kayn, he already gathered as much information as possible to know about this ce earlier this afternoon. It wasn''t as detailed as he initially expected though, because contrary to his expectations, barely anyone actually went to this ce because it was restricted by the Chief to go here.


    The previous Chief of the Dream Vige was infamous for severely punishing anyone who dares to break his rules andws. And that is why even though there are barely any of his guards stationed at this ce, nobody still dares to secretly infiltrate the dungeon.


    Speaking about guards.


    "Who goes there?!"


    A man d in steel armor emerged, apanied by a squad of twenty soldiers, each armed and ready for battle. He seems to be the leader.


    ording to the information they''ve gathered, there is a squad stationed at the Dream Dungeon that can only be contacted by the previous Chief. Their supply is also personally sent by the Chief himself or they can go hunting around the proximity of the dungeon as they are used to the Chief asionally being so busy to the point that he has no time toe and visit them.


    "Are you the squad in charge of protecting this ce?"


    "Yes," The man d in steel armor nodded. "State your name and intention, otherwise we will execute the two of you for trying to trespass the Dream Dungeon,"


    "How long have you been staying here?" Gilbert suddenly asked.


    "That doesn''t matter," The man d in steel armor shrugged his shoulder,pletely disregarding Gilbert''s question.


    "It does matter, and I am also answering your question. It''s just that, circumstances have changed, and depending on your response, your squad might live to see what''s currently happening away from this ce right now or you die here," Gilbert took out his dagger and releases an intense aura that deres he is between level 40 to 45.


    Recognizing the significant difference in their levels, the man in steel armor gestured for his men to lower their weapons and show respect to the two guests.


    "What do you mean?" The man d in steel armor inquired with curiosity. He wasn''t naive. Considering the powerful individual''s remarks, something serious must have urred in the Dream Vige. He even suspected that the Chief might have already perished. This would exin why they hadn''t received any supplies and had to find ways to survive while upholding their duties and remaining hopeful for updates from the outside world.


    "There is a war currently going on all over the Slumbering Forest, this, you might have already heard?"


    "Yes," The man confirmed.


    "Alright," Gilbert nodded his head. "The previous Chief of the Dream Vige was killed after we confirmed that he allied himself along with every single soldier of his territory to the Assembly of Freedom,"


    "You are part of the Old Chief George''s force?" The man was surprised.


    "He is called Old Mayor George now," Gilbert corrected. "Now, considering you are part of the previous Chief''s personal force, we are assuming you have also allied with the Assembly of Freedom, thus depending on your response, it will decide whether you will live to see the light of another day or die"


    "We aren''t allies with the Assembly of Freedom!"


    "We are simply ordinary soldiers!"


    "Please spare us!"


    In an instant, the rest of the soldiers behind the leader started voicing out their responses.


    "As you can see,"


    "It seems like you''ve already been preparing yourselves for this time," Kayn interrupted.


    This caused the man in d armor to widen his eyes in shock. He didn''t expect that his ploy would be discovered.


    "We¡­"


    "You''re not being sincere," Gilbert can already understand that everyone here has prepared a script specifically to deal with this kind of situation.


    "That''s because we are afraid,"


    "Afraid?"


    "I''ve been sending out my men every day to gather information on what exactly is going on in the Dream Vige. It was then that we discovered that the vige has been defeated and is now under the rule of the Green Horn City, and seeing that none of ourrades were spared, we assumed that it is because of our vige''s allegiance to the Assembly of Freedom,"


    "Is that your response?"


    "Wait, wait, wait, no!" The man d in steel armor hurriedly continued. "We are not allies with the Assembly of Freedom. It was only our Chief and some other soldiers. The reason why we have no other choice but to fight is that we can''t go against our Chief''s order, otherwise, we will be executed,"


    "So, you are telling me that the previous Chief forced you?"


    "That''s right!"


    "He was a tyrant!"


    "If we don''t follow any of his orders, we die. If we leave, we die!"


    From their response alone, Kayn and Gilbert easily understood that the previous Chief of the Dream Vige had imnted a strong sense of fear in all of these soldiers.


    "Since you''ve sent some men to check the Dream Vige, you should probably know already that he has died," Gilbert was confused. "In that case, you are free to leave this ce any time you want and start a new life,"


    "We do, but," The man d in steel armor looks at the Dream Dungeon. "The Chief''s personal bodyguards are inside the dungeon and we are afraid they''ll hunt us down if we leave,"

 Chapter 292 The War that Decides the Fate of ’The Bridge’ Part 95

    <h4>Chapter 292 The War that Decides the Fate of ''The ?Bridge'' Part 95</h4>


    Chapter 292: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 95


    Both Kayn and Gilbert widened their eyes in surprise as they didn''t expect the existence of Chief Dennis'' personal bodyguards. In fact, they don''t have a clue or any sort of information about thetter even having any personal bodyguards in the first. This is practically their first time hearing about it.


    "Chief Dennis'' personal bodyguards?" Kayn wanted to know more. With no prior information about Chief Dennis'' supposed bodyguards, he is now thinking twice about entering the Dream Dungeon.


    He might be reckless, but that''s only under the condition that he knows what he is doing and can guarantee that he won''t die.


    "I don''t know how it happened, but a few months ago a group of people suddenly came to the Dream Vige, and the next thing we knew they became Chief Dennis'' personal bodyguards," The man in steel armor started exining.


    "How many are they?" Wesley started suspecting something as he remembered almost the same thing happening back then in the Tenderfoot Vige.


    "Five people,"


    "It''s them!" Wesley blurted out with certainty.


    "Them?" Kayn looks at Wesley.


    "The same thing actually happened to the Tenderfoot Vige before the Assembly of Freedom was officially established. Five people came to Chief Kylo''s father, Chief Kydon, and not long after that, he started having a different ideology to Old Chief George,"


    "I did hear about that," Gilbert interjected. "I wasn''t a member of the Green Horn Knights yet at that time, but I have heard stories that Old Mayor George and the previous Chief of the Tenderfoot Vige were on good terms at one point in time, though it wasn''t to the point that they are friends. Just that, they don''t dislike each other and the only conflict they have was that they arepeting with the beginners who enter ''The Bridge'' for the first time,"


    "Yes," Wesley confirmed. "Needless to say, Chief Kydon didn''t just change overnight. He still wanted to establish his ideology in a peaceful manner, that''s why he started proposing it to the Chiefs of different Viges and Towns, proposing to stay in ''The Bridge'' instead of thinking of leaving this ce,"


    "Contrary to him, Chief Kylo thought differently. It was the conflicting ideas between the father and son duo that lead to the creation of the Assembly of Freedom,"


    Both Kayn and Gilbert finally got to know the real story behind the creation of the Assembly of Freedom.


    "Because Chief Kylo wasn''t as powerful as he was today, the operation of the Assembly of Freedom wasn''t huge. We had to focus on quality instead of quantity in order to establish a significant influence in ''The Bridge'' and for people to recognize the threat that we bring. This prompted people to join us, and from then on, we increase in numbers, finally making us a force to reckon with,"


    "I thought that the previous leader of the Assembly of Freedom was Chief Kylo''s father," Kayn felt confused. This was what he had heard from Natas back then.


    "On the surface, it was Chief Kylo who was leading the Assembly of Freedom. But in truth, his father, Chief Kydon, was actually leading it under the shadow,"


    "Honestly, the major difference between the previous and current Assembly of Freedom is the former wasn''t made up of a bunch of people who only think of killing and destroying everything they don''t like, take Garvin for example,"


    Garvin has principles and dignity he upholds.


    Kayn also remembers another man, Diaz. He was one of the generals of Chief Kylo whom he met back in the past.


    "Our actions might not be different from today, but we did them with a specified goal in mind; to be a big enough threat to the point that people would forget about leaving ''The Bridge'' and turn their focus on fighting against us, thus finally aiding Chief Kydon''s goal,"


    "Are you certain that it''s really them?" Kayn was quite doubtful about that. After all, just because there are five of them doesn''t automatically imply they are the same group as the one that came to the Tenderfoot Vige to influence Chief Kydon in the past.


    "I¡­" Wesley wasn''t actually a hundred percent sure about what he believed. It''s just that, the actions of those five people are very simr to those that came to the Tenderfoot Vige.


    "Let''s ask this man more before concluding anything," Kayn turns his attention again to the man d in steel armor.


    Unbeknownst to Wesley, he was also starting to suspect something special is going on. Because this kind of situation was also simr to what happened in Serenity Town. Albeit those people had eventually fallen victim to Wesley''s charm, now he is certain that those weren''t the real masterminds behind what prompted the scavenger hunt for the Molten Magma Core.


    Nobody would go out looking for the Molten Magma Core with no specific goal in mind. And as far as he knows, in ''The Bridge'', there''s only one purpose for the Molten Magma Core.


    Moreover, there was also that strange event where a group of unknown people followed after Jude''s party in order to find out about his secret rted to the Guardian Turtle.


    "You can call me Kardo,"


    "Okay, Kardo," Kayn nodded his head. "What else do you know about Chief Dennis'' bodyguards?"


    Believing that being honest in answering Kayn and Gilbert''s questions would make thetter spare their lives, Kardo decided to share every detail he could possibly recall about Chief Dennis'' personal bodyguards. His men also chimed in from time to time, eager to prove their usefulness and avoid being deemed expendable by the duo.


    "Enough of that," Kayn interjected, recognizing the repetitive and circr nature of Kardo and his men''s information. He understood their cautious approach. "You''re all free to leave now. No need to stay any longer," he finally dered.


    Hearing that, Kardo and everyone can''t help celebrating in delight to the point that some of them started hugging each other.


    "Finally¡­" Kardo wipe the tears that appeared on the edge of his eyes.


    "Go now, before we change our minds!" Gilbert prompted them to leave quickly.


    Without wasting any time, Kardo and the rest of his men finally left.

 Chapter 293 The War that Decides the Fate of ’The Bridge’ Part 96

    <h4>Chapter 293 The War that Decides the Fate of ''The ?Bridge'' Part 96</h4>


    Chapter 293: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 96


    "Should we continue or return back to base and discuss with the others?" Gilbert turns to look at Kayn, eager to know how thetter would handle the unexpected changes.


    "I suggest we leave, we aren''t certain what type of people we are going to encounter yet, including their capability and level. Also, I sense a foreboding feelinging from the inside of this dungeon. It''s either from them or the supposedly boss-rank monster inside," Wesley slightly shivered.


    "Or," Kayn smiled devilishly. "Are you both familiar with the best method to hunt Goblins?"


    Wesley looks at Kayn strangely as he doesn''t have a clue what thetter is talking about.


    "Do you mean smoking the rats?" Gilbert responded.


    "Yes," Kayn nodded. "Simr to what we did before, except this time we are going to do it literally,"


    "As in smoke them in out from the Dream Dungeon?"


    "That''s right,"


    "And how do you n on doing that? Burn a few weeds and trees?"


    "How else can we make fire, especially since we don''t have a mage with us,"


    "Are you insane? That''s no different from announcing to Garvin that there are people outside the Dream Vige. He would for sure send some men toe here and check it out, or possibly evene here personally,"


    "Do you want to know who these people are or not?"


    "I do, but I don''t want to die as soon as I found out,"


    "I''m afraid that I have the same opinion as Wesley this time," Gilbert can''t help interjecting. In the first ce, they only came here to check the Dream Dungeon and confirm the existence of the Kraken inside. And in the process of doing so, they have to make sure that nobody from the Assembly of Freedom ever discovers them. Otherwise, they will be in huge trouble. "Unless we can make sure that not a single smoke or light escapes from this ce,"


    "That would be¡­ difficult," Kayn fell into deep thoughts. "Change of ns, we are going to take a risk,"


    "A risk?"


    Gilbert and Wesley look at each other.


    "Let''s forget about confirming the existence of the Kraken in the Dream Dungeon. Instead, let''s focus on finding out the identity of those five men," Kayn believes that it is a lot more important for them to confirm the truth. As for the Kraken, considering that it is a monster, with enough disturbance around the Slumbering Forest, it would highly likely reveal itself, thus they can temporarily put that aside.


    Gilbert and Wesley immediately understood.


    "I''ll prepare the escape route, while the two of you start smoking the rats," Gilbert volunteered himself before quickly leaving.


    Seeing Gilbert leave, Wesley looks at Kayn and asked. "So, what''s the n?"


    "First, we destroy the entrance¡­"


    Boom!


    A muffle sound of explosion sounded as dozens of debris started falling from the top of the cave, which resulted in some parts of the cave beingpletely blocked off.


    It still wasn''t enough though to prevent the smoke and light from not getting seen.


    "Let''s make sure there''s only one entrance left,"


    Bang! Bang!


    As another series of explosions resounded, more debris fell down to the cave, causing the size of the hole to shrink.


    Eventually, they stopped after the size of the hole became small enough for two people to walk inside side by side.


    "Let''s put inside the light materials," Kayn muttered before walking inside the cave.


    Wesley quickly followed.


    Earlier ago, they cut dozens of trees and stored the materials inside their Storage Rings. In this way, it would be easy for them to bring the logs and leaves inside the cave.


    Momentster, both Kayn and Wesley walked out of the cave while continuing toy down a bunch of dried leaves and small twigs that can easily catch on fire.


    "This should be enough," Kayn said in a remark as he stood up.


    In the next moment, Gilbert returned.


    "Are you guys done?" Gilbert asked.


    "We''re about to light it on fire," Kayn responded before asking. "Have you secured our escape route?"


    "It''s not exactly an escape route, more like a temporary hiding spot," Gilbert exined. He had hoped to find a path they could use to conceal themselves while returning to the Dream Vige. However, the avable routes provided little cover since they were outside the protective confines of the Slumbering Forest.


    "Did you not find a single underwater cave tunnel that we can use?" Wesley can''t help asking.


    "I did, but it isn''t cleared from monsters,"


    "Are you sure that hiding spot couldn''t be easily found?"


    "There are two sizeable rocks blocking its entrance and we need to push aside some vines in order to get inside," Gilbert was confident with his choice. "It is also not considerably far from here, so we will be able to see them once they get out from the Dream Dungeon,"


    "Alright," Kayn interrupted. His initial n was to escape and leave the rest to Natas. Needless to say, he won''t be able to exin how he knew the identity of Chief Dennis'' supposed bodyguards, but that doesn''t matter since what''s important is to be aware of the identity of who he is dealing with.


    "I''ll start lighting up the fire," Kayn took out the Molten Magma Core from his Storage Ring. He thought of using a lighter, but that would only be enough to light up dry leaves and the process would take a lot of time. On the other hand, the Molten Magma Core can instantly light up any light materials.


    Whoosh!


    A brilliant light illuminated the surroundings as the fire quickly spread through the light materials, slowly making its way inside the cave.


    "Let''s get out of here!" Kayn tapped Gilbert''s shoulder for thetter to start leading the way.


    "Okay," Gilbert nodded and started running in the direction of their hiding spot.


    They arrived at the location, and just like what Gilbert had described, it was indeed an ideal hiding spot.


    The entrance of the cave is obstructed by two massive boulders, and the vines behind them serve as a perfect cover for the cave.

 Chapter 294 The War that Decides the Fate of ’The Bridge’ Part 97

    <h4>Chapter 294 The War that Decides the Fate of ''The ?Bridge'' Part 97</h4>


    Chapter 294: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 97


    "Let''s wait before getting inside," Gilbert suggested as he turns to look at Kayn and Wesley.


    Wesley stopped before looking behind him to see how''s the entrance of the Dream Dungeon is doing and whether their n is progressing well or not.


    Contrary to the duo.


    "No need," Kayn didn''t hesitate to disregard Gilbert''s idea as he pushed both Gilbert and Wesley inside the small path in between two boulders.


    Although they are far away from the Dream Dungeon and could use the darkness of the night as cover to blend in and hide while awaiting for Chief Dennis'' supposed bodyguards to get out from the burning and suffocating cave, there''s this possibility that one of those people possess the capability or Gift to see them in the darkness.


    He can''t risk that.


    "Then how can we know their identity," Gilbert wonders.


    "I''ll take care of that, just trust me," Kayn could only hope that they''ll both believe him.


    "This¡­"


    Both Gilbert and Wesley don''t understand how on Earth Kayn would be able to achieve that. Nevertheless, they still choose to believe him.


    "Just get inside and wait," Kayn pushed Gilbert and Wesley inside the cave before stepping away from the entrance and looking in the direction of the Dream Dungeon.


    As expected, because the entrance to the Dream Dungeon was blocked by countless pieces of debris, it prevented a majority of the smoke and light from the fire from escaping.


    Although there was still some smoke piring the sky, it was thin enough that it could barely be seen in the darkness, and that is even despite the fact that he is already close to the Dream Dungeon. It also disperses before it could reach high enough.


    As for the lighting from the burning cave, it could barely be seen even in the darkness due to the cover of some debris and rocks that he and Wesley had strategically set up in order to block the view from the north.


    He believes that unless the Freedom Fang Brigade specifically observes the west and focuses on this certain location, they would never see the light.


    Time quickly passed and there were still no signs of changes inside the Dream Dungeon.


    "Were those people actually telling the truth or were their words perhaps just a lie?" Kayn started doubting Kardo and his men. "I shouldn''t have let them go that easily,"


    The reason why they immediately let Kardo and the rest of his men go was that he doesn''t want them staying and possibly disrupting their ns in the future on how to deal with Chief Dennis'' supposed bodyguards.


    "I suppose this works too," Kayn mumbled to himself. He understood that their actions could likely indicate that the Dream Dungeon was empty, thus confirming their assumption about this dungeon leading to the entrance of the underwater cave system where the Kraken currently resides.


    "That is as long as nothing burst forth from the Dream Dungeon,"


    "How''s the situation outside, Kayn?"


    Gilbert''s concerned voice sounded outside the cave where they are hiding.


    "Still no changes," Kayn quietly responded.


    "Are you sure? What if they were able to crawl out of the fire without you noticing," Wesley decided to make a joke out of Kayn''s extreme cautiousness.


    "That can also be a possibility. And suppose that happens, that means our time left to live is now ticking closer to its end," Kayn rebutted.


    "Do you seriously believe their words?"


    "I would have left you here and gone back to the Dream Dungeon if I didn''t believe Kardo''s and his men''s words,"


    "What if it was a lie though,"


    "Then it simply means they had sessfully fooled us,"


    "That doesn''t sound sweet at all," Wesley doesn''t like the thought of them being fooled by a group of low-level soldiers.


    "We all have our times," Gilbert could only sigh in regret.


    "Are you telling me that each of us will eventually get a turn of being fooled?"


    "Exactly, we''re not immune to that,"


    "Fair enough," Wesley acknowledges. "I guess that just makes Kardo and his men lucky,"


    "Right¡­"


    Boom!


    Their conversation was suddenly disrupted as a loud sound of explosion erupted in the direction of the Dream Dungeon.


    Numerous boulders and logs wereunched into the air, causing the small area at the entrance of the Dream Dungeon to be showered with burning and dry leaves.


    With no obstacles in its way, the smoke finally billowed upwards, reaching high into the sky without any hindrance.


    Not long after, five figures jumped out of the thick smoke andnded not far away from where Kayn and the others were hiding.


    "I guess they weren''t lying," Kayn muttered after diving inside the cave.


    "That was close," Wesley quickly helped Kayn stand up from the ground.


    "How was it? Did you see their faces?" Wesley hurriedly asked in concern.


    "Yes," Kayn pretended to have seen the faces of the five men. "It was dark, but I saw their faces quite well,"


    "Do you need a pen and paper?" Gilbert took out the two items from his Storage Ring.


    "I''ll draw themter. For now, let''s make sure that we won''t get caught," Kayn approached the vines before waving his hand, immediately taking out a few logs that he wasn''t able to use inside the Dream Dungeon because there was no more space to put them. He started piling them up in order topletely block the entrance.


    Seeing Kayn''s action, Gilbert and Wesley swiftly went forward to help.


    "We have to hold it down, otherwise, it will all fall apart," Kayn reminded everyone.


    "It would have been a lot nicer if we had brought Jude and Charles with us," Gilbert can''t help muttering a remark.


    Jude would have made it easier for them to block the entrance of the Dream Dungeon and make a hiding spot for them close enough to the dungeon so that they won''t have trouble trying to see the identity of Chief Dennis'' supposed bodyguards.


    On the other hand, Charles could pretty much handle blocking the entrance of this cave all by himself.


    "There''s no use regretting now since we are already in this situation," Wesley shook his head.

 Chapter 295 The War that Decides the Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 98

    <h4>Chapter 295 The War that Decides the Fate of ¡®The ?Bridge¡¯ Part 98</h4>


    Chapter 295: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 98


    "Wait a minute! Weren''t you supposed to be a Mage?" Gilbert looks at Wesley with a strange look on his face.


    "I¡­" Wesley doesn''t want to admit it. Although he is a Mage, he actually barely knows any magic spell because he overly relies on his Gift more than his main ss and subss. He''s more like a jack of all trades as he doesn''t have a permanent weapon of choice and would pick whatever suits the current circumstances. As for the magic spells he knows about, they''re at a simr level to the basic fireball spell.


    This was one of the main reasons why he was ordered to stay in the Freedom City and manage it alongside Chief Kylo instead of being given an assignment outside like Maria, Christopher, and the rest of the Assembly Knights.


    Unlike Gilbert, Kayn already knew about this as he had been observing Wesley ever since the first time they infiltrated the Assembly of Freedom by pretending as someone interested in forming an alliance with them through the Herald Guild back then in the Daze Vige. Moreover, he had glimpses of thetter''s capability through their shared consciousness every time he activated his charm on Wesley.


    "What do we do now?" Gilbert felt worried as it is next to impossible for them to stay like this until morninges. More importantly, since they are trapped inside, there''s no way for them to know what exactly is going on outside.


    "We have to wait," Kayn responded.


    "Wait for what?"


    "Perhaps you meant who?" Wesley looks at Kayn, curious about who thetter is trusting to save them from their predicament.


    "He won''t save us, he''ll just signal us that it is safe outside," Kayn corrected.


    "We''ve been together all this time, how exactly did youmunicate with someone else other than the two of us," Gilbert can''t help wondering.


    "Okay, I''ll be honest with you two," Kayn coughed before finally revealing. "The truth is, I didn''te to ''The Bridge'' alone. My father-inw, Mayor Sebastian, actually sent one of his men to be my bodyguard,"


    "A bodyguard?" Gilbert narrowed his eyes. "Howe I''ve never met this guy before?"


    "That''s because he is an assassin just like you and with his high level¡­"


    "How high?"


    "I don''t know, but with the level restriction in ''The Bridge'', his full strength has been greatly restricted ever since,"


    "Let''s say I believe you, how on Earth was he able toe here?"


    "He was always with us,"


    "I don''t believe you," Gilbert refuses to believe Kayn no matter how hard thetter exins to him. Just from how Kayn is being very defensive right now, which is not how he normally acts, makes it too obvious that he is lying. Needless to say, he can already guess Kayn will not tell him the truth no matter what.


    "I believe him," Wesley started nodding his head as if realizing something.


    "You''re no different from an idiot if you believe his words right now,"


    "Well, how else can you exin his confidence and recklessness,"


    "That he is just naturally born with that trait," Giblert rolled his eyes as if he is stating the obvious.


    "It can also be attributed to the fact that he is confident someone wille and save him once things go out of his control,"


    "Perhaps,"


    "It can also exin why it is as if he knows almost everything. Perhaps that bodyguard is the one who ismunicating with him all the information that he supposedly knows,"


    "You''re being excessive," Kayn''s head twitched in annoyance. But he can''t tell the truth that it was because of his experience from the future.


    Wesley chuckled before ending his line. "Anyways, let''s just wait,"


    Not long after, the trio heard a sudden knock on the log they are holding.


    "It is safe now," Natas muttered which only Kayn could hear.


    "Let''s return to the Dream Vige now," Kayn started storing the logs inside his Storage Ring.


    As soon as they got out of their hiding spot, both Gilbert and Wesley quickly started looking around in hopes of finding the mysterious bodyguard of Kayn.


    Honestly, Kayn got the idea of pretending to have a bodyguard from the recent conversation he had with Kardo about Chief Dennis having bodyguards. It was the best way for him to exin Natas'' identity.


    "He''s really gone," Gilbert was shocked.


    "I didn''t even notice someone approached our cave when I heard the knock just now," Wesley looks at Kayn in admiration. A mysterious powerful bodyguard. The only reason why thetter would have someone like that protecting him is if his status back on Earth is of importance. "It seems like being the son-inw of Mayor Sebastian isn''t as bad as you initially described to me,"


    Kayn can only let out a weakugh in response.


    "Let''s go back," Kayn started heading in the direction of the Dream Vige.


    "I am guessing he''ll be the one to send us the drawing of Chief Dennis'' supposed bodyguards, right?" Gilbert suddenly asked.


    "Yes,"


    "I suppose there''s no need for us to worry about that anymore," Wesley sighed in relief. Now, they just had to wait for Kayn''s bodyguard to share his findings with them. As for them, they could finally rest after tonight''s sessful operation. Albeit, this isn''t exactly the same as what they initially came to the Dream Dungeon here to achieve.


    Kayn, Gilbert, and Wesley quickly made their way back to the Dream Vige because even though they were able to evade the detection of Chief Dennis'' supposed bodyguards, they still have to worry about the Freedom Fang Brigade.


    Anytime from now, some soldiers of the Freedom Fang Brigade wille to the Dream Dungeon to check what just happened. Once they arrive, they''ll most likely set up a perimeter and search the surrounding area to look for clues to exin the sudden explosion.


    If they''re not gone by then, there''s a good chance they''ll be caught.


    It would be fine as long as they''re just soldiers of the Freedom Fang Brigade since they can always easily take care of them without any problem and continue on their way. However, if it is Garvin himself, there''s no telling for certain how exactly everything would y out next.


    None of them had to voice it out loud as they all had an unspoken desire to avoid witnessing what might unfold. Hence, they hurried back to the Dream Vige as swiftly as their feet could carry them.

 Chapter 296 The War that Decides the Fate of ’The Bridge’ Part 99

    <h4>Chapter 296 The War that Decides the Fate of ''The ?Bridge'' Part 99</h4>


    Chapter 296: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 99


    The next day soon came.


    Just like what was agreed upon yesterday, the Freedom Fang Brigade started preparing themselves to continue with the invasion of the Dream Vige.


    On the other hand, Kayn and the others who know the truth about Lilith''s temporary absence in the Dream Vige started feeling a bit nervous because they don''t know how long they can continue buying time for her return.


    "We didn''t receive any report from the headquarters today, thus I think something bad must have happened," Jericho informed everyone. Normally, they would receive a daily reporting from the headquarters each morning through a messenger pigeon. He would also send a report back in order to keep them updated on their current situation. "Should I send a query?"


    "Go on," Kayn approved. He needs to know what exactly is going on or else he won''t be able to prepare himself for the worst.


    "If it reallyes to it, we can just blow the entire Slumbering Forest," Gilbert stepped forward.


    "Blow it up? How?" Wesley rolled his eyes. He doesn''t believe they have the capability to do that.


    "We''ve already set up countless explosives all over the Slumbering Forest. We buried them underneathkes, rivers, trees, and other inconspicuous surface areas above the underwater cave tunnels," Gilbert proudly presented.


    "As expected," Wesley already knew that the Green Horn City must have prepared something against them when they send the invitation to make the Slumbering Forest the location for their war. That was why they would always send scouts inside the Slumbering Forest to look for clues. Unfortunately, none of those operations bore any fruit. "Although, I didn''t expect it to be arson again,"


    "Our leader," Jude looks at Kayn. "Is the King of Arson. So, what do you expect from us?"


    "King of Arson? That truly fit Kayn," Jericho startedughing about it.


    "Enough about that," Kayn interrupted as he glimpses at the wall of the Freedom Fang Brigade, hoping to find Garvin. It didn''t take long for him to see thetter as he walked on top of their wall.


    "He''s here," Kayn signaled to everyone.


    "You must have a good night''s rest considering the temporary cease-fire," Garvin greeted.


    Kayn smirked and responded. "How was the burial for the Freedom Fighters?"


    "I was able to bury them at the ce where they belonged,"


    "And where is it?"


    "The Dream Dungeon,"


    "It seems to me that you caused quite themotionst night during the burial. Do you really have to wake us up for that?"


    "Let''s not pretend like we are kids, Kayn,"


    "I am a kid," Kayn corrected.


    "You might still be considered a young man, but nobody here believes that your age is a limitation to your true capability," Garvin shook his head. He had ordered one of his men yesterday who possess the Gift to look into the memories of people who had died, and he was shocked when he found out that it was Kayn himself who personally defeated the Freedom Fighters. Even though in the end the others stepped in to end them, that was only because they''d already lost the will to continue fighting.


    "What are you implying?"


    "All I am saying is, what were you doing in the Dream Dungeon?"


    "Hunting down some people," Kayn decided to reveal a bit of information.


    "Considering that they aren''t part of the Assembly of Freedom, I believe that they must be people you hold personal vengeance,"


    "Not really. They''re part of the Assembly of Freedom. I was informed that they are Chief Dennis'' personal bodyguards," Kayn didn''t hold back as he wanted to lure out those people by revealing that it was him that disrupted their operation inside the Dream Dungeonst night.


    Unfortunately, nobody reacted in a strange way from the side of the Freedom Fang Brigade.


    "Howe I didn''t know Chief Dennis had personal bodyguards?" Garvin looks at Ekin in confusion.


    "Chief Dennis doesn''t have any personal bodyguards. That has never been stated in any of his reports or information about him,"


    "You''re lying again, I see," Garvin could only assume that Kayn is not telling the truth.


    "If you send some men to go west, you''ll find a few soldiers we''ve allowed to escape. You can ask them if you don''t believe me," Kayn hoped that Garvin wouldply so that they can buy more time for themselves.


    "We''ve already caught them," Garvin had already captured a few peoplest night when they went to the Dream Dungeon. They didn''t go that far from the dungeon, that''s why they were able to find them easily.


    As expected, it was Kardo and the rest of his men, with a few missing, probably dead after resisting the Freedom Fang Brigade.


    "Say, is Kayn telling the truth?" Garvin asked Kardo as he already know thetter is the leader of the squad.


    "Yes, he is!"


    "You shouldn''t have answered him like that," Wesley suddenly interjected. "Next time he asks a question, make sure you get something in return,"


    "Shut your mouth, traitor!" Ekin eximed.


    "Speaking about traitors, I wonder how many I can control in your ranks. Are you interested in finding out?" Wesley changed the topic.


    "Even if you activate your charm in them, it wouldn''t matter as we''ve specifically arranged our soldiers where they can immediately kill anyone that goes against our orders," Ss wasn''t worried.


    "Are you sure?" Wesley tried to irritate them.


    "Try us!" Ss doesn''t n on backing down.


    "Later," Wesley finally relented. He had to back down, or else he might trigger them to start the battle.


    "Thought so," Ss proudly puffed his chest seeing that he defeated Wesley in an argument.


    "I''ve understood the situation," Garvin finally spoke again after having a brief conversation with Kardo and his men during the bunter between Wesley and Ss. "So, what were your findings?"


    "Not much, since all we didst night was smoke the rats out of the Dream Dungeon and hope that you''ll capture them as well," Kayn sounded disappointed.


    "I am afraid that nobody was there when our men reached the ce," Garvin was also disappointed as he wanted to see for himself Chief Dennis'' supposed bodyguards as well.

 Chapter 297 The War that Decides the Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 100

    <h4>Chapter 297 The War that Decides the Fate of ¡®The ?Bridge¡¯ Part 100</h4>


    Chapter 297: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 100


    Kayn and Garvin talked a bit more before the duo started preparing their respective side for the continuation of the war.


    The reason why they leisurely converse with each other was that they have the same thought of luring those people out from either side.


    Contrary to Kayn who already possesses some information about Chief Dennis'' supposed bodyguards, Garvin on the other hand believed they are a third party that wants to take advantage of this war to pick off both the Assembly of Freedom and the Green Horn City.


    In the end, their actions were proven futile since nobody from both sides acted differently during their entire conversation. As such, it is time for the cease-fire to end.


    "Prepare the catapults!" Kayn ns to pull the same stunt as yesterday. "And bring out the ballista to the walls as quickly as possible,"


    "They''re already on their way here," Jericho reported.


    Kayn gave a nod.


    "Prepare the catapults and load the oil barrels," Kayn soon instructed.


    "Oil? They''ll take advantage of that!" Wesley objected.


    "Are you themander or me?" Kayn felt irritated.


    "You are," Wesley lowers his head.


    "Then just trust me. I know what I am doing," Kayn didn''t bother to continue speaking anymore as he return his attention to the catapults. Raising his right arm, he finally sent the order. "Fire!"


    Whoosh!


    Numerous oil barrels soared through the air, heading toward the direction of the Freedom Fang Brigade.


    Quickly noticing that those barrels contains oil, Garvin shook his head.


    "Mages!" Garvin called out. "Shoot down those oil barrels!"


    Whoosh!


    Dozens of fireballs shoot out to counter the iing oil barrels.


    Boom!


    Bang!


    A series of explosions sounded as all the oil barrels started exploding one after the other.


    The instant the barrels exploded, they would immediately ssh out all the oil content into the water on the moat below. As a result, the surrounding area between the walls of the Dream Vige and the Freedom Fang Brigade started raining with oil.


    Seeing the scene of oil raining on the moat, Garvin instantly understood Kayn''s strategy.


    "Fire the ming arrows to the moat!" Kayn quickly followed up.


    Whoosh!


    Amidst the oil rain, a barrage of ming arrows relentlessly pelted the moat.


    As soon as the arrows touched the moat, a spark of ming inferno instantly erupted, enveloping the entirety of the moat with burning hot mes.


    With the burning inferno before their wall, Garvin understood that it is now going to be impossible for them to cross the moat if they don''t extinguish the fire.


    Garvin could not help himself from looking at Kayn. Just now, he thought thetter was simply going to execute the same strategy they pulled off yesterday, drenching the wall with oil and lighting it on fire. That was why he immediately ordered the Mages to retaliate and block them. If he had known beforehand, he would have let his deputies handle the oil barrels and prevent them from doing both.


    "You truly never fail to amaze me," Garvin expresses his admiration to Kayn.


    "I''ve never been someone who uses the same strategy again, especially against the same opponent," Kayn glimpses at Wesley before muttering. "Do you understand?"


    "Yes..." Wesley muttered in a low voice.


    "Did the traitor want to prove himself useful to you just now?"


    "I think you''re misunderstanding something," Kayn corrected. "I made Wesley betray the Assembly of Freedom as I left him with no other choice,"


    "He could have just chosen to die,"


    "I''ll see about that once I put you in the same situation as himter," Kayn nodded at Wesley. "You can activate it now,"


    "Are you sure?"


    "Don''t make me repeat myself again,"


    "Okay!" Wesley nodded in delight.


    In the next moment, amotion suddenly began inside the formation of the Freedom Fang Brigade.


    Garvin remembered something, prompting his attention to turn away from the Dream Vige and to his men. He turns his head to look at Kayn again before muttering. "Don''t you think this is too early for you to use?"


    "Have I done something too early?" Kayn smiles.


    "Too bad, we''ve already prepared ourselves for this,"


    Just like what Ss'' had mentioned just now, the formation of their brigade was already arranged specifically to deal against the people who had secretly fallen victim to Wesley''s charm in the past.


    While that was going on, the ballista finally arrived on top of Dream Vige''s wall.


    "Prepare the ballista!" Kayn eximed.


    Hearing Kayn''s loud shout, Garvin immediately ordered. "Block the arrows!"


    Whoosh!


    The Ballista shoots out dozens of arrows.


    Whoosh!


    Before the arrows could reach the Freedom Fang Brigade, earth walls were immediately erected in front of their wall to block the arrows.


    Bang!


    Boom!


    The arrows were easily blocked.


    "Fire the next round!"


    Whoosh!


    This time, the arrows didn''t go for the earth walls, but instead to the actual wall of the Freedom Fang Brigade.


    Bang!


    The arrows pierced the walls deeply, firmly embedding themselves within.


    "What you''re doing is useless!" Ekin voiced out his insult.


    "You never learn," Kayn muttered under his breath.


    Unbeknownst to the Freedom Fang Brigade, with the majority of their vision now hindered by the extension of the earth walls, nobody noticed that wires are actually attached to the second round of arrows.


    "Send in the dynamites!" Kayn


    Soldiers started hooking dynamites to the wires and right after pushing them to the end of the wires.


    Noticing somethinging to them, one of the soldiers quickly reported to Garvin. "Sir Garvin, they''re sending a ck object to our walls,"


    "How?"


    "I think they''ve attached wires to the second volley,"


    "Wires?" Garvin quickly approached the window of their wall. To his shock, he immediately saw countless dynamite piling on top of each other in front of their wall.


    "Everyone, get away from the walls!" Garvin immediately warned everyone as he jumped far away from the wall.


    Whoosh!


    Dozens of piercing sounds of arrows traveling toward their wall soon echoed in front.

 Chapter 298 The War that Decides the Fate of ’The Bridge’ Part 101

    <h4>Chapter 298 The War that Decides the Fate of ''The ?Bridge'' Part 101</h4>


    Chapter 298: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 101


    BOOOOOM!


    A huge explosion erupted in front of the Freedom Fang Brigade''s wall as countless debris of various sizes were sent flying almost everywhere in the air, mostly to the north where the st was more focused.


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Like a mini-meteor shower, debris started raining everywhere across the battlefield.


    Fortunately, there was the previous sphere wall above the Freedom Fang Brigade''s formation, thus the damage dealt to their army was minimized to some degree.


    Whooosh!


    Before the sphere wall could eventually break, dozens of huge barriers soon appeared within the formation of the Freedom Fang Brigade, protecting everyone from the raining debris.


    Booom!


    The sphere wall finally copsed.


    Bang!


    Bang!


    Bang!


    With the barrier already erected, nobody got hurt by the raining debris.


    Whoosh!


    Garvin along with his two deputies and Executives flew out of the barrier and started destroying the debris.


    Whoosh!


    All of a sudden¡­


    Boom!


    A sizeable rock was hurled to their wall by Ekin.


    "Barriers!"


    Boom! Boom!


    Before the barrier could appear, dozens of rocks hit the wall of the Dream Vige.


    "Ah!"


    As a result, some of the soldiers close to the walls were sted by the rocks and got thrown off. Some unlucky soldiers even fell to the burning moat, instantly getting consumed by the ongoing raging inferno.


    Bang!


    Finally, the barrier was created.


    "I didn''t expect you''d try to take advantage of my assault," Kayn sighs.


    "I just want to see something," Garvin smirked.


    "What do you imply?"


    "I''ve noticed something strange," Garvin caress his chin out of interest. "It seems like one of you is missing,"


    "Missing?" Kayn pretended to be confused.


    "I wonder, where''s Lilith?"


    "Where do you expect an assassin would go?"


    "Probably, she went to fetch your reinforcement?"


    "Or perhaps she''s trying to bait you,"


    "That would have been the case, but too bad for you, I got this piece of crucial information from a messenger pigeoning from the Dream Vige," Garvin took out a piece of paper. In order topletely iste the Dream Vige from the rest of its allies, he had specifically assigned some assassins to make a perimeter ten kilometers around the vige and prevent any form ofmunication from reaching the Green Horn City. And just this morning, one of those assassins caught two pigeons, oneing from the Green Horn City, and the other from the Dream Vige.


    "The query I sent just now!" Jericho''s eyes widened as he instantly recognized the paper.


    "That''s right," Garvin nods his head. "And here''s another one,"


    "That''s the insignia from the Green Horn City," Jericho informs Kayn.


    It means that the Green Horn City had sent a letter but was intercepted by the Freedom Fang Brigade, which finally exins why the Dream Vige didn''t receive any.


    "If it''s okay to ask, what does the letter from Green Horn City say?" Kayn hopes that Garvin would tell them.


    "Let''s see," Garvin dlyplies as he had already read the content inside the letter and it was a piece of good news for the Freedom Fang Brigade. "It says here that something went wrong during their invasion in the Slumber Vige, leading to the dy in your request of reinforcement. They hope that you''d be able to continue holding them back for two or more days,"


    Garvin turns to Kayn. "That basically sums up everything,"


    "It seems that we are all on our own now," Kayn showed a look of disappointment on his face.


    Gilbert and everyone''s eyes widened in shock. This means that ns have changed and they are left to defend themselves.


    But if one would look closely, one would notice that Kayn''s lips have formed a slight smile.


    Unbeknownst to everyone, the content of the letter actually implies the opposite. In trantion, it means; thank you for holding them back for more than two days. And rest assured, the reinforcement is alreadying soon.


    He and Natas are the only ones that know about this aside from Old Mayor George, which exins the reaction of Gilbert and the others, as the two of them agreed to send this kind of letter when they are finally close to the Dream Vige.


    "It seems like Lilith didn''t fail you," Natas muttered, being aware already of the meaning behind the content.


    Kayn smiles in response.


    "Should we¡­" Wesley glimpses at their newly fortified barracks.


    "Let''s hold on for as long as we can," Gilbert shook his head in refusal. Abandoning the walls now would simply prove fatal for them since almost all their defensive countermeasures are now stationed on the wall, mostly at the northern wall. Retreating would mean their side having fewer ways to defend and buy enough time for themselves.


    "That still doesn''t prove to me that Lilith is not with us right now," Kayn shrugged his shoulder.


    "If she really was, she would have revealed herself right now after hearing that news," Garvin wasn''t a fool. No matter how patient Lilith is, she''d have to reveal herself because of the sudden changes in their n. Not to mention, they''ll have to discuss right now how they would respond, thus Lilith has to show herself or else she''ll be left on her own.


    "Finally, an opponent who isn''t a fool," Kayn couldn''t hide his delight. "Ever since arriving in ''The Bridge'', I''ve always only met foolish opponents,"


    "Does that include me?" Wesley can''t help pointing at himself.


    "You''re the top of them all," Kayn rolled his eyes. If he was in Wesley''s shoes, he would have long taken over half of the Assembly of Freedom, or possibly even possess equal strength to Chief Kylo.


    "I¡­" Wesley felt wronged and turned silent.


    "Now that you know Lilith isn''t in the Dream Vige, what would you do next?" Kayn looks at Garvin with a taunting face.


    "What are you doing?!" Gilbert panicked.


    "We should be trying to defuse the situation not trigger him!" Jericho pulled Kayn''s arm.


    "Refusing a challenge has never been a trait of mine," Kayn pulled back his arm.


    Garvin nodded in approval.

 Chapter 299 The War that Decides the Fate of ’The Bridge’ Part 102

    <h4>Chapter 299 The War that Decides the Fate of ''The ?Bridge'' Part 102</h4>


    Chapter 299: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 102


    "That''s why you''re the biggest threat to the Assembly of Freedom," Garvin understood already a long time ago why Kayn has been considered a major headache and has caused so much trouble to their organization. Thetter just doesn''t back down at anything regardless of being at a disadvantage already. For example now; their current situation is no different from being abandoned by the Green Horn City, yet Kayn still ns on facing him head-on and doesn''t have the look on his face that tells he is preparing to retreat once the situation turns bad for them.


    "I admire you," Garvin expressed.


    "Ipletely understand," Kayn didn''t take it as a big deal. After all, even the Gods of all Gods, Natas, who is considered the most powerful of them all, excluding the ''Tower'', also admires him. So, it isn''t surprising for inferior beings to think the same.


    "Proud and arrogant only to the degree that you deserve it, I like that. If you weren''t my enemy, we would have been friends,"


    "I know right," Kayn found that reasonable. But, the present him would never consider the likes of Garvin as friends, especially after what he had gone through in the second life. The only people he would consider friends are those special people like Rowan Starlight, his loving girlfriend Selena, and Mayor Sebastian.


    That''s right, even now he still doesn''t fully consider the people he has been spending a lot of time together within ''The Bridge'' as friends. They''re only allies, yet still temporary ones as he isn''t fully certain about their character yet.


    "So, I''ll propose you an alliance,"


    "An alliance?"


    "Just you though, I don''t care about the rest of your friends and allies," Garvinpletely ignored Gilbert and the others, especially Wesley, who is a traitor, as he didn''t even bother glimpsing at thetter.


    "I am afraid I can''t do that. You see, I don''t like betrayals and traitors," Kayn shook his head.


    "How about you hear me first before deciding? After all, you even epted a traitor in your group,"


    "Just like what I''ve said before, I made him betray the Assembly of Freedom. That''s apletely different story if he was the one who voluntarily decided to do it,"


    "And as always, my response is, he could have just chosen to kill himself,"


    "This conversation would lead us both nowhere since we have different beliefs,"


    "That''s right. So, why don''t you just hear me out first?" Garvin proposed once more.


    "Since you keep on insisting," Kayn showed a look of trouble on his face. "I''ll hear it,"


    "Kayn!"


    Gilbert and the others immediately protested.


    "Why are you guys overreacting? Regardless of what he will propose, I would still be rejecting it," Kayn assures them.


    "Wait until you hear it," Garvin smiles confidently as he is one hundred percent sure Kayn would like his proposal.


    "Go on, what are you waiting for," Kayn motioned his hand for Garvin to start talking.


    All of a sudden, a giant istion barrier covered both Kayn and Garvin, preventing anyone else from hearing or listening to their conversation.


    "It seems like this is really important that you don''t want others to hear us," Kayn was easily able to understand the importance of this proposition for Garvin.


    "That''s right," Garvin nodded.


    "It''s simple, I want you to join the Assembly of Freedom. You got to keep the Kingmaker, of course, and in return, I will personally help you rece Chief Kylo as the leader of the organization,"


    "Interesting," Kayn was intrigued. "I thought you hate traitors, thus I can''t help wondering why you are betraying Chief Kylo now,"


    "I think you''re mistaken about something, I was never loyal to him," Garvin shook his head.


    "You weren''t?" Kayn doubts that.


    "I was only ever loyal to his father, Chief Kydon,"


    "In that case, why do you continue working for Chief Kylo?"


    "Because I have a responsibility," Garvin glimpses at his men. "Chief Kydon was originally the leader of the Freedom Fang Brigade, but when he died, he entrusted them to me. And since we are publicly recognized as the fangs of the Assembly of Freedom, we had to do what must be done,"


    "And that''s why you are following Chief Kylo?"


    "No, I am simply following the will of the Assembly of Freedom; to be a huge enough threat that everyone in ''The Bridge'' would have to focus on us instead of thinking of finding ways to leave this ce,"


    "I see," Kayn already knows that is the will of Chief Kydon himself. "Honestly, if I don''t see anything wrong with Chief Kydon''s will. In fact, I slightly agree with him as I don''t want to continue seeing people throw their lives away just for a little progress in finding a way to find the exit for ''The Bridge'',"


    "Exactly!"


    "Unfortunately, I already know how to get out of ''The Bridge'' and I don''t n on staying in this god-forsaken ce. In fact, if I didn''t have any important matters to take care of in this ce, I wouldn''t even think ofing here,"


    Just like what he said before, he could enter the ''Tower'' any time he wants. But because there is something extremely important in ''The Bridge'', he must have to dy his original goal.


    And to tell the truth, he isn''t regretting now that he decided to trust Natas and choose to enter ''The Bridge''. Because of it, he met some noteworthy people, like Jude, Maria, and Lilith.


    In addition to that, he also possessed a legendary weapon called Kingmaker.


    To make matters even better, he is also presented with the opportunity to get a head start from the majority before finally entering the ''Tower''.


    With all these factors taken into consideration, once he gets out of this ce, he''ll be able to make things a lot easier for him.


    "You do?" Garvin looks at Kayn in shock as hepletely didn''t expect thetter would know the method to leave ''The Bridge''. "How?"

 Chapter 300 The War that Decides the Fate of ’The Bridge’ Part 103

    <h4>Chapter 300 The War that Decides the Fate of ''The ?Bridge'' Part 103</h4>


    Chapter 300: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 103


    "Let''s put that aside for now," Kayn quickly changed the topic. "I am interested in your proposal, but I''m afraid we''ll have to make changes to the original n,"


    "What do you mean?" Garvin doesn''t understand.


    "I don''t want to limit myself to just being feared in this godforsaken ce only. I want to be a huge threat in the ''Tower''," Kayn proposed the alternative.


    "Are you insane?!" Garvin was in disbelief.


    "If you''re not up to the task, then consider this negotiation over," Kayn shrugged his shoulder out of helplessness. If Garvin doesn''t want to ept it, he''ll have to think of proposing this very bright idea to somebody else.


    "I think you''re mistaken about something, I am talking about whether you''d live or die. If you don''t ept my proposition, let alone being feared in the ''Tower'', you might not even get out of ''The Bridge'' alive and return back to Earth," Garvin looks at Kayn with disdain.


    "Do you seriously think that you have the advantage here?" Kayn smiled mischievously.


    "Don''t I?" Garvin already has the entire Dream Vige in the palm of his hand since Lilith is no longer present.


    "It seems like being in ''The Bridge'' had turned you into a frog in a well,"


    "You dare insult me?!" Garvin stared at Kayn with bloodshot eyes.


    "It can''t be helped, I guess I''ll have to challenge you on a one-on-one fight. Whoever wins, we''ll have to serve the opposite party through the Knight''s Oath of Fealty,"


    Knight''s Oath of Fealty. This is a ceremony no different from the Guardian Duel that Heroes with the Guardian subss performs.


    Contrary to the Guardian Duel though, when someone with the Knight subss decided to perform the Knight''s Oath of Fealty, that means they swear eternal loyalty and devotion to someone and personally recognize them as their sovereign and will forever be a subordinate or servant of that person. Breaking this Knight''s Oath of Fealty will warrant a curse to the Knight, which will decrease all of their stats by a quarter in percentage for eternity or until the person they swore the Knight''s Oath of Fealty dies.


    In other words, the ''Tower'' officially recognizes the Knight''s Oath of Fealty and backs it up.


    "You? What level are you right now?" Garvin doesn''t quite understand where Kayn''s confidencees from.


    "I am still level 30," Kayn didn''t mind revealing it since it was only him and Garvin who could hear their conversation. Moreover, levels don''t really mean much to him personally. With the proper execution of skillsbined with his techniques and experience, he is confident that he can take on Garvin.


    "Once we begin, I hope you won''t be going back on your words," Garvin wants to confirm it first as he doesn''t want Kayn to suddenly back down during their battle.


    The Knight''s Oath of Fealty might be backed by the ''Tower'', but if Kayn suddenly decided to back out from the fight, Garvin can''t do anything about it nor me Kayn for not honoring his words since the ''Tower'' only recognizes the Knight''s Oath of Fealty and not the process of how one obtains it.


    "Iy down my honor for this fight," Kayn jumped down from the wall andnded on the remains of the north bridge.


    Gilbert and the others were immediately surprised at Kayn''s sudden action. They hurriedly approached the edge of the wall and started beckoning for thetter to return.


    However, to their surprise, Garvin also left his men all on his own and jumped down on the opposite side of the broken north bridge.


    Kayn signaled everyone to stay put with his hand, and Garvin also did the same.


    Once again, a temporary cease-fire took ce between the Dream Vige and the Freedom Fang Brigade.


    "What are they doing?" Gilbert can''t help wondering.


    "I think they are going to duke it out against each other on a one-versus-one fight," Wesley understood.


    "What''s Kayn''s level right now?" Jericho looks at Gilbert.


    "I believe he is only level 30,"


    "Level 30?!" Wesley was surprised. "We have to do something!"


    "No," Jude interjected. "It is exactly in this kind of situation where we have to believe Kayn the most,"


    "Is he perhaps relying on his mysterious bodyguard?" Wesley uttered as he looks around them, hoping to glimpse a sight of an unfamiliar figure. Too bad, no matter how hard he looks around, he found no one.


    "Mysterious bodyguard?"


    Jericho and the others don''t understand.


    "Kayn told us yesterday night that Mayor Sebastian had assigned someone to protect him inside ''The Bridge''," Wesley exins. "At first, we didn''t believe him, but when we trapped ourselves inside a cave in order to hide, we heard that mysterious bodyguard signaling us that the outside is safe,"


    "That''s right," Gilbert supported the im. "So, I guess Kayn intends on relying upon his mysterious bodyguard and letting thetter fight against Garvin instead,"


    "But, I don''t see any signs of someone else intruding on their fight," Jericho narrowed his eyes.


    "Let''s just trust him," Gilbert motioned his hand in order to signal to Kayn that they won''t interrupt his fight with Garvin.


    "I''ve taken care of my side," Kayn informs Garvin.


    "Rest assured, my men wouldn''t interrupt our fight, especially considering that I''ll obviously win against you," Garvin muttered with a confident tone in his voice. He wasn''t worried even in the slightest that Kayn would be able to defeat him. Kayn might be strong ording to the fact that he was able to one-versus-six all the members of the Freedom Fighters, but a twenty-level gap difference is apletely different story. In his opinion, Kayn is just being delusional as he assumes he can defeat him.


    "I hope you stay loyal to your honor. Otherwise, you don''t have the right to call yourself a Knight, let alone a Hero,"


    "And who told you I even care about being called a Hero?" Kayn shook his head after being presented with the same assumption once more.


    "Whatever your status is, it doesn''t matter in our fight. All I care about is, are you prepared to be my servant?!" Garvin waves his hand, taking out a sword from his Storage Ring.


    "I should be asking you that question instead," Kayn took out the Molten Ice Sword in response.


    Without wasting any more time, the duo lunged towards each other.


    Whooosh!

 Chapter 301 The War that Decides the Fate of ’The Bridge’ Part 104

    <h4>Chapter 301 The War that Decides the Fate of ''The ?Bridge'' Part 104</h4>


    Chapter 301: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 104


    In the next moment, a piercing sound of metal hitting against metal reverb inside everyone''s ears as Kayn''s Molten Magma Sword and Garvin''s sword sh against each other.


    Clinggg!


    A powerful gush of wind enveloped the surrounding as the force of the sh erupted everywhere, chipping some pieces of the ground.


    "You actually used a sword wave to counter my strength?" Garvin was immediately rendered speechless. To put it precisely, it was a close-range sword wave that prevented his attack from gaining strength. Kayn''s sword wave arrived earlier than he initially expected, thus cutting short his movement and disrupting the momentum of his attack.


    "No matter how basic your skills are, with the right usage and techniques, you''ll even be able to rival powerful skills," Kayn muttered. With a wave of his hand, a dagger appeared.


    "No, you won''t!" Garvin immediately jumped backward to distance himself from Kayn.


    Whoosh!


    ng!


    Garvin parried the dagger.


    "It''s useless! Your daggers could never bring harm to me!" Garvin hurled himself forward.


    <<Sword Dance>>


    ng!


    Once again, Kayn was able to take on Garvin''s attack.


    "Enhancing your basic attack with <<Sword Dance>>?" Garvin was amused. Normally, people wouldbine the <<Sword Dance>> with their sword wave in order to deal greater damage to their opponent. However, in Kayn''s case, he intended to use it to simply enhance his basic attack.


    "You never learn, do you?" Kayn scoffed. "Unless you use your full strength, I''ll always be able to block your attacks,"


    Garvin jumped backward as he realized continuing with his assault would be futile as he can barely build up any momentum to gather strength as long as he is close to Kayn. Thetter knows how to defuse his power by simply blocking during the process of his attack.


    "How about this!" Garvin hurled a sword wave in Kayn''s direction.


    Contrary to Garvin''s expectation, Kayn actually jumped to the side in order to dodge.


    "I''ll just dodge it, idiot!" Kayn insulted.


    "You¡­" Garvin was in disbelief. He initially Kayn would block his attack, turns out thetter would just dodge away.


    "Stop ying games, Garvin!" Kayn taunted. Deep inside, he knows that he can''t continue doing this due to the cooldown of all of his skills. That''s why he wants Garvin to use his full strength so that he won''t have to waste his skills on weaker attacks.


    "I am just warming up," Garvin wasn''t a fool. He knows that Kayn can''t keep doing his stunt. But because he isn''t certain of how many skills Kayn possesses, he has to remain cautious, especially considering what type of person thetter is. One wrong move, and he might just fall on one of his tricks.


    "In that case, let me warm up as well,"


    With a wave of his hand, Kayn stored his Molten Ice Sword and reced them with his daggers. "Let''s first warm up my legs,"


    Whoosh!


    Kayn disappeared from his original spot.


    Whoosh!


    ng!


    Garvin easily parried the dagger with his sword.


    "I can see you, you know,"


    With his current level, Garvin could easily see Kayn''s location no matter how fast thetter runs around.


    "Just like what I said, I am just warming up,"


    Whoosh!


    ng!


    Once more, Garvin blocked Kayn''s dagger.


    All of a sudden¡­


    Whoosh! Whoosh!


    A barrage of daggers flew toward Garvin.


    ng! ng!


    "Just how many daggers do you have?" Garvin was slightly taken aback at the number of daggers he had been parrying.


    "I have more than enough," Kayn responded confidently. In the past couple of days that he was staying in ''The Bridge'', he has been steadily increasing his arsenal of daggers every single time there''s an opportunity. And whenever he has time, he would secretly perform the Item Fushion to his daggers in order to make more powerful daggers.


    And as everyone could see, all of his efforts in his preparation are proven very useful right this moment.


    "There''s no use! Just like what I''ve said, your daggers are doing nothing to me," Garvin muttered while continuously parrying Kayn''s relentless attacks.


    "Not really," Kayn smiles.


    Without Garvin noticing, his sword was slowly being covered by ice due to the passive effect of a specific dagger.


    In addition to that, sharp and thin wires slowly surrounds him from all corners as Kayn had attached some of the daggers with wires.


    And even worst, a few daggers emitting slight heat around their metal body could be seen lying on the ground near him.


    All of these daggers were in preparation for a surprise attack.


    "Enough!"


    <<Sword Piercer>>


    Whoosh!


    A piercing blue light shot off to Kayn''s earlier position, creating a deep trench along the path it traveled.


    Boom!


    A thick cloud of dust erupted at the end of the trench as the blue light hit off some kind of an unknownrge object which caused it to stop.


    Garvin was finally annoyed by Kayn''s attacks.


    "That''s what I want to see!" Kayn expressed his delight. Finally, Garvin is using his full strength and no longer holding back.


    Kayn''s excited expression seems to be fuel as Garvin decided to abandon his original n of patiently waiting for Kayn to use up all of his skills.


    "Take this!" Garvin eximed while brandishing his sword.


    Boom!


    A huge cut was created on the ground where the attacknded.


    On the other hand, Kayn was able to evade in time away from Garvin''s attack.


    "That was close!" Kayn took a deep breath.


    "Again!"


    Boom!


    Kayn was able to evade one more time.


    Boom!


    Boom!


    Boom!


    A series of explosions echoed throughout the north bridge as Garvin continued attacking Kayn with his sword.


    "Slow down, Garvin, or else you''re going to destroy the bridge!" Kayn jokingly warned while evading the next attack.


    Boom!


    "Then we''ll both go down to the moat!" Garvin doesn''t care.


    Hearing that, Kayn can''t but glimpse at the moat and soon he heaves a breath of relief.


    Fortunately, at this moment, there were only a few more patches of oil continuously burning around the moat. Even better, they are a considerable distance away from the north bridge.


    In that case, there''s no need to worry about falling into the water anymore.

 Chapter 302 The War that Decides the Fate of ’The Bridge’ Part 105

    <h4>Chapter 302 The War that Decides the Fate of ''The ?Bridge'' Part 105</h4>


    Chapter 302: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 105


    As expected, it didn''t take long for the remains of the north bridge to finally give up after receiving the onught of Garvin''s attack.


    Bang!


    Boom!


    ng!


    Multiple debris started falling into the water.


    In an attempt to avoid getting dragged down by the destruction of the north bridge, both Kayn and Garvin jumped a considerable distance away into the water. Needless to say, they made sure to be far from each other so that nobody would be able to take advantage of their indefensible state.


    Whaaasssh!


    Huge waves formed as the rocks hit the surface of the water. As a result, it pushes Kayn and Garvin even farther from each other.


    However, none of them wanted to waste this opportunity. So, without wasting any time, they both climbed on top of the nearest rock and used it to propel themselves close to one another.


    With a wave of his hand, Kayn switched to his Molten Ice Sword.


    ng!


    As the north bridge destruction continued to fall into the moat, so was Kayn and Garvin''s fight as the duo took advantage of the chaos to try andnd a hit on their opponent''s body.


    However, it was all futile. Each of them was more than prepared for the other''s attack. And because of the falling debris, they have a moving shield around them to help them block the attacks.


    Jumping backward andnding on a piece of a huge rock, Kayn swiftly switched to his daggers once again.


    Whoosh!


    Kayn disappeared.


    Using the debris of the copsing north bridge as cover, Kayn''s sneak attack became more effective than before.


    "You are supposed to be a Knight, right?" Garvin is seriously having troubleprehending what Kayn''s exact subss is. Thetter is very proficient in using a sword just like a Knight and even possesses specific skills for the said subss, yet he is also a master in using daggers. Although Kayn hasn''t used any skills for daggers, he had already heard reports about a certain dagger skill that allows Kayn to summon one hundred shadow daggers.


    "It couldn''t be that you actually possess two subsses?" Garvin can''t help assuming as that''s the only exnation he could think about. He had heard cases of Heroes and Viins possessing two subsses back on Earth but had never personally witnessed one. Though there were videos of it on the inte, he doesn''t believe any of them due to the current technology. It is so difficult to tell whether it''s real or edited.


    "You only noticed now?" Kayn decided to pretend to have both the Knight and Assassin subss. He isn''t far from it anyways since he is already a master of both.


    "How?"


    "That''s the advantage of being the son-inw of a Mayor,"


    "What?!" Garvin jumped backward,pletely caught by surprise by Kayn''s sudden revtion.


    "You didn''t know?"


    "I was away from the Freedom City for a very long time now, so I only know a little information about you," Garvin can only me the fact that his mission always requires his army to be far away from the headquarters. Needless to say, he knows Chief Kylo is purposely doing this so that he won''t pose a threat to his position. This was one of the reasons why he intended on finding someone to rece thetter.


    "I guess you''re aware now!" Kayn decided to continue hurling daggers at Garvin.


    ng!


    "Which mayor?"


    "Mayor Sebastian," Kayn doesn''t mind revealing the truth.


    "The Sword Emperor?!" Garvin finally understood the likely reason to exin why Kayn is so proficient in using a sword. It''s probably because thetter received personal teachings from the Sword Emperor himself. "No wonder,"


    "Now, are you interested in finally epting my proposal instead?" Kayn presented once again while still throwing daggers at Garvin.


    "You''re not being sincere at all," Garvin parried the dagger. "Do you perhaps also receive personal teachings from the Dagger Emperor as well? I heard the two have quite a good rtionship with each other,"


    "Not really," Kayn shook his head.


    The Dagger Emperor was another person who possess the same status as Mayor Sebastian. Albeit the former isn''t a mayor, but instead a guild master of a famous guild in the Four Beast Alliance.


    "Right... That would be pushing it so much," Garvin found it understandable. But it made him realize a very important detail. "Now, I can''t help but be extremely curious as to what exactly you came here in ''The Bridge''. Mind sharing it to me, too?"


    "Honestly, I also don''t know what exactly it is," Kayn wasn''t lying. Until now, Natas still hasn''t revealed what specific item it was. It is as if thetter doesn''t want him to find out until he finally found that said item.


    "Anyways," Garvin jumped backward again in order to create more distance away from Kayn. Strangely enough, his attacks are slowly bing slower and less effective as if something heavy is affecting his actions.


    Looking around, Garvin finally realized that his sword is covered in ice.


    "Since when?!" Garvin waspletely surprised as he watched his sword utterly covered in ice, excluding the handle.


    "From the beginning," Kayn smiled.


    "The daggers!" Garvin looks at the daggers scattered across the entire battlefield. It didn''t take that long for him to finally realized that some daggers had wires attached to their handle while there were a few that emitted fire element mana from their body.


    Before Garvin could continue deciphering the rest of the daggers, one of the daggers that emit fire element mana close to him was suddenly enveloped in bright orange light.


    Garvin instantly understood what is going to happen next.


    Boom!


    A loud explosion erupted as the dagger turned to dust and releases all the fire element mana stored inside its body like a dynamite.


    Whoosh!


    Garvin''s body was sent flying away after receiving a direct hit.


    Bang!


    Garvin soon crashed on the edge of the wall of the Freedom Fang Brigade.


    "You¡­" Garvin slowly stood up as he looked at Kayn with a mix of fear and admiration in his eyes.


    It was only at this moment that Garvin finally understood that Kayn wasn''t actually just senselessly throwing daggers everywhere, seemingly like he is distracting him whatsoever.


    Instead, Kayn was setting up a battlefield that will provide him with an advantage and possibly defeat Garvin in the fight.


    "You''re truly in a different league," Garvin said in a remark. And here he was, a fool, who thought that he had the advantage all this time, when in truth, his opponent was slowly shrinking that advantage he possessed and taking it all for his own use.

 Chapter 303 The War that Decides the Fate of ’The Bridge’ Part 106

    <h4>Chapter 303 The War that Decides the Fate of ''The ?Bridge'' Part 106</h4>


    Chapter 303: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 106


    This is Garvin''s first time fighting against an opponent who literally fights in an unpredictable and versatile manner. There''spletely no telling what Kayn will do next or even predict it.


    "I hope you can feel my sincerity," Kayn tried to present his proposal again.


    "Just like what I said, I am still warming up," Garvin stood up from the ground.


    In the next moment, a huge gush of wind was released from where Garvin was standing.


    "So, you''ve finally decided to use your full strength against me?" Kayn can already guess what''s about to happen next, thus he waves his hand to take out the Molten Magma Core and prepared himself for the worst. Nevertheless, he didn''t feel the slightest fear of Garvin.


    "I''ve already seen that you are worthy of me using everything," Garvin responded.


    "I told you already. You just didn''t listen to me. We wouldn''t have had to waste this much time if you did listen," Kayn shrugged his shoulder, implying that he already know.


    In the next moment, a powerful burst of wind erupted from Garvin''s previous position.


    "Block!" Natas eximed.


    <<Molten Ice sh>>


    Booom!


    A huge force erupted as Kayn''s sword wave came shing against Garvin''s sword.


    "How?" Garvin didn''t expect Kayn would be able to easily block his attack.


    "Don''t ever underestimate me,"


    "How about this,"


    Garvin disappeared once more.


    <<Weaving Lotus Petals Sword Art>>


    Boom!


    "Another sword wave?"


    "Not likely," Kayn brandished his sword, releasing another sword wave.


    ng!


    Garvin blocked with his sword.


    "A third sword wave?" Garvin waspletely caught by surprise.


    "I have unlimited sword waves if that''s what you want to know," Kayn muttered a lie.


    "No kidding?" Garvin doesn''t truly believe that to be the case, yet he has no other choice but to take Kayn''s words seriously as thetter had just released a total of four sword waves.


    "Why don''t you try finding it out for yourself," Kayn taunted with his hand.


    "Since you said so,"


    Garvin once more disappeared from his position.


    "Now!" Natas warns.


    ng!


    "Let''s see the limit of what your arsenal of skills can handle,"


    Garvin started with his onught once again.


    ng! ng!


    Because the <<Weaving Lotus Petals Sword Art>> only provides him a limited of twelve sword waves, Kayn has no other choice but to take advantage of everything that he could while continuously retreating away from Garvin.


    Boom!


    A dagger exploded, which immediately sent Garvin flying a few meters away.


    Along the way, Garvin''s body destroyed a few of the wires, which damaged his armor to some degree, and let a few of those wires make a cut on his back and shoulder muscle.


    "That hurt," Garvin slowly stood up. Now, he finally understood what those wires are for. They weren''t to hinder his path, but instead to receive him like a loving grace, except they are the hug of death. This was exactly what he meant by Kayn creating a battlefield for his advantage.


    Looking around, Garvin notices countless almost invisible wires all over the ce. They are strategically positioned in the ce close to their wall. In that way, whenever he is sent flying, he''ll have no choice but to hit those wires. Albeit, it does slow down his flight and also minimizes the impact at the end.


    "Let''s continue," Garvin doesn''t want to continue wasting time, as he started sensing something strange.


    ng!


    Ninth sword wave.


    ng!


    Tenth sword wave.


    ng!


    Eleventh sword wave.


    "This should be your limit!" Garvin muttered as he notices the grave look on Kayn''s face.


    However, to Garvin''s dismay.


    ng!


    Twelfth sword wave.


    In total, Kayn has released thirteen sword waves.


    "13 sword waves? Did you perhaps learn the infamous <<Thirteen Sword Strike>>," Garvin suddenly remembered a technique. It was a technique that allows its user to execute a total of thirteen sword waves. But it shouldn''t be the case, especially considering that all thirteen sword waves possess fire and ice element mana.


    "No," Kayn shook his head. While the <<Thirteen Sword Strike>> does allow the user to execute thirteen sword waves, it is a continuous attack and merely normal sword waves as they don''t possess any elemental attributes.


    "I guess that''s thest one," Garvin waves his sword one more time.


    <<Molten Ice sh>>


    Boom!


    "Again?!" Garvin felt that the situation is a lot more absurd than he initially expected. Fourteen sword waves. "Are you perhaps trying to be an Emperor of Sword?"


    As everyone already knows, one of the basic requirements for bing an Emperor of Sword is the capability in summoning sword waves. Once someone is able to continuously create a total of thirty sword waves, they''ll immediately be listed as a potential Emperor of Sword candidate and would be granted the right to learn moreplicated and powerful techniques for creating sword waves which will further enhance their capability and overall power.


    "If luck permits, why not?" Kayn truly doesn''t mind bing one of the candidates in bing the next Sword Emperor. Such status warrants a lot of recognition that will finally support him being the son-inw of Mayor Sebastian.


    "That should be your limit though," Garvin''s lips formed a smirk.


    <<Sword Dance>>


    <<Temperature Reset>>


    <<Sword Dance>>


    <<Molten Ice sh>>


    Kayn triggered a series of Active Skills with the intent of enhancing his final sword wave.


    Whooosh!


    A powerful surging energy mixed with both the searing fire element and freezing ice element hurl forth towards Garvin''s direction.


    Sensing the intense power being carried by the <<<Molten Ice sh>>, Garvin started hesitating whether to receive the attack or dodge. And because of the speed of the sword wave, he was only given a few minutes to decide.


    In the end, Garvin grits his teeth and ultimately decided to receive the attack with his own powerful Active Skill.


    <<Decade sh>>


    Whooosh!


    A surging wave of pure mana burst forth from Garvin''s sword and immediately charges straight toward the iing <<Molten Ice sh>>.

 Chapter 304 The War that Decides the Fate of ’The Bridge’ Part 107

    <h4>Chapter 304 The War that Decides the Fate of ''The ?Bridge'' Part 107</h4>


    Chapter 304: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 107


    The <<Decade sh>> is a formidable sword attack that derives its name from the extraordinary power and impact it delivers in a single stroke. It is a culmination of years of training and mastery in the swordsmanship of Garvin, representing his ability to channel immense strength and precision into a singr, devastating cut.


    As the <<Decade sh>> is unleashed, the air seems to part before the de, creating a faint but perceptible distortion around the air. The sheer force generated propels the attack forward with incredible speed, creating a sharp whistling sound in its wake.


    Upon impact with the <<Molten Ice sh>>, the <<Decade sh>> delivers a thunderous p, as if the very fabric of space surrounding the area of their sh were being torn apart.


    Contrary to what everyone was expecting with the <<Decade sh>> easily cutting and destroying the <<Molten Ice sh>>, thetter soon diminishes the force of the former,pletely vanquishing its glory from existence.


    Whoosh!


    In an instant, the <<Molten Ice sh>> continued hurling forward toward Garvin''s direction, evaporating and freezing the water in the moat along the way.


    Since he had just performed the <<Decade sh>>, Garvin no longer has enough time to dodge away from the <<Molten Ice sh>>.


    With no other choice left, Garvin quickly raised his sword and braced himself for the assault.


    Booom!


    The ice that surrounds Garvin''s sword was instantly sted away into pieces following the bursting power of the <<Molten Ice sh>>. At the same time, his feet were slowly being pushed backward due to the force of the attack.


    Gritting his teeth and pushing his sword with all his might, Garvin was eventually able to get his bnce back together. With great difficulty, he waves his hands to the side, finally parrying the <<Molten Ice sh>> away from him.


    Boom!


    A loud explosion erupted at the wall of the Freedom Fang Brigade and a thick cloud of dust clouded the aftermath.


    When the dust finally settled down, everyone soon witnessed a deep and sizeable cut stretching deeper inside the wall of the Freedom Fang Brigade. While on the top surface, dozens of soldiersy dead, after unluckily getting caught in time by the devastating effect of the sword wave.


    The aftermath left the area covered in ice spikes and burning mes.


    Garvin didn''t bother much longer after briefly glimpsing at the result of his counter. The aftermath was within his expectations, considering how powerful the <<Molten Ice sh>> was after personally experiencing its strength. In fact, he initially expected that it would easily cut both ends of the wall. It''s probably because his <<Decade sh>> has diminished some of its original strength.


    Garvin turns his eyes to Kayn with a look of great fear and awe. "What do you call that attack?"


    "It''s abination of different Active Skills," Kayn responded.


    "I noticed you were able to use two <<Sword Dance>>, I am guessing it amplified the attack to 300%?" Garvin tried to guess.


    "That''s right,"


    "Was that your full strength?"


    "Not yet," Kayn shook his head. "I was just showing you how sincere I am,"


    "That was more than being sincere," Garvin was slightly in disbelief. He nearly died because of that attack. If he didn''t make a quick decision of parrying the attack to his side, his already damaged sword would have broken into pieces. By then, he''ll be left with nothing but his broken armor to hope that it can bear the remaining power of the <<Molten Ice sh>>.


    "So, have I changed your mind?" Kayn still didn''t give up persuading Garvin. He isn''t really that desperate to form an alliance with thetter. To tell the truth, he can present his proposal to somebody else in the Assembly of Freedom or even start from scratch if that''s what it takes. But because Garvin is a good candidate to make his n flow smoothly, he wants to try his best to make Garvin ept.


    "It''s still not tempting enough," Garvin shook his head. It is as clear as daylight what Kayn can present to him in the future and the potential of his n seeding, but considering the situation right now where he still has the upper hand in the battle against the Dream Vige, he doesn''t want to easily give that up. If the worst reallyes, he''ll just disregard his honor and order his men to continue attacking the Dream Vige.


    "Well, I guess all I can say is, I''ve done everything I could," Kayn sighs in helplessness.


    Tooottt!


    Suddenly, a resounding battle horn call reverberated across the battlefield from the east.


    Everyone''s attention instantly turned to the source of the sound, including both Kayn and Garvin.


    "They''re here," Kayn muttered.


    Hearing Kayn''s remark, Garvin instantly understood what is about toe.


    Without any hesitation, Garvin jumped back on top of their wall, awaiting the arrival of what he feared the most toe.


    Dozens of blue banners raised to the sky with the insignia of a green-colored horn slowly approaching from both the east and south side of the Dream Vige. Followed by countless soldiers wearing pieces of green armor with golden trims.


    "Was this the real reason why you are so confident until now?" Garvin finally realized that he was fooled by Kayn. Thetter might have been fighting him with all that he got, but it wasn''t purely with the intent of defeating him. Instead, it was to buy time for the arrival of their reinforcement.


    Honkkk!


    "It seems like I am not the only one that was waiting for a reinforcement," Kayn smiled at Garvin before also swiftly returning to the walls of the Dream Vige.


    "Well, you could say I have a touch of unpredictability in me as well," Garvin said with pride, puffing his chest.


    Over at the north, what seems to be the entire army of the Assembly of Freedom slowly approaches the wall of the Freedom Fang Brigade while raising red banners with the symbol of a wing.

 Chapter 305 The War that Decides the Fate of ’The Bridge’ Part 108

    <h4>Chapter 305 The War that Decides the Fate of ''The ?Bridge'' Part 108</h4>


    Chapter 305: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 108


    "What a truly unexpected situation you''ve prepared for us, Kayn," Old Mayor George initiated after arriving on top of the Dream Vige''s wall.


    "Do you like it?" Kayn smiles. This was honestly what he expected to happen. Both the main force of the Green Horn City and Assembly of Freedom arriving in the Dream Vige. Now, everything is fully set for the grand show.


    "Old Chief George, or should I call you now, Old Mayor George," Chief Kylo greeted after stepping on top of the Freedom Fang Brigade''s wall.


    "Chief Kylo," Old Mayor George looks forward.


    "It''s Mayor Kylo now,"


    "Is that so," Old Mayor George shrugged, as he can''t be bothered by it.


    "It seems to me that you actually don''t recognize my status,"


    "You simply proimed yourself as Mayor, thus why would I recognize that," Old Mayor George turned around,pletely disregarding Chief Kylo. In the past, he would have treated thetter seriously, but that was only because of the Kingmaker. Now that Chief Kylo doesn''t have that anymore, he''s no different from an old man life him.


    Chief Kylo''s face started twitching in anger after seeing Old Mayor George''s reaction. But because he can''t allow himself to be affected as that would affect the morale of his army, he decided to gulp it down and just smile. "We''ll see about thatter,"


    "Have you prepared everything," Old Mayor George looks at Kayn. He was implying about the report he received from Randy not so long ago.


    "Wesley," Kayn called out.


    Wesley finally showed himself after trying his best to remain low the moment Old Mayor George arrived.


    "I''ve finally meet the infamous Wesley," Old Mayor George greeted.


    "Greetings, Old Mayor George," Wesley bowed his head respectfully.


    "Rise," Old Mayor George motioned his hand. "Back to the main topic, how many of your men are stationed in their ranks?"


    "A quarter,"


    "How about your Undead Army?"


    "They''re in the Freedom City. Once the war begins, I will activate them toy seige in their headquarters,"


    That''s right!


    Unbeknownst to the Assembly of Freedom, their is actually a hidden army in their headquarters right now, just patiently awaiting the orders from Wesley to finally show themselves.


    "How about the preparation inside the Slumbering Forest, is it prepared and ready?" Old Mayor George turns to look at Gilbert, Jude, and Charles.


    "It''s always been ready," Jude assures while litting up a small fire on the tip of his finger.


    "Then let''s fly!"


    Whooosh!


    In the next moment, the sky up above the Dream Vige suddenly darken as arge object blocked the sunlight.


    As soon as everyone looks up, they instantly saw a flying city blocking the skies up above everyone''s heads.


    "The Green Horn City?!" Chief Kylo''s immediately eyes widened in surprise. He right after understood the the Levitation Scepter that was stolen from him not so long ago was used to bring Old Mayor George''s territory in the Slumbering Forest.


    "Surprise?" Old Mayor George looks at Chief Kylo with a taunting look on his face.


    "But how did it reach here quickly?" Chief Kylo couldn''tprehend. The Green Horn City is basically on the center of ''The Bridge'', while the Slumbering Forest is situated at the very edge. Even if they were able to deliver the Levitation Scepter to their territory in a matter of a single day, it would still take months for the Green Horn City to reach this ce.


    "Unlike you, I have a very wise advisor with me," Old Mayor George looks at Kayn.


    "That''s what happened when youbine magic and technology,"


    Whaaash!


    Dozens of blue re erupted out of metal tunnels attached at the back of the flying city, instantaneously pushing the Green Horn City right above the Assembly of Freedom.


    "Mana?!" Chief Kylo realized. He understood that those blue re implies they have burned mana into nothingness inside those metal tunnels. As for where they got that much mana without relying on countless of Mages, it''s very clear that they sourced it from mana stones.


    As the Green Horn City hovered up above the army of the Assembly of Freedom, multiple shadows promptly started dropping down from the top.


    Boom!


    Bang!


    m!


    A series of clouds of dust erupted as the figuresnded on the ground, consuming dozens of parts in the formation of the Assembly of Freedom and hindering everyone''s sight from seeing what is inside.


    In the next moment, multitude of bodies started getting thrown out of the clouds of dust, sting some of the nearby unlucky soldiers away and causing even more casualties in their ranks.


    Not long after, the dust started settling down, eventually revealing the identities of the people who brought a sudden disruption to the army of the Assembly of Freedom.


    It was Friedrich and the rest of the Green Horn Knights along with the personal Knights of the other allied Chiefs who have now became an extension to the loyal Knights of the Old Mayor George.


    "Attack!" A man holding a spear eximed loudly.


    In an instant, a fight broke out in the middle of the formation of the Assembly of Freedom, bringing in chaos and destruction. More importantly, it finally prompted the beginning of the war between the Green Horn City and Assembly of Freedom.


    Whoosh!


    Whaaasssh!


    Countless of siege machines startedunching their long range attack from both sides of the moat.


    Boom!


    A series of explosions erupted as the clouds of war started covering the territory of the Dream Vige.


    "Charge!" Old Mayor George eximed with his sword raised up high.


    In the next second, countless of soldiers jumped down from the walls of the Dream Vige and run forth towards the wall of the Freedom Fang Brigade.


    Meanwhile, from both the west and the east came the rest of the soldiers of the Green Horn City, like a shearing to a close at the center, which is where the Assembly of Freedom''s entire army is located.

 Chapter 306 The War that Decides the Fate of ’The Bridge’ Part 109

    <h4>Chapter 306 The War that Decides the Fate of ''The ?Bridge'' Part 109</h4>


    Chapter 306: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 109


    Death.


    Destruction.


    Chaos.


    Those three were just the few out of the many aftermath brought by war.


    As the war issued, countless bodies lie on the ground unconscious or lifeless from both the side of the Green Horn City and Assembly of Freedom after getting caught by the continous onught of siege weapons.


    Neverthless, the war strongly continued as the Green Horn City continued pushing the Assembly of Freedom to the north.


    Rumble!


    Finally, the wall constructed by the Freedom Fang Brigade came crashing down as it was destroyed by the soldiers of the Green Horn City.


    "Charge!" Chief Kash eximed along with Chief Harlem and Chief Perceval who took position at the forefront of the army.


    In the next moment, countless soldiers of the Green Horn City started climbing on top of the remains of the wall and started engaging in close quarterbat against the Assembly of Freedom.


    Meanwhile, Friedrich and his group that dropped from the top of the flying Green Horn City continued bringing havoc right in the center of the enemy''s formation, but as time goes by, their effect started slowly diminishing as theirrades started retreating to the south or unluckily getting killed in action.


    Eventually, Friedrich and the others stopped their battle and swiftly retreated south, to the iing army of the Green Horn City and joined in with the majority of the soldiers.


    As a result, the Assembly of Freedom were left with no other choice but to continue retreating north.


    "Where are the Assembly Knights?" One of the soldiers from the Assembly of Freedom can''t help asking.


    The Assembly Knights were the only group who could possibly change the course of the battle and perhaps make it a fair stand off between the Green Horn City and the Assembly of Freedom.


    But where exactly are the Assembly Knights?


    That is indeed a big question.


    However, no matter how many people from the Assembly of Freedom asks, they will never get the answer to where the Assembly Knights are right now.


    That''s because with Wesley in the Dream Vige, Christopher under Kayn''s charm, and Maria being secretly allied to the Green Horn City, one of their biggest trump card is left with only three members, thus giving both Maria and Christopher the biggest opportunity and chance in defeating the remaining members of the Assembly Knights, Patter and Lecter.


    Maria and Christopher''s only threat is Magnus, but because there''s no one who knows where exactly thetter is and that there hasn''t been any clue of him being close in the Slumbering Forest until now, thus the two remaining members of the Assembly Knights are most likely busy fending off for themselves at this very moment from death.


    Moreover, the other two noteworthy squads, respectively the Liberty Squad and Freedom Rule, are currently contending against Friedrich and the rest of the Green Horn Knights at this moment.


    And with Kayn and his men eliminating the entire Freedom Fighters yesterday, the soldiers of the Assembly of Freedom can only hope that their five Brigades can change their current situation, or at least the three because the Revolutionary Brigade is back at their headquarters while the Freedom Wings Brigade is still nowhere to be seen after they discovered Wesley has betrayed the Assembly of Freedom.


    With that being said, the Green Horn City is currently fighting against the Freedom Fang Brigade, Liberty Fire Brigade, and Unity Circle Brigade. And as for the respective major general of the three Brigade, namely Garvin, Moie, and Marlon, they are contending against Chief Kash, Chief Harlem, and Chief Perceval. While their respective deputies are fighting against the personal Knights of the three Chiefs.


    The situation right just simply proves that the quality of soldiers of the Green Horn City are both more powerful and superiorpared to the soldiers of the Assembly of Freedom.


    Honestly, that doesn''te much surprising for the soldiers of the Green Horn City. Taking out of consideration the preparation the Green Horn City and Kayn''s group has put into the Slumbering Forest, the members of the Assembly of Freedom are pretty much just a bunch of ragtag criminals and people with no other ces to go aftermitting a crime.


    Even though the soldiers of the Assembly of Freedom undergo some form of training from powerful people like Garvin, Moei, and Marlon,paring their soldiers with the properly trained and organized men from the Green Horn City still doesn''t do the former any justice. This is like allowing a cackle of hyenas fight against a pride of lions.


    All of a sudden, hundreds of people came out of the forest to the west.


    "Watch out, more members of the Assembly of Freedominging from our west!" Old Mayor George warned.


    This time, hundreds of ordinary members of the Assembly of Freedom suddenlyunch a surprise attack, hoping to change the current situation of the war.


    Unfortunately, they were even more weaker than the three Brigades of the Assembly of Freedom as they didn''t even undergo any proper military training to begin with.


    At the very least though, the new arriving reinforcement from the Assembly of Freedom were able to bring the battle into a stalemate, finally halting their retreat to the north.


    "Is that part of your n?" Old Mayor George scoffed at Chief Kylo after seeing that the Assembly of Freedom needed more sacrifices and cannon fodder in order to help them bring the battle into a stalemate. Moreover, this was just a temporary stalemate, because as the number of their ordinary members continued to dwindle down, things would be disadvantageous for them once again.


    "The end justifies the means," Chief Kylo wasn''t the type to easily get affected by moral codes. In the first ce, the Assembly of Freedom doesn''t follow any rules as they operate simply in the basis of fear and chaos.


    "To achieve victory by sacrificing the majority of your members. Can you even call that a victory?" Old Mayor George shook his head. If Chief Kylo''s father was still alive, he would be dissapointed at thetter for his strategy. But on second thought, nobody is really stopping anyone from doing whatever they want in a war, including sacrifg their soldiers.

 Chapter 307 The War that Decides the Fate of ’The Bridge’ Part 110

    <h4>Chapter 307 The War that Decides the Fate of ''The ?Bridge'' Part 110</h4>


    Chapter 307: The War that Decides the Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 110


    Out of nowhere, another group of ragtag criminals came out from the nearby small marsnd to the west; it became that way because of the aftermath of the huge tidal wave Kayn has created.


    "Ambush to the west!" Old Mayor George roared out a warning.


    "Let us handle them!" Kayn quickly volunteered himself along with his group.


    Kayn, Gilbert, Jude, Charles, Jericho, and Wesley immediately separated from the main group and went ahead to face the newly arriving party from the Assembly of Freedom.


    "Isn''t this strange? More and more men from the Assembly of Freedom seem to be arriving at the battlefield," Gilbert can''t help noticing.


    "The main army probably left them behind," Wesley responded.


    "Is that based on your own experience?" Jericho muttered in a joking manner. After a few interactions with Wesley, he nowes to slowly ept thetter as a part of their team.


    "Yes," Wesley nodded. "We always do this so that whenever we feel the need to retreat, we''ll be luring our enemy to a trap,"


    "Chief Kylo is the leader of the Assembly of Freedom for a reason," Kayn can''t help saying in a remark. To tell the truth, this is his first time experiencing such a strategy. Normally, the leader would purposely make some of their membery in ambush behind them, while Chief Kylo on the other hand calcted the arrival of the men he left behind so that they''d be an ambush.


    "Anyways, they''re here!" Kayn changed the topic.


    <<Hundred Shadow Cut>>


    Instantly, exactly one hundred shadow daggers appeared hovering up above Kayn''s head and followed before him as he continued heading to his enemies.


    "It seems like Kayn would be hard carrying us once again," Gilbert chuckled.


    "Less work for us," Jericho added before racking the slide to chamber bullets to his gun.


    "Does this usually happen, based on your own experience?" Wesley wanted to get back on Jericho for his joke just now.


    "As a part of Kayn''s team, we do leave most of the work to him,"


    "Doesn''t he normally do the nning?"


    "It is in the nning where most things already happen,"


    That''s right. Whenever Kayn makes a n, he already predicts most of the events that would likely take ce. Because of that, all they have to do is execute the countermeasures they''ve already thought of beforehand and only worry about the sudden changes that divert away from their original n.


    In other words, most of the work was already done by Kayn prior to the event taking ce.


    With a wave of Kayn''s hand, the one hundred shadow daggers finally flew out of their way to their respective targets.


    Whoosh!


    Slit!


    In the next moment, dozens of bodies started dropping down on the muddy ground, either lifeless or seriously injured after unluckily getting caught by the shadow daggers.


    Within a matter of a few seconds, nearly a hundred men died from the barrage of the <<Hundred Shadow Cut>>.


    "More than what we expected," Gilbert said in a remark before disappearing from his spot.


    The next time Gilbert appeared, he was already in the center of the enemy''s formation, slitting the through of one unlucky man.


    "Holy!" Wesley was caught by surprise. But next his eyes turned serious as he doesn''t want to be left behind.


    All of a sudden, some of the men started attacking the teammates beside them.


    "It seems like it is true that you have men under your control everywhere," Jericho nodded at Wesley in approval before starting to rain bullets on the men in front of him.


    Bang! Bang!


    Men started dropping into the ground after getting headshot by Jericho.


    "Wyvern Inferno!"


    Whaaash!


    A huge head of a Wyvern hurled towards the iing men. It opened its mouth and consumed everything that dared to block its way, burning the unlucky men, before eventually disappearing.


    Boom!


    Dozens of men started flying everywhere as Charles charged straight into their formation with the intent of providing support to Gilbert who is currently fending for his life all alone in the center.


    These men might not be strong, but with their huge advantage in numbers, it doesn''t prove any easier for Kayn''s group.


    "Shields!" One of the men roared out loudly.


    Bang!


    Dozens of Guardians swiftly made a wall using their shields.


    "I''ll take care of him!" Jericho aimed his gun at the leader.


    Whoosh!


    <<Molten Magma sh>>


    Kayn releases a sword wave to clear out the way for Jericho.


    Even though they were Guardians, they were still helpless against Kayn''s powerful <<Molten Magma sh>>, thus killing a bunch of them who were standing in the way.


    With a path cleared out, Jericho now has their leader in his sight. Honestly, they''ve been looking for this person from the start and all of their actions until now were simply meant to lure him out.


    Bang!


    The leader immediately dropped dead.


    Noticing that their leader is now gone, the rest of the men started panicking as they don''t know what to do next. They were like headless chickens,pletely clueless of the direction they are going.


    Needless to say, Kayn''s group doesn''t want to waste this opportunity. As such, they started killing everyone as if simply cutting weeds from the ground.


    Realizing that this is no different from throwing their lives away, the remaining men eventually decided to run and abandon the fight.


    With that, Kayn''s group finally seeded in subduing the reinforcement of the Assembly of Freedom.


    However, instead of being happy, their faces darken as they watched Old Mayor George kneeling on the ground with blood oozing out of his stomach.


    Standing in front of Old Mayor George was Chastine, holding a bloodied short sword in her hand while wearing a crazed expression on her beautiful face.


    "What did you do?!" Jericho immediately pointed his gun at Wesley.


    "This is not my doing!" Wesley raised his hand quickly as he glimpses at Kayn, hoping thetter would vouch for him.


    "He''s right, this is not Wesley''s doing, neither is it my doing," Kayn''s face turned solemn.

 Chapter 308 The appearance of Circus and the shocking identity of the traitor

    <h4>Chapter 308 The appearance of Circus and the shocking identity of the traitor</h4>


    Chapter 308: The appearance of Circus and the shocking identity of the traitor


    Kayn might havee from the future, but that doesn''t necessarily mean he is fully aware of everything that happened in the second life. As a matter of fact, he even forgot some events that he was involved with. Not to mention, events that he has no knowledge about nor was even involved in the first ce.


    The scene of Chastine stabbing Old Mayor George was one such event that he is not aware of.


    Honestly, he doesn''t even know whether this had also happened in the past or that this was possibly caused by the butterfly effect brought by his unounted intervention in this timeline.


    Hepletely doesn''t know. Even Natas was caught by surprise, so he reckon that thetter also isn''t aware that such an event actually happened, or perhaps otherwise.


    "I told you, we shouldn''t have intervened in how things were supposed to happen," Natas shook his head.


    It was quite clear just from Natas'' response alone that this event didn''t take ce in the second life.


    "She wasn''t supposed to reveal herself yet this early,"


    "You knew?!" Kayn muttered in surprise.


    "Who are you talking to?" Gilbert looks at Kayn in confusion.


    This time, Kayn didn''t bother hiding that he was talking to somebody else and not himself. "My bodyguard,"


    "Telepathy?" Wesley realized. That''s the only Gift that he could think about to exin how Kayn''s bodyguard is able tomunicate with him from far away.


    "What is he talking about,"


    "Nothing important," Kayn dismissed them.


    "I do, but it''s not time for you to know about it yet,"


    "What do you mean,"


    "Chastine is not actually her real name," Natas sighs heavily. "You are very familiar with her. She''s someone that you have fought plenty of times in the past, a noteworthy member of Circus, someone who is infamously known as Songstress of ck Swans,"


    "Melisa!" Kayn instantly remembered the woman who had the title Songstress of ck Swans.


    Songstress of ck Swans Melisa Cholia.


    That was her full name along with her title.


    There''s honestly a perfect reason why Melisa''s title is Songstress of ck Swans.


    Melisa''s actually a singer, a popr one, especially around the Viins, which exins why she is very used to using fake names.


    Just like the Heromunity has popr idols to inspire and influence them, the Viinmunity also has its own.


    Melisa is one such idol.


    The reason for Melisa''s title Songstress of ck Swans other than her being an idol is because of her beauty, grace, and elegance every time she performs on stage. And the additional ''ck'' represents her status as a Viin. Needless to say, she would have just epted that as a stage name instead of embracing it as an official title if it wasn''t for the fact that she''s secretly one of the loyal incarnations of the Swan God.


    The Swan God is one of the most beautiful Gods inside the ''Tower'' who ranks tenth in the apparently internal beauty rankings amongst the Gods. This God''s ability is rted to healing and blessings and is most effective andpatible during the war.


    Although Melisa still hasn''t earned the title Songstress of ck Swans and neither has she be an incarnation of the Swan God yet at this current time frame. Nevertheless, that doesn''t change the fact that her action right now has greatly affected the state of war for Green Horn City.


    More importantly, Melisa was one of the founding members of Circus.


    "What have you done, Chastine?!" Friedrich eximed loudly while pointing his sword at Chastine.


    "What do you think? I am ending the war!" Chastine responded with a wide smile on her face.


    "Capture her¡­" Old Mayor George weakly muttered.


    "Go!" Friedrichmanded the others before lunging himself toward Chastine.


    However, before anyone could reach Chastine, a huge earth wall rose from her feet.


    Surprisingly enough, the earth wall didn''t continue moving vertically as it suddenly changed to move horizontally and heads towards the thick forest nearby to the northeast, where the continuous stream of ordinary members of the Assembly of Freedom ising from.


    Friedrich and the others could only look up at Chastine as she slowly gets away from them. But it was only for a brief moment as they pulled themselves together and went to chase after the moving earth wall.


    Eliam from the third squad of the Green Horn Knights decided to stay in order to treat Old Mayor George and prevent things from worsening along with Van who stood guard in a stoic pose in front to block any iing attack that aims to take advantage of their situation. On the other hand, Emmet, Miya, and Amy went to follow after Friedrich and the first squad of Green Horn Knights.


    "Let''s join them as well!" Kayn ordered as he chases after.


    "Alright!"


    Gilbert and the others followed along.


    It didn''t take long for everyone to catch up to Chastine as the earth wall she was standing on eventually came to a stop.


    Everyone was immediately taken aback as they were greeted by arge portal where a continuous outflow of members from the Assembly of Freedom streamed from while on the corner close to the portal were five men releasing powerful auras around them as they hold Natasha, Jackson, Carter, and Cyril in hostage.


    No wonder the entire second squad of the Green Horn Knights was missing in action, they were actually captured by this unknown group.


    "What do you think you''re doing, Chastine?!" Friedrich angrily shouted.


    "Chastine? That''s not even my real name," Chastine scoffed. "My real name is Melisa, and I am a member of Circus,"


    "Circus?"


    Everyone''s eyes widened in shock after hearing the familiar name.


    All of them are already aware that the organization Circus is the main mastermind behind what is happening right now in ''The Bridge'' since it was them that influenced Chief Kydon to create the Assembly of Freedom and Chief Kylo to start a war against Old Mayor George.


    As such, it naturally came as a shock to them to finally discover their real identities, one of them even being someone they always believed to be an extremely close ally.

 Chapter 309 The Assembly of Freedom’s Counterattack

    <h4>Chapter 309 The Assembly of Freedom¡¯s Counterattack</h4>


    Chapter 309: The Assembly of Freedom''s Counterattack


    "Since when?" Friedrich felt confused. He might not have been by Melisa''s side all this time, but he has never seen her do anything suspicious that would make him suspect that she''s secretly a traitor. Moreover, Natasha and the others are also with her almost every single day, so they would have reported to him a long time ago if ever Melisa was doing something behind their backs.


    Needless to say, there''s the possibility that Melisa has been doing wicked stuff way before she officially became a member of the Green Horn Knights.


    Melisa chuckled as she hopped to stand alongside the five other members of Circus, "Ever since I entered ''The Bridge'',"


    That''s right, Melisa has been a member of Circus from the moment she entered ''The Bridge''. After all, she is one of their founding members.


    "Why go through all of that trouble when you could have just killed Old Mayor George right from the start?" Friedrich was still not satisfied with Melisa''s response.


    "You''ll understand in the future," Melisa turned around to face the portal. "When that timees, I hope to see all of you still alive,"


    Whoosh!


    Melisa along with the five men entered the portal and disappeared.


    Before Friedrich and the others could follow after, the portal closes and also disappeared. As a result, the outflow of reinforcement from the Assembly of Freedom finally stopped.


    Despite that¡­


    "Damn it!" Friedrich cursed out loud.


    "I think we have another problem to worry about right now," Roshan patted Friedrich''s shoulder to pull thetter out of his emotions.


    At this moment, all of them are surrounded by the countless reinforcement from the Assembly of Freedom after they carelessly and thoughtlessly charged deep inside into their formation.


    However, it wasn''t really considered that big of a problem for them considering that their group can easily dominate all of these people. Just that it is quite troublesome to deal with their numerical advantage. To be exact, since they are far away from the main battlefield right now, they''ll have to go through a sea of people from the Assembly of Freedom in order to return.


    "Untie Natasha and the others first," Friedrich ordered as he motioned his hand for everyone to retreat close to where the portal originally was ced. There was still a stone structure left by the portal which they can use as a cover.


    Fortunately, Melisa didn''t do anything to Natasha and the others and simply left them behind.


    Their main objective was probably only to try and assassinate Old Mayor George, and since they''ve already done that, albeit they failed in the end since Friedrich was able to hinder Melisa from proceeding any further, they didn''t want to do anything in case it will affect their n.


    "How careful," Kayn can''t help saying in a remark at the realization. The way Melisa and the members of Circus operated didn''t leave room for any errors in their n.


    This is exactly how professionals do things, not the same as Chief Kylo and the members of the Assembly of Freedom who exhibits foolishness and ignorance.


    Quick, precise, and goal-oriented with no signs of inexperience, hesitation, and cowardice. That is what Melisa did just now.


    Meanwhile, because of the temporary absence of Kayn''s group and the Green Horn Knights, and more importantly Old Mayor George being seriously injured, it causes the Green Horn City''s side to slightly be disoriented as the three Chiefs took temporarymand of the battlefield.


    However, because the three Chiefs are almost fully engrossed in fighting against the leaders of the three Brigades, they can only asionally give orders to the respective leaders of their army.


    "Where exactly are they?!" Chief Kash eximed loudly.


    "No idea!" Chief Harlem shook his head.


    "Shit! This is suddenly going very bad for us!" Chief Perceval swore.


    "Just like what we expected," Moei smiled widely.


    "I know right!" Marlon nodded in delight.


    "Care to exin to me what just happened?" Garvin was still confused by the situation. It was out of his imagination that one of the members of the Green Horn Knights, a squad leader on top of that, would suddenly betray and attack Old Mayor George.


    "Circus happened,"


    "Circus?" Garvin was surprised. He instantly realized the third party that attacked the Dream Dungeonst night was most likely Circus. As for what exactly they are doing there, he doesn''t know.


    "Anyways, let''s take advantage of the situation and defeat them,"


    "Alright," Garvin felt conflicted. As of this moment, Kayn''s proposal is still stuck inside his mind. He wants to ept the proposal, but there''s the question of whether Kayn could even survive this war or not. After all, Circus has finally decided to involve themselves. "I shouldn''t underestimate him,"


    "Underestimate who,"


    "No one," Garvin dismissed the topic and decided to focus on dealing against the three Chiefs.


    Without wasting any time, Garvin, Moei, and Marlon attacked Chief Kash, Chief Harlem, and Chief Perceval.


    The sh between six powerhouses of ''The Bridge'' shook the entire battlefield and causes the people nearby to get implicated in the mess.


    Continuous shockwaves shook the sky, parting the dark clouds lingering up above everyone''s head in the process. Simultaneously, thend shook causing cracks to appear on the ground and splitting the nearby earth into pieces.


    It was devastating and destructive.


    The force was more than enough to destroy everything that stands in the way of its assault, whether they are allies or foes, living or non-living, Heroes or Viins.


    Boom!


    A loud explosion echoed loudly as Chief Harlem got sted away toward the wall of the Dream Vige, the impact created a wide crater on the surface with him at the center.


    It didn''t take that long for Chief Kash and Chief Perceval to follow after, one being sted to the moat while the other to the marsnd to the west of the battlefield.


    Without hesitation and in hopes of takingplete advantage of the situation, Moei, Marlon, and Garvin decided to follow through and not wait until the three Chiefs could get back on their feet and pull themselves together.


    Boom!


    Bang!


    This time, the Green Horn City was at aplete disadvantage against the Assembly of Freedom.

 Chapter 310 The Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 310 The Fate of ¡®The Bridge¡¯ Part 1</h4>


    Chapter 310: The Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 1


    With the main fighting force temporarily away and the three Chiefs being on the losing end of their fight against the leaders of the three Brigades, the rest of the men from the Green Horn City could only continue defending themselves from the madness and crazed attack of the Assembly of Freedom.


    In addition to that, the deputies of the three Brigades and the two squads, Liberty Squad and Unity Rule, are nowpletely unstoppable from doing whatever they want to do to the forces of the Green Horn City.


    With the situation right now, it is quite evident that Chastine''s unexpected betrayal had caused a devastating effect on the entirety of Green Horn City. And with their powerhouses and main fighting force gone on the battlefield, their army couldn''t help losing the Assembly of Freedom.


    The Assembly of Freedom might have originally been the one losing the war from the start. But that doesn''t prove that they are weak. It was only because their entire army had already received a considerable degree of damage before the war even began and was unable to quicklypensate for that that''s why they are at a disadvantage against the Green Horn City.


    Firstly, Chief Kylo lost the Kingmaker, thus preventing him from proceeding with the same Zerg strategy as thest time.


    Secondly, with the Levitation Scepter gone, the Assembly of Freedom can no longer bring their entire force wherever they want.


    Thirdly, the death of all members of the Freedom Fighters took a quarter of the main force of the Assembly of Freedom.


    Last and more importantly, the Assembly Knights were alreadypromised by Kayn as Maria, Wesley, and Christopher, half of all of their entire members, are already part of Kayn''s team. Of course, nobody knows about this yet aside from those that were involved in the operation.


    Nevertheless, it doesn''t stop the Assembly of Freedom from counterattacking and using whatever means that remains to defeat the Green Horn City from this war.


    "Retreat!" Old Mayor George immediatelymanded after barely being able to escape from the hands of death.


    In the next moment, the entire army of the Green Horn City started dispersing and moved to the direction of the moat of the Dream Vige, this includes the levitating Green Horn City.


    Unfortunately, Old Mayor George''s order to retreat didn''tpletely go ording to n.


    With this first sign of weakness, some people unexpectedly decided to retreat and abandon everyone to save themselves as if they didn''t see any hope of the situation ever changing again.


    The action of the few might not have influenced the majority from doing the same, but it still significantly decreased the morale of the army of Green Horn City.


    As a result of seeing the response of the Green Horn City, the morale and fighting spirit of every soldier from the Assembly of Freedom was greatly fired up, boosting all of them to continue chasing after the enemy soldier.


    The trio, Chief Kash, Chief Harlem, and Chief Perceval,nded beside Old Mayor George.


    "If this continues, it wouldn''t be long until we lost this war," Chief Kash expresses his concern to Old Mayor George.


    "We should have just let the first squad of Green Horn Knights chase after the traitor instead of allowing all of them to follow," Chief Harlem muttered in a regretful tone.


    "That''s right, we could have at the very least brought the battle into a stalemate," Chief Perceval agreed without a second thought as he was confident in his im.


    "What''s already done can''t be done," Old Mayor George shook his head. "There''s no use regretting now as we''ve alreadye to this conclusion. All we can do now is defend and patiently wait for Kayn and the others to return,"


    "We should trust them," Eliam interjected while still healing Old Mayor George from the wound that Chastine has inflicted. Right now, evidence of poison being used could be seen on the surface around thetter''s wound.


    "Let''s just do the best we can," Van added


    "We already are," Chief Kash sighs.


    What Van doesn''t understand was that they were already doing the best they can. The Assembly of Freedom is just too powerful than they initially expected.


    Even though the Assembly of Freedom are not an organized army, the way they fight is like how monsters fight. As long as they have something they can use as a weapon, including but not limited to their teeth and nails, they will continue fighting and dragging each and every member of the Green Horn City with them to hell.


    Just imagine how scary it is to witness someone who already doesn''t have both feet and arms but still continues to fight using their teeth, or a headless person still wing his way out.


    That was the scene the soldiers of the Green Horn City are forced to watch as they continue fighting.


    It was the ultimate nightmare for all of them.


    However, no matter how much pain they are inflicted, they can never wake up from this nightmare and could only face it until the war is finally over with only one side winning.


    Nevertheless, Eliam and Van''s belief in Kayn and the others to return wasn''t for nothing.


    As soon as everyone from the Green Horn City''s side retreated to the Dream Vige, Kayn and the others finally returned with a grand entrance.


    Boom!


    Tens of people got sted away to kingdome and behind them were hundreds more, lifelessly and silently lying down on the ground.


    Without wasting any time, Kayn and the others head straight to the Dream Vige while leaving countless more dead bodies along the way.


    No matter how many men from the Assembly of Freedom try to block them, nobody could hinder their way from reaching the Dream Vige.


    They werepletely unstoppable.


    With this realization in mind, the leaders of the three Brigades along with their deputies, and the two squads, Liberty Squad and Unity Rule, all decided to abandon the thoughts of stopping Kayn and the others in fear that they''ll get added to the piles of dead bodies. After all, this is the main fighting force they are talking about.

 Chapter 311 The Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 311 The Fate of ¡®The Bridge¡¯ Part 2</h4>


    Chapter 311: The Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 2


    With Kayn and the other''s appearance, the majority of members from the Assembly of Freedom decided to halt their assault on the Dream Vige and turn their attention to them instead.


    Even though they are fully aware of the fact that with their individual strength alone they will never be able to stop Kayn and the others. But with thebined effort of everyone, they are hoping to be able to kill them.


    Hundreds of men from the Assembly of Freedom head their way toward Kayn and the others with weapons, magic, and whatever tools they can carry with the intent of blocking their way.


    The ground shook as they approach, as if like countless monsters galloping their way toward a few men.


    Boom!


    Bang!


    Unfortunately, however manye, the same exact number gets sent away to meet with their creator.


    It was a futile attempt.


    That was what the members of the Assembly of Freedom soon realized after sacrificing hundreds of theirrades.


    Nevertheless, nobody thought of stopping from trying, except for the smart people like Garvin and the others who long already realized that it is inevitable for Kayn and the others to reach the Dream Vige. Regardless, they still let their men continue with their actions because they are thinking of exhausting their stamina.


    No matter how powerful a person is, they''ll always have this one weakness that they will never be able to solve no matter what, and that is the problem with energy and stamina. Everyone gets tired, even Gods from the ''Tower'' does as well. And the moment one gets tired, no matter how powerful they are, they''re going to be helpless to do anything.


    That is the strategy Garvin and the others wanted to achieve.


    And it was proven to be very effective as the approach of Kayn and the others started slowing down the closer they get to the Dream Vige.


    This is the best attempt for the Assembly of Freedom''s side in hoping that the war will continue in their favor.


    Still, there''s a problem that remains for them.


    Needless to say, the people from the Green Horn City''s side weren''t just watching as Kayn and the others make their way toward them.


    They sent men to carve a path in front in order to lessen the burden and also make sure that nobody else other than the cannon fodders of the Assembly of Freedom can attack Kayn and the others.


    The siege machines on top of the Dream Vige wall and the levitating Green Horn City also hinder more cannon fodders from approaching. In this way, they''ll be able to steadily control the number of inflows and counter the strategy of Garvin and the others to some degree.


    "Should we help?" Moei can''t help asking.


    "We have to stay put," Marlon shook his head as he pointed towards the three Chiefs who are focusing their attention on them. "Once we make a move, they''ll make a move as well,"


    "I understand," Moei nodded.


    Contrary to the two leaders, Garvin was thinking differently. In his mind right now, he wanted to help Kayn and the others instead.


    Even though the Green Horn City''s side suffered a huge amount of damage during the time Kayn and the others were away, Garvin is fully aware that the Assembly of Freedom doesn''t hold any sort of genuine advantage against them.


    Garvin''s reason for believing that is the fact that the Assembly Knights still haven''t made their appearance yet. Close to an hour has already passed, and yet there are still no signs of them, even just a single one of their members. He is certain that something must have happened to them, and considering Wesley is now in the side of the Green Horn City, he can''t help but assumed that a few more have also defected.


    With that thought in mind, Garvin could already see that the Assembly of Freedom isn''t only being defeated from the outside, they are also being slowly corroded on the inside. And all of this was only possible because of one single person.


    Kayn!


    Garvin stares at Kayn and finally decided to make a choice.


    "This young man''s potential is unmeasurable. If I let this opportunity slip by the tip of my finger, there''s no telling whether another chance like this will present itself to me again," Garvin muttered silently. Instead of thinking about the war, he''d rather think of what will benefit him the most. And as he can see right now, allying with Kayn proves to be the best option to choose.


    As a new light of fire lit up brightly inside Garvin''s heart, he tightly held his sword and looked at Moei and Marlon. Inside his mind, he is thinking about which of the two men proves to be the most fatal to the Assembly of Freedom when taken care of.


    "Garvin?" Marlon felt a foreboding feelinging from Garvin.


    "I am sorry, Marlon, but you''ll have to die," Garvin uttered as he brandished his sword.


    Slit!


    A sizeable vertical sh wound appeared on Marlon''s chest as he was barely able to evade Garvin''s sudden attack.


    Moei quickly raised his spear in order to block the next attacking from Garvin.


    ng!


    "Don''t tell me you''ve been affected by Wesley''s Gift?!" Moei expressed his thoughts.


    "Not likely," Marlon shook his head as he grabbed his spear and prepared himself. "He has decided to betray us,"


    "Betray us?" Moei was in disbelief. They are clearly winning this war, so why would Garvin suddenly decide to betray them?


    "You two just don''t understand," Garvin felt pity at the duo for being ignorant.


    "Then tell us so that we can understand!" Marlon lunged himself forward to counterattack.


    ng!


    Garvin easily evaded.


    However, Marlon''s attack opened a window of opportunity for Moei to finally go into full assault mode.


    Whoosh!


    Garvin quickly jumped backward to dodge Moei''s attack.


    At this moment, Garvin realized that he has lost his only chance tounch a surprise attack on Marlon and eliminate him. His only option left now is to either run away or continue fighting in order to prove to Kayn his worth. He strongly believes that thetter''s proposition for him still stands.

 Chapter 312 The Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 312 The Fate of ¡®The Bridge¡¯ Part 3</h4>


    Chapter 312: The Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 3


    "What''s happening over there?" Gilbert suddenly asked.


    "It seems like Garvin finally made a decision," Kayn smiles triumphantly. This was exactly what he wanted to happen, Garvin picking to join the Green Horn City''s side. Needless to say, he doesn''t want thetter to truly be a member of Old Mayor George''s army, but instead his group as he has big ns prepared for Garvin once they get out of ''The Bridge''.


    "Decided what?" Friedrich can''t help interrupting as he was intrigued by the second round of betrayal in this war. This time, a traitor has appeared in the ranks of the Assembly of Freedom.


    "No one knows since they cast an istion spell during their fight," Gilbert shrugged his shoulder.


    Jericho and the others also expressed their ignorance as to what sort of deal Kayn and Garvin had agreed on. Needless to say, they are very interested in knowing about it as they want to know the method Kayn had pulled to make one of the powerhouses of the Assembly of Freedom betray their organization, knowing about that, they might be able to do the same in the future as well.


    "I''ll tell you all of you about itter," Kayn muttered. "In the meantime, let''s focus on making our way back to the rest of our allies,"


    "You guys can continue, I''ll help Garvin," Friedrich suddenly volunteered and separated his way to head towards Garvin. In his mind, rather than asking Kayn who usually doesn''t exin anything useful unless he feels like it, he''d just ask Garvin. It''s the same thing.


    "Alright¡­"


    Gilbert and the others can only agree as Friedrich already left before they can even utter a single piece of response.


    Kayn instantly understood what Friedrich intended to do, thus he smiled.


    Friedrich''s disappearance didn''t really affect everyone''s return that much. Almost the entire first squad of the Green Horn Knight still remains, and in addition to that the second and third squad is also present. And with the rest of the soldiers from the Green Horn City also fast approaching them, thus it didn''t take long for everyone to get away from the dense crowd of men from the Assembly of Freedom and finally reach the safe zone.


    Although it wasn''t entirely safe yet since the war still continues. But this time, the tide is about to change once again.


    "Wesley," Kayn turns to Wesley who had been fighting alongside everyone until now.


    "Yes?" Wesley looks at Kayn.


    "You can release your army,"


    "Are you sure?" Wesley instantly became excited.


    "I am sure," Kayn nodded.


    "Okay!" Wesley acknowledged. He has been waiting all this time to finally release his hoards of Undead Soldiers andy waste to the headquarters of the Assembly of Freedom. This was his only way to prove to Kayn his worth and show thetter what kind of use keeping him alive would bring to whatever Kayn is nning on doing in the future.


    With that being said, Wesley closed his eyes to start awakening his hiding army of Undead.


    There are close to five thousand Undead soldiersying dormant underneath the Freedom City and it is impossible to activate them with just a simple snap of a finger.


    Kayn left Wesley to the rear where it is the safest to do his own things while he and the rest would take care of the problem in front of them.


    "Roshan, Emmet, kindly take care of the two squads from the Assembly of Freedom,"


    "On it!" Roshan signaled the rest of his teammates before heading their way.


    "Time to continue where we left off!" Emmet also did the same and separated from the main army.


    "How about us?" Gilbert looks at Kayn.


    "We''ll take care of the deputies," Kayn responded.


    At this moment, there are only four deputies left from the initial six, respectively there are two deputies from each Brigade. The reason is that the two missing deputies were in earlier ago. Sadly, it didn''t include Iken and Ss, the deputies of Garvin.


    "I''ll hand Iken, the rest of you handle the other three," Kayn ordered.


    "I understand!"


    Gilbert and the others immediately head forward.


    Kayn soon followed after.


    It wasn''t that difficult to find the deputies as they would always cause the biggestmotion wherever they go.


    After looking for a few minutes, Kayn finally found Iken, busily dealing against a dense crowd of soldiers from the Green Horn City. Evidently, thetter wants to kill as many enemy soldiers as possible so that their own men would have less weight on their shoulders.


    Regretfully, Iken''s action would soon be interrupted by Kayn.


    "Iken!" Kayn immediately called out.


    "Kayn!" Iken quickly turned to look at the familiar young man standing not that far away from him.


    Without wasting a single second, Iken jumped right in Kayn''s direction.


    ng!


    Kayn easily parried the attack to the side. Iken had clearly rushed his sh, that''s why it didn''t pack that much force. Though he clearly understood that it was simply meant to greet him.


    "How rude. You didn''t even let me finish what I was about to say," Kayn stared eye to eye with Iken.


    "I''m not really the type to talk from far away. So, you can tell me now if you like," Iken smiled.


    "No need, you already know what I came here to do,"


    "Clearly," Iken pushed his sword and jumped backward. After witnessing Kayn fighting against Garvin on equal ground, he no longer possesses a single inkling of underestimating thetter. If he isn''t careful, it would spell death for him.


    "ying safe, are we?" Kayn smirked. "In that case, I''ll y rough!"


    Whoosh!


    Kayn lunged forward and startedunching a series of attacks toward Iken.


    ng!


    Multiple sounds of metal hitting against metal echoed throughout the battlefield as Kayn and Iken both exchanged swords.


    With two powerful individuals fighting, the dense crowd made up of soldiers from the Green Horn City and men from the Assembly of Freedom quickly dispersed to create an open space for Kayn and Iken to fight without any disruption and for them not to identally get implicated.


    Regardless, the fight between the soldiers from the Green Horn City and men from the Assembly of Freedom still continued at the side.

 Chapter 313 The Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 4

    <h4>Chapter 313 The Fate of ¡®The Bridge¡¯ Part 4</h4>


    Chapter 313: The Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 4


    Regardless of fighting against Garvin not so long ago, Kayn still didn''t feel the slightest feeling of fatigued inside of him. This was only possible because he doesn''t perform any unnecessary action that would consume his stamina and energy needlessly. The result of experience.


    Ekin quickly noticed this point and felt confused about it. "Howe you''re still not tired?"


    "I don''t waste movements," Kayn kindly exined as he isn''t worried that if Ekin knew about it thetter would also be able to do the same. For him to achieve this level of execution, he had to train continuously day in and day out for a whole month, thus it isn''t something someone like Ekin can achieve in a snap of a finger.


    "I see," Ekin realized right away after briefly observing Kayn.


    ng!


    Despite talking, Kayn and Ekin were still exchanging swords.


    "How about we postpone this and you continue training?" Kayn proposed jokingly.


    "Are you underestimating me?" Ekin''s eyebrow began twitching as he felt insulted by Kayn''s words.


    "As much as I hate to admit it, I have to tell you the truth," Kayn brandished his sword.


    ng!


    Right after parrying Ekin''s sword to the side, he immediately turned sideways and waved his sword, hence his sword is now pointing directly to Ekin''s neck.


    "You are indeed weak,"


    Iken stared with wide eyes of fear at the tip of the sword that had slightly cut his neck, causing blood to ooze out.


    "Even if you train for a whole year, you''d still find yourselfcking," Kayn moved his hand to try and slit Iken''s neck.


    Unfortunately, Iken moved his head right away, thus evading further damage to his neck. He quickly jumped backward and uponnding he used his other hand to sp his neck.


    "Ah!" Iken grunted in pain as he burned the wound on his neck in order to close it and stop the bleeding using mana.


    While doing that, Iken looked at Kayn as he can''t help asking. "You could have taken my life right that moment, why did you stop?"


    "That''s because you are Garvin''s men," Kayn glimpses at Garvin who is currently fighting against Moei and Marlon alongside Friedrich. "Whether you live or die would entirely be up to Garvin himself. Of course, it would be a different story if you still try to fight me,"


    Iken instantly realized. "In that case, what should I do?"


    "I have one of my men on standby not that far away from here to the north. Go find him and form a group together," Kayn was referring to Seven.


    "How can I recognize that person?"


    "He''d be the one to approach you," Kayn assured Iken not to worry about it. Because Seven has already be his Undead Soldier, he canmunicate with thetter using the connection they''ve established as if telepathy.


    "How about Ss?" Iken looks at the direction of Ss who is currently contending against Gilbert.


    "Gilbert already said the same to him, and as you can see, he made his decision," Kayn can already guess that Ss decided to continue fighting for the Assembly of Freedom instead of leaving the battlefield.


    "How unfortunate," Iken can only shake his head. He can already imagine the reason why. Unlike him who is loyal to Garvin, Ss'' loyalty lies to the Assembly of Freedom. That''s why he doesn''t see any problem leaving their organization as he only follows wherever Garvin goes.


    "You can leave now," Kayn motioned his hand.


    "I''ll remember this favor,"


    After saying that, Iken charged toward Kayn onest time.


    Kayn instantly understood what Iken is about to do, thus he granted thetter''s wish.


    With a brandish of his sword, Kayn easily sent Iken flying away towards the forest to the north.


    It was such an exaggerating oue considering how far the forest was and Iken had to purposely allow himself to be sent flying nearly a hundred meters away, but by doing so Kayn created a cover for Iken to escape to the forest without anyone hindering his path.


    Everyone was immediately surprised to see Iken flying away by Kayn''s attack.


    Nobody expected such an oue to result in Kayn and Iken''s fight as all of them believed that it would end in a draw.


    And after seeing that Iken didn''t appear again after flying away, everyone assumed that he already fell to his death.


    Realizing that Iken has fallen, every man from the Assembly of Freedom that followed him didn''t hesitate to run away.


    It didn''t take long for the other three deputies to simrly fall to their end. Though, unlike Iken, all three, including Ss, truly died.


    Shortly after, the members of the Liberty Squad and Unity Rule also followed. Albeit not all of them as some were able to run away to the rear of their army.


    In the meantime, Chief Kylo''s face turned uglier by the minute as he watches his men fall one after another. He waspletely helpless to do anything as his individual strength can''t even hope topare to Kayn, let alone join in the fight. In truth, he was just amander, the strategist of this war for the Assembly of Freedom.


    And now that his crucial pieces have fallen piece by piece from the board, Chief Kylo slowly realized that their loss is imminent.


    "Where on Earth is the Assembly Knights?!" Chief Kylo can''t help ming everything on the members of the Assembly Knights who have yet to make their appearance until now.


    Excluding Wesley who has already betrayed the Assembly of Freedom and Magnus who is still missing in action, all members of the Assembly Knights actually came along with the main army to the Hush Vige. But just this morning, all four of them disappeared without any notice.


    Chief Kylo wasn''t worried that they''d betrayed him, but right after seeing that Garvin, one of the most loyal members of the Assembly of Freedom, at least when it was still used to be under his father''s rule, suddenly betraying them, he can''t help imagining that something wrong must have happened to the Assembly Knights that''s why they had mysteriously disappeared. There''s a possibility that it isn''t only Wesley who betrayed the Assembly Knights.

 Chapter 314 The Fate of ‘The Bridge’ Part 5

    <h4>Chapter 314 The Fate of ¡®The Bridge¡¯ Part 5</h4>


    Chapter 314: The Fate of ''The Bridge'' Part 5


    While Chief Kylo was worried about what might have possibly happened to the Assembly Knights, both of the leaders of his two Brigades, Moei, and Marlon, finally sent Garvin and Friedrich retreating back to the Dream Vige.


    The duo wouldn''t be called the Twin Earth and Nature de and be recognized as someone who can content against Magnus if they both work together for nothing.


    No matter how Garvin and Friedrich cooperate together to beat their teamwork, they still found themselves helpless against Moei and Marlon.


    After sending Garvin and Friedrich away, Moei and Marlon immediately retreated back to Chief Kylo.


    "Chief Kylo, this is bad, we are losing the war!" Moei expressed.


    "I know," Chief Kylo rolled his eyes. He can already see it even if Moei doesn''t tell him about it.


    "What should we do?" Marlon can''t help asking.


    "I¡­"


    Just when Chief Kylo was about to make the decision to retreat, four streaking lights flew above their heads.


    "The Assembly Knights!" Moei immediately recognized the four individuals who just arrived on the battlefield.


    "That''s strange, why does it seem like two of them are chasing after the other two," Marlon suddenly notices.


    Whooosh!


    In the next moment, a strong aura appeared as another streaking light flew out.


    "Magnus?!" Chief Kylo recognizes.


    "Those two people running away seems to be Maria and Christopher," Moei finally identified the two individuals.


    "Don''t tell me," Marlon looks at Chief Kylo.


    "It seems like it wasn''t only Wesley who betrayed us, but Maria and Christopher as well," Chief Kylo finally understood what exactly happened to the Assembly Knights. Maria and Christopher might have taken Patter and Lecter somewhere else using some sort of convincing reason with the intention of killing them in secret and then joining with the Green Horn City once they finally achieve their goal. Regretfully for Maria and Christopher, Magnus suddenly appeared which ultimately ruined their ns. In the end, the two traitors had no other choice but to run away.


    "Hold it there!"


    Magnus eximed loudly, which caused both Patter and Lecter to stop chasing after Maria and Christopher.


    "Why?!" Patter voiced out.


    "We almost got them!" Lecterined.


    "Look!" Magnus pointed at Friedrich and Garvin who came to rescue Maria and Christopher.


    "That¡­" Patter quickly recognized Friedrich since he is the only person who can contend against Magnus in a one-on-one fight.


    "Let''s back away," Magnus ordered and head his way to where Chief Kylo is.


    Patter and Lecter quickly followed.


    ¡­..


    "It seems like you failed," Kayn looked at Maria. He didn''t bother looking at Christopher since the only reason why thetter betrayed the Assembly of Freedom was that he had fallen victim to the Undead Apple.


    "We greatly underestimated them," Maria shook his head.


    "What do you mean?" Kayn was confused.


    "Magnus only trusted a few people in the Assembly of Freedom. Aside from Chief Kylo, he only trusts Patter ad Lecter. Because of that, whenever he returns from his trip, he gives the majority of his loot to them,"


    "They had a lot of powerful weapons, is that what you are telling me?"


    "That''s right¡­ If only I knew that, I would have prepared more beforehand,"


    "It''s alright," Kayn finally understood. No matter how powerful one is, it is always troublesome toe face to face with individuals with a lot of powerful weapons. This was a case that he had experienced a lot of times personally as well, thus he understood how troublesome Maria must have felt when she came face to face with Patter and Lecter.


    This type of individual is what is infamously called ''Overgeared''.


    "Overgeared," Jericho sneered. He hates people who fight in that kind of manner the most. Abusing powerful weapons in order to defeat strategies, skills, and experience.


    "It doesn''t matter. With Maria and Christopher here, the war is in our favor," Kayn decided to set aside Maria''s failure. In truth, he wasn''t really expecting much from Maria. His only intention from her during this war is to join his side and fight against the Assembly of Freedom together. Maria''s use would only show light in the future. As of this moment, she can do whatever her current capability allows her to achieve.


    At the rear, Old Mayor George nodded at Eliam and Van to signal the duo to join with the rest. He already recovered more than half of his original strength, so he isn''t worried about suddenly dying anymore.


    With Eliam and Van returning to the group, almost the entire main fighting force of the Green Horn City has finally reunited, excluding Maria and the fourth squad of Green Horn Knights who still remain missing as they still have something important they have to do as of this moment.


    Kayn, Gilbert, Jude, Charles, Jericho, Maria, Wesley, Christopher, Friedrich, Cedric, Roshan, Kimberly, Lilith, Natasha, Jackson, Carter, Cyril, Emmet, Miya, Amy, Eliam, and Van.


    Twenty-two people against Chief Kylo, Magnus, Patter, Lecter, Moei, and Marlon.


    In addition to that, there''s still Chief Kash, Chief Harlem, and Chief Perceval, the three powerhouses from the Green Horn City''s side.


    Regardless of who is asked the question of who will win the war, they will always provide the same answer; the Green Horn City.


    Even with Magnus, Patter, and Lecter finally joining the ranks of the Assembly of Freedom, the trio is still helpless to change the tides of war.


    The loss of the Assembly of Freedom is already a given.


    Chief Kylo and everyone from the Assembly of Freedom can already see this.


    No matter what they do, they already lost.


    If only they didn''t lose the Kingmaker and Levitation Scepter, things would have yed differently for them.


    That was why Chief Kylo sent Magnus away. He was hoping thetter can find an item that can rece the Kingmaker and Levitation Scepter.


    Unfortunately, Magnus failed, and in the end, they lost the war.


    Chief Kylo can''t help staring at Kayn full of hate in his eyes.

 Chapter 315 Victory

    <h4>Chapter 315 Victory</h4>


    Chapter 315: Victory


    It was only because of that young man that the Assembly of Freedom lost. If it wasn''t for Kayn, things would have never yed this way regardless of whatever the Green Horn City would do.


    Against the Green Horn City and Old Mayor George, Chief Kylo was very confident that he can defeat them. He had already made years of preparation just to defeat them. Regretfully, he never made any preparations to defeat Kayn. That was his major mistake.


    "If it wasn''t for the variable called Kayn," Chief Kylo gritted his teeth. He never truly expected that the young man he decided to ignore during the battle in the Green Horn Vige a month or so ago would bring such a dynamic oue to the war.


    Chief Kylo can''t help regretting that if only at that time he did everything in his power to kill Kayn after thetter had cost him his first loss, then it should have been the Assembly of Freedom that achieved victory this time.


    Unfortunately, there''s no use regretting now as everything already unfolded.


    Regardless of their present action, it wouldn''t change the oue of the war.


    It was the defeat of the Assembly of Freedom.


    A thorough andplete defeat.


    With great difficulty, Chief Kylo announced to everyone word by word, "Everyone, we have lost the war! Retreat!"


    As soon as Chief Kylo announced their retreat, the war drums for the Assembly of Freedom instantly turned silently.


    Momentarily after, a series of loud noises made up of a mixed emotion of fear, anger, frustration, sadness, and regret echoed throughout the entire battlefield as countless men from the Assembly of Freedom started running for their lives to the north, east, and west direction.


    If one would look from the sky, the men from the Assembly of Freedom would look like ants scattering everywhere after a huge and powerful force appeared in front of them.


    That huge and powerful force was none other than the Green Horn City.


    Although what truly scared the leader of this ant was only a single man.


    Kayn.


    "This isn''t the end yet," Chief Kylo muttered before turning around. He balled his fist as he held himself back from what he is feeling. Deep inside, he doesn''t want to run away from this war with his tail in between his legs. But what choice does he have now? Continuing the war would only add more casualties to his army, that is if they even still considered themselves as members of the Assembly of Freedom.


    Nevertheless, this was aplete defeat for them.


    However, this is not yet the end of the Assembly of Freedom.


    "As long as I am still alive, I''ll make them pay for this defeat!" Chief Kylo muttered in a voice filled with resolution.


    "That''s right," Magnus smiled. This was the best choice for them. A wise man knows when to take a step forward or backward. Only a fool would continue walking forward despite the odds being against him already. That was why he choose to follow Chief Kylo as the leader. "By the way, I have found an item that has the same ability as the Levitation Scepter, albeit it''s a downgrade version of it,"


    "It seems like you didn''tpletely fail," Chief Kylo felt slightly delighted. With that item, they''d be able to rebuild their force someday.


    "Unfortunately, it is impossible for us to use it to the Freedom City,"


    "That''s alright, we can just make a smaller version of our territory,"


    "That''s not what I meant,"


    Chief Kylo raised his eyebrow.


    "The reason why I hurriedly came to the battlefield wasn''t honestly to rescue Patter and Lecter, it''s something else," Magnus shook his head. After all, he had given the duo a considerable number of powerful weapons to the point that they were no different from being overgeared Heroes. "The Freedom City had already fallen,"


    Hearing Magnus'' report, Chief Kylo''s eyes widened in disbelief. "How?"


    "Thousands of Undead Soldiersid waste to the Freedom City when I arrived. And as we speak, they are continuing their march in our direction," It wouldn''t be long for the Undead army to reach the Hush Vige. And with their number, it would only take some time for them to continue marching south.


    "Wesley¡­" Chief Kylo can already guess whose Gift it was that brought this Undead army as this was originally one of the defense mechanisms of the Freedom City. Unfortunately, because of Wesley''s betrayal, he can no longer make use of it. And more importantly, it is impossible to remove thousands of corpses underneath the Freedom City due to the fact that they''ll have to dig countless holes just to find each of them. "I''ve already expected this to happen, I just didn''t know that they''d pull it off today,"


    That''s right! Chief Kylo already expected Wesley to use his Undead Army to attack the Freedom City, but he didn''t consider the possibility that thetter would think of doing it during this war. After all, it is best to use it if they want topletely eradicate the entirety of the Assembly of Freedom, which includes him.


    "I suppose they unintentionally did us a favor," Chief Kylo nonchntly overcame the information he just received from Magnus about the downfall of the Freedom City. Simr to Old Mayor George, as long as he remains alive, the legacy of the Assembly of Freedom will persist, allowing them to continually contribute to their youthful history.


    "That''s right, we can start again," Magnus nodded in agreement. To start again is the best choice for the Assembly of Freedom right now. New system. New people. New beginning. New everything. And he believes that by using the lesson taught by their lost today, they''ll be able to progress even more than the present.


    This is the best opportunity their loss could provide to them as of this moment.


    Wallowing in regret and their declination to their defeat would only bring a true end for the Assembly of Freedom.


    As long as they persist to rebuild again, and continue to progress, the Assembly of Freedom wouldn''t end today.


    Both Moei and Marlon understood and acknowledged this.


    "We might have lost today,"


    "But it still isn''t the end for us,"


    With that being said, four figures simultaneously and suddenly disappeared from the battlefield.


    As to where the four people have gone, only the future would be able to tell since being alive means their story continues.

 Chapter 316 Christopher’s Fate Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 316 Christopher¡¯s Fate Part 1</h4>


    Chapter 316: Christopher''s Fate Part 1


    What followed after the disappearance of Chief Kylo, Magnus, Moei, and Marlon, was the signal that marked theplete defeat of the Assembly of Freedom.


    The banners of the Assembly of Freedom started falling one after the other,pletely getting abandoned and stepped on by all of their members who are solely focused on saving themselves and no longer bothering about caring about the others as they run away as fast as their feet could take them from the soldiers of the Green Horn City. Some of them even wished to have more feet so that they could run faster.


    Contrary to what was expected, in response to the Assembly of Freedom''s retreat, the Green Horn City didn''t continue chasing after. Instead, they made their way to the Hush Vige.


    After receiving the report from the Dream Vige of Gilbert and Kayn''s findings in the Hush Vige a few days back where hundreds of vigers suffered torture and all sorts of mistreatment at the hands of the Assembly of Freedom, they decided that it is their topmost priority to free and save thempared to chasing after the dispersing defeated men from their enemy.


    Hunting the defeated army of the Assembly of Freedom can wait since they no longer have a ce to stay as everyone in ''The Bridge'' would close their doors to them due to the fact that they''ve lost the war. It would have been apletely different story if they''d won though.


    In that case, everyone in ''The Bridge'' would do their best to capture the defeated army of the Assembly of Freedom in hopes that they can curry favor for the winner, Green Horn City.


    "Should we go with them?" Gilbert can''t help asking.


    "No, we have bigger matters to take care of," Kayn shook his head.


    After saying that, Kayn along with Gilbert, Wesley, Jude, Charles, and Jericho separated from the main army and went to the forest to their east. They are nning to meet up with the rest of the gang so that Kayn can finally proceed with the n that he has been cooking up all this time.


    The rest of the gang is referring to Maria, Garvin, Ekin, Seven, and most importantly¡­


    A murderous intent momentarily escaped from Kayn''s eyes as he remembered one person in that group.


    Christopher!


    It is now time to end the life of one of the people that betrayed him in the second life, especially considering that he no longer has any use for Christopher, therefore it is time for thetter to finally meet his end.


    As for how exactly it would be, he already had a n in mind that would make Christopher feel exactly the same way as how he felt when they betrayed him.


    ¡­..


    Maria, Garvin, Iken, Seven, and Christopher didn''t really go that far away from the battlefield. Hence, Kayn almost instantly found them just after briefly entering the Slumbering Forest.


    Seven had specifically picked a position where he could still watch the war without the risk of identally getting found out or possibly implicated in the battle. After all, he is nothing more but a third party between the war of the Green Horn City and the Assembly of Freedom. If ever he is found out, he''d most likely get executed by either party involved.


    "Seven," Kayn called out.


    "Kayn," Seven greeted back with a slight bow of his head. He is now a loyal servant of Kayn, so he ought to start treating thetter as his master.


    "Everyone," Kayn looks at the others.


    "I truly never expected that it wasn''t only me that you invited," Garvin still can''t think of any reason on how exactly Kayn was able to invite Maria and Christopher to join his side as well.


    "Well, things happened which resulted in this conclusion," Kayn doesn''t want to exin it himself since Maria can exin how he invited her. Garvin can just go and ask her if he truly wants to know.


    "Now time for the execution," Kayn''s eyes turned cold as he looks at Christopher who is currently standing like a robot by the side. Because of the Undead Apple, thetter would just stand senselessly without any orders.


    "What are you nning on doing?" Gilbert can''t help asking.


    At this point in time, it is already quite obvious to everyone, excluding Garvin and Iken, that Christopher was one of the people that supposedly betrayed Kayn in the past. As for what exactly had happened, none of them knows. And whether they''ll find out about it or not, that would entirely be up to them to uncover since Kayn doesn''t seem to want to exin it to them.


    "Did you make sure they would follow?" Kayn looks at Maria. He was refering to Chief Kylo, Magnus, Moei, and Marlon.


    "Yes," Maria nodded. She had purposely moved in a suspicious manner in order to attract the attention of Chief Kylo and his group who were just secretly hiding nearby after disappearing. They probably wanted to see the end of the war for themselves first before eventually going away to start their own redemption arc.


    "Good," Kayn truly appreciated Maria''s effort.


    "Everyone, disperse," Kayn signaled.


    In the next moment, Gilbert and the others immediately disappeared and hid behind the trees nearby.


    "It is time for you to feel exactly what it feels like being betrayed by people you trust," Kayn smiled devilishly before also disappearing.


    The instant Kayn disappeared, Christopher soon regained consciousness.


    "Huh?" Christopher quickly began looking around his surroundings. "A forest? Since there are Drowsy Mushrooms nearby, this seems to still be the Slumbering Forest,"


    "How the fuck did I even get here?"


    Christopher was clueless about everything that happened while he was under the spell of the Undead Apple and the only thing he could remember was that he was dealing with some important documents in the headquarters of the Assembly of Freedom before his mind suddenly fade away and turned ck.

 Chapter 317 Christopher’s Fate Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 317 Christopher¡¯s Fate Part 2</h4>


    Chapter 317: Christopher''s Fate Part 2


    No matter how hard Christopher tried to remember, all he could sense was a long nk space in his memory. It is as if he hadpletely forgotten a piece of memory between the time he was sorting out the important documents and now when he finally regained his consciousness.


    "Wesley!" Christopher instantly concluded. He wasn''t a fool. Ever since he discovered Wesley''s charm, he had been going around investigating all thetter''s victims. ording to them, they all share thismon feeling of having an empty part of their memory where it feels like they undergo a time skip or something simr. What he is feeling right now is exactly the same.


    "Did that asshole do something to me without my consent?!" Christopher felt enraged.


    Christopher started stomping his foot, creating deep footprints on the dirt below, as he started moving north.


    At this moment, Christopher still doesn''t know where exactly he is. But he believes that going north would be the best action to take considering that the headquarters of the Assembly of Freedoms is located somewhere around that part. To be more exact, it was in the northwest of the Slumbering Forest.


    "There''s only two conclusions to my decision, either I reach the end of the Slumbering Forest where I can then continue navigating down south to reach the Freedom City, or I end up somewhere worse and I get lost in the process," Christopher was feeling extremely annoyed. "Whatever it is, I''ll make sure Wesley will pay for this!"


    Wesley who was secretly watching everything can''t help slightly shivering in fear. Fortunately, Christopher would be dying soon, or else he''d be the one to die instead.


    Christopher continued traveling north for hours and still, he didn''t reach the end of the Slumbering Forest nor was there any sign that he was close to the end.


    "Fuck! Did that guy put me somewhere so far away in the Slumbering Forest? What for though? Was it so that I wouldn''t be able to join in the war?" Christopher can only assume that to be the case since he isn''t dead yet. However, he is curious about some wounds that seem to be from a weapon of some sort, like a sword. But it wasn''t fatal and it could also just be from encountering monsters along the way. And speaking about the war. "I wonder if the war has already started?" If that was really the case, Chief Kylo would definitely kill him.


    "This is annoying!" Christopher screamed loudly. "I''ll definitely make him pay once I return!"


    All of a sudden, Christopher notices that he is nearing an open space.


    "Finally!" Christopher celebrated.


    However, Christopher''s celebration didn''tst long as he saw the Hush Vige not that far away to his left.


    "Is that?" Christopher was in disbelief.


    At this moment, the Hush Vige is being under siege by thousands or perhaps even ten thousand soldiers from the Green Horn City.


    "I have to help them!" Christopher didn''t waste any time as he headed straight towards the Hush Vige.


    It didn''t take long for Christopher to get close to the wall of the Hush Vige.


    But contrary to what Christopher was expecting, dozens of the siege weapons stationed on top of the wall suddenly aimed toward his direction.


    "The traitor ising, fire!"


    Whoosh!


    "What the?!" Christopher quickly evaded. "Why are you attacking me?!"


    "What a load of bullcrap you are spouting you traitor!"


    "Get away from here traitor!"


    "Scum of the Assembly of Freedom go and die!"


    "Traitor?" Christopher can''t help doubting what he is hearing. "Is this rted to the nk space in my memory? What the heck did Wesley make me do when I was under his Gift?!"


    Christopher''s only conclusion is Wesley made him betray the Assembly of Freedom when he had fallen victim to his Undead Apple. As for why, he doesn''t know. The only choice he has now is to look for Chief Kylo and exin to him what exactly happened so that he can clear his name.


    "Since the Hush Vige is here, all I have to do is go north," Christopher quickly decided to abandon the Hush Vige and head to the Freedom City. Even though he wants to help, but with the way he is being treated right now, there''s no way he can.


    Christopher started heading north.


    After traveling for a good thirty minutes, Christopher was suddenly forced to stop on his track.


    "What the fuck!" Christopher can''t help swearing loudly as he watches a sea of Undead Soldiers marching south.


    "Isn''t this Wesley''s Undead army?" Christopher already knew about the defense mechanism that Chief Kylo had set up with the help of Wesley. "I see what''s happening now. Wesley wanted to im all credit for winning the war that''s why he sent me far away. There''s also the possibility that he sent everyone away as well. He''s going to be dead for sure this time!"


    "I guess he is no longer satisfied with his position and wants more privileges," Christopher can understand. But nevertheless, that doesn''t mean he''ll spare Wesley.


    Completely ignoring the approaching Undead Army, Christopher runs to the side close to them. Just for safety purposes.


    At first, everything was fine.


    All Undead soldiers continued marching to the south.


    But as time passes, Christopher eventually notices that the Undead soldiers are slowly getting close to him, and before he realizes it, he is already surrounded by them and their ranks are steadily thickening as if to prevent him from escaping.


    The instant the Undead Army surrounded Christopher, those close to him instantly stopped and faced him.


    The Undead''s empty eyes socket and skull face, the unrecognizable faces, and the oozing slimy substance from their bodies were so creepy that although Christopher was confident that he could handle them, he still couldn''t help slightly shivering in fear.


    "Did Wesley notice my presence? Is he nning on stopping me again?" Christopher presumed as he readied his weapon in his hand.


    As if Christopher''s assumption was confirmed, the Undead soldiers near him lunged themselves before brandishing their weapons to attack him.

 Chapter 318 Christopher’s Fate Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 318 Christopher¡¯s Fate Part 3</h4>


    Chapter 318: Christopher''s Fate Part 3


    Already prepared, Christopher swiped with his sword in response.


    Whoosh!


    With Christopher''s strength, he was easily able to cut the de of the Undead soldier''s rusty sword and shivered its head simultaneously.


    Bang!


    The Undead Soldier dropped to the ground. But it wasn''t dead though. Using its hands where only a small part was still made out of flesh, it slowly crawled its way toward Christopher, digging out the dirt on its every pull.


    "Disgusting!" Christopher muttered before stomping on its head. This was the reason why the Undead was still able to determine where he was.


    The instant its head was destroyed, the Undead soldier was no longer able to determine where Christopher was as thetter jumped to the side and watched as the Undead soldier continued crawling towards his previous location.


    "So, you want to y hard, eh!" Christopher was finally enraged. And quite timely enough, he is now presented with an outlet right in front of him.


    Boom!


    A series of explosions erupted as bits and pieces of bones started raining all over the army of the Undead.


    Needless to say, Christopher wasn''t just mindlessly destroying everything. In truth, he was carving a path towards the forest nearby so that he could get out of this ce and continue along his journey to the Freedom City.


    However, it was soon proven very difficult for Christopher as endless swarms of Undead soldiers blocked his path from approaching the forest any farther.


    Realizing that his effort was going to be very hard to achieve, Christopher quickly decided on another approach. This time, instead of going into the forest, he looked for the thinnest part of the formation of the Undead army that he could use to breakthrough out from here.


    Fortunately for Christopher, finding the thinnest part of the Undead army''s formation exactly means his escape. And perfectly enough, it was situated to the north, where he was exactly going.


    "He found it," Wesley smiled.


    "We made him find it, after all," Kayn smiled.


    Christopher finally broke through the Undead army''s formation and without wasting any time, he speedily exited of the ce and continued north.


    "Of he goes," Gilbert muttered.


    "Let''s quickly catch up to him before he gets away and we end up not finding him anymore!" Jericho suggested.


    Without any hesitation, everyone quickly jumped into the Undead army to hide their tracks and use them in order to prevent anyone from spotting their whereabouts. Unlike Christopher, the Undead soldiers don''t dare to harm any of them.


    Christopher might have boasted himself to seem to know where the exact location of the Freedom City was earlier. But in truth, he actually doesn''t. As such, he didn''t dare go that far away from the marching Undead army as he believes that the direction where theye from is the Freedom City.


    Unbeknownst to Christopher, the Freedom City that he wanted to find was long already destroyed by the Undead Army, and what remains of it now is currently following after him just like Kayn and his squad.


    "Herees the hunter," Maria pointed out as she spotted Chief Kylo and his confidants jumping above the Undead army from the other side of the forest.


    Just like what was nned, Chief Kylo, Magnus, Patter, and Lecter are also following Christopher without thetter''s knowledge that he is being followed.


    Simrly, Chief Kylo and his squad are also not aware that they are being followed by Kayn and his squad as well.


    Simply put, the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.


    However, unlike the original saying where the oriole eventually catches the mantis, this said oriole simply wanted to make sure that the mantis catches the cicada and eats it.


    Christopher''s speed was no joke, especially now that he knows the general location of where he is going.


    The same also applies to Chief Kylo and his squad.


    "If we allow this to continue, we''ll eventually lose all of them," Seven warned.


    Kayn naturally understood this as he is very aware of the overall strength of his squad.


    Looking at Maria, Kayn ordered, "Maria, you can go ahead and we''ll catch up to you,"


    "Alright!" Maria nodded her head and left.


    As the only level 50 of their party, Maria is their only hope of not losing the mantis and the cicada.


    "Let''s also try our best to follow them," Kayn further added.


    The game of chasing after the unaware Christopher continued for more than two hours before everyone finally stopped.


    They''ve reached their destination.


    "What on Earth just happened here?!" Christopher uttered in shock as he stared with wide eyes at the remains of the ce where once stood the great and thriving Freedom City.


    "Did we perhaps lose the war?" Christopher was having trouble believing what he was seeing right now. With how he perceived the Assembly of Freedom, this oue wasn''t something he had expected.


    "No, this couldn''t be possible! Something definitely went wrong when I nked out," Christopher started walking back and forth as he tried his best to analyze the likely scenario that took ce in those nk pieces of his memory.


    In the next moment, Christopher halted from his steps.


    "Wesley!" Christopher instantly realized. "Did that idiot betray us?!"


    Christopher easily arrived at the truth considering how Wesley put him in the middle of the forest and the sudden aggressive action of thetter''s Undead army toward him.


    All of a sudden¡­


    "A pot calling a kettle ck,"


    "Chief Kylo?" Christopher hurriedly turned around and saw Chief Kylo, Magnus, Patter, and Lecter walking towards him.


    "Oh, so you actually still view our leader as the Chief?" Lecter sneered.


    "Even if that''s the case, a traitor will still remain a traitor," Patter added.


    "Me? A traitor?" Christopher thought he heard it incorrectly.


    "Don''t act like a fool, Christopher!" Magnus took one step forward and instantly arrived in front of Christopher. He pointed his finger at thetter''s chest and continued, "You, along with Maria and Wesley betrayed the Assembly of Freedom, chased after Lecter and Patter, and brought a huge deal of damage to our army,"


    "I would never do that!" Christopher eximed loudly.


    "Well, you just did," Chief Kylo interjected.


    "Wesley!" Christopher finally realized what exactly happened. "It was Wesley!"

 Chapter 319 Christopher’s Fate Part 4

    <h4>Chapter 319 Christopher¡¯s Fate Part 4</h4>


    Chapter 319: Christopher''s Fate Part 4


    "Wesley?" Chief Kylo raised his eyebrow, intrigued at the Christopher revtion.


    "That''s right!" Christopher nodded his head repeatedly as if he finally realized the truth. "I just woke up not so long ago right in the middle of the forest. I don''t know how I got there but there''s a huge nk space in between my memory from when I was still inside the building of our headquarters sorting out important documents to this present moment,"


    "I see," Chief Kylo finally understood the situation. It seems like Christopher has unfortunately fallen victim to Wesley''s infamous charm without the former knowing about it. The most likely moment for Wesley to do it should be back then when they suddenly celebrated a food contest as Christopher was invited to be one of its judges.


    "Don''t believe him Chief Kylo!" Lecter rebutted.


    "Calm down Lecter," Patter raised his hand.


    "Thank goodness you understand me, Chief Kylo, sir," Christopher felt slightly relieved.


    "No problem," Chief Kylo smiles while nodding his head. "Is Maria also a victim of Wesley?"


    "Did Maria also betray the Assembly of Freedom?" Christopher was caught by surprise. He didn''t expect Maria to have also fallen victim to Wesley''s charm as well. She was always known to be a picky eater.


    "Not likely," Magnus shook his head as he interrupted their conversation. He had noticed Maria''s eyes were bright and clear, while Christopher''s eyes were the like of a dead fish during their battle.


    "How unfortunate," Chief Kylo shook his head.


    "Unfortunate?" Christopher''s eyebrows rose as a tingling feeling in his chest immediately told him to run away.


    Boom!


    Good thing Christopher believed his intuition.


    As the dust settled down, Christopher saw Magnus'' fistnd in front of where he was previously standing.


    "What are you doing?!"


    "Can''t you see it clearly? We are eliminating you!"


    "Why?"


    "You''ve already fallen victim to Wesley''s charm once, so there''s no telling for certain when you''ll suddenly betray us again,"


    "That¡­" Christopher realized.


    That was how dangerous Wesley''s charm was.


    It wasn''t when Wesley suddenly took control of their body and consciousness that everyone was afraid of, it was the thought that he''d be able to continuously control them anytime he wanted.


    Being alive and at the same time being dead.


    It''s that kind of feeling.


    That was why when someone is known to have fallen victim to Wesley''s charm, their only fate would either be killed or be treated like a gue by everyone else. In the end, they are forced to kill themselves or to submit to Wesley as that''s the only ce where people of simr experience as them would be able to understand their situation.


    However, what the majority doesn''t know is that choosing to submit to Wesley would actually mean they would have to join his army of Undead.


    That''s right!


    Death!


    Which is exactly the same as the first oue.


    There''s practically no escape once someone falls victim to Wesley''s charm.


    Although, unlike the first oue, they''ll at least be reborn again. Albeit they''ll be living as an Undead person.


    This was the exact reason why Chief Kylo was very afraid of Wesley, and why he always made sure to keep an eye on thetter so that he wouldn''t suddenly go on a rampage. Regretfully, it was proven ineffective as Wesley still betrayed the Assembly of Freedom, which brought disastrous effects to their organization as expected.


    "I am sorry, it must be done," Magnus sighs before lunging himself towards Christopher once again. As he approaches, he waves his hand and takes out a spear from his Storage Ring.


    <<Rising Inferno>>!


    Whoosh!


    A huge me that formed into a giant eagle was released from Magnus'' spear and right after traveled straight toward Christopher.


    "I came here to redeem myself!" Christopher yelled out as he took out his sword to defend himself. This wasn''t how he expected things to turn out to be.


    "Your only way of redeeming yourself is through death!" Magnus uttered as he quickly made a follow-up. He suddenly swings his spear backward and a mechanism is activated which extends its reach.


    <<Bull Release>>


    Whoosh!


    A cloud of dust exploded from Christopher''s front.


    Boom!


    A huge blunt force unexpectedly hit Christopher''s stomach.


    "Ah!" Christopher coughed out a mouthful of saliva from his mouth. It was as if a bull directly hit him.


    While Christopher retreated, the sharp point of the spear Magnus was holding appeared out from the cloud of smoke underneath his lower body.


    Slit!


    Luckily, Christopher was able to tilt his head on time, thus only slitting his left eye.


    Christopher hurriedly retreated while sping his left face where blood could be seen oozing out.


    "ept your fate, Christopher!" Magnus eximed.


    Magnus quickly shortened his distance from Christopher and soon after that heunched a barrage of attacks towards thetter.


    A series of piercing sounds echoed all over the ce as Magnus thrust his spear continuously.


    Meanwhile, Christopher performed his finest maneuvering in order to dodge all the attacksing from Magnus and at the same time uses his sword to parry every now and then.


    As Chief Kylo and the others looked behind Christopher, they instantly saw that the forest had been seemingly wiped clean by dozens of straight strokes which left wide and huge imprints on the ground below.


    All of a sudden, Christopher finally decided tounch his counterattack against Magnus after finally being able to familiarize himself with thetter''s fighting style.


    ng!


    Bang!


    Cling!


    The scene instantly turned into a showdown between two powerful individuals.


    Boom!


    This time, loud explosions reverberated all across the ce as Christopher and Magnus continued their exchange.


    "As expected from the rank one and rank two in the Assembly Knights," Lecter can''t help being amused as he witnesses the fight.


    "Let''s quickly distance ourselves," Patter quickly motioned his hand.


    Hearing that, Chief Kylo, Lecter, and Patter swiftly distanced themselves so that they wouldn''t identally get implicated in Christopher and Magnus'' fight.

 Chapter 320 Christopher’s Fate Part 5

    <h4>Chapter 320 Christopher¡¯s Fate Part 5</h4>


    Chapter 320: Christopher''s Fate Part 5


    Christopher was ranked second in the Assembly Knights for a reason. One of those many reasons is that he is only second in strength and power whenpared to Magnus.


    Magnus has long already known of that reason, but this was the first time that he has personally experienced it for himself as it is strictly forbidden between the members of the Assembly Knights to fight against each other.


    However, instead of discouraging Magnus from fighting, this only serves as fuel that boosts his will to fight against Christopher.


    "You are a worthy opponent!" Magnus strangely muttered as he swung his spear.


    "And you''re weaker than I thought," Christopher sneered.


    "That''s only because I am not using any of my magic yet," Magnus smiled.


    Seeing the smug look on Magnus'' face, Christopher instantly understood that the former still hadn''t used his full strength. This was his mistake, as he was already using his full strength to fight against Magnus, thus he instantly believed the other was also doing the same. How mistaken he was.


    In the next moment, Magnus jumped twenty meters away from Christopher.


    Christopher raised his eyebrow but suddenly noticed Magnus was gathering a huge amount of mana around the surroundings. And thetter was doing it very fast, not leaving him any room to disrupt.


    "Oh no!" Christopher immediately realized.


    With a thrust of his spear, Magnus roared loudly, "<<ming Tyrant>>!"


    A huge dragon head suddenly traveled forth out from the spear of Magnus and opened its mouth widely as if trying to consume Christopher whole.


    "Shit!" Christopher swore loudly as he inserted strength to his feet.


    Booom!


    The battlefield was soon covered entirely by a thick cloud of dust and the space around Christopher and Magnus distorted due to the extreme hotness that surrounds everywhere.


    It was practically impossible to see what was happening inside the thick cloud of dust as if some sort of domain covered them.


    Thest thing everyone witnessed was the huge dragon head engulfing Christopher.


    "What''s the status?" Chief Kylo can''t help asking Lecter and Patter.


    "It''s very vague, sir," Lecter responded.


    "With the distortion in space and everything, we''ll have to wait and see," Patter added.


    Meanwhile, Kayn and the rest were also experiencing the same. They can''t see what''s the current situation inside the cloud of dust.


    However, unlike everyone, Kayn was able to get firsthand information because of Natas.


    "Christopher is seriously injured," Natas expresses while his eyes are fully focused on the cloud of smoke. "He was unable to dodge in time due to the strong pressure that pulled his body and made him remain in his ce,"


    This was the exact reason why majority of the time dodging or escaping from a powerful attack is proven very difficult. The pressure that those powerful attacks bring is sometimes too much for the body to easily resist. Once that happens, even if there''s enough time to exert strength on one''s body and jump away, the counter-resistance would prevent them from escaping away.


    "How unfortunate," Kayn muttered. This wasn''t supposed to be how he wanted things to happen. It''s way too easy for Christopher to depart from this world like this after what thetter had done to him in the second life.


    "Change of ns," Kayn suddenly turned to Maria and Wesley, "The two of you, go and save Christopher,"


    "Save him?" Maria was taken aback.


    "Weren''t we supposed to make him suffer?" Wesley already understood what Kayn intended to do to Christopher considering that he didn''t immediately kill thetter.


    "As you can see, Christopher is not suffering," Kayn returns his attention back to the ongoing fight.


    "I see,"


    Maria and Wesley instantly understood. In other words, Kayn wants Christopher to suffer a lot more before eventually dying.


    "Just what on Earth did Christopher do to you that you want him to suffer so much?" Gilbert can''t help asking.


    "If only you know, you might even volunteer to make Christopher suffer," Kayn whispered silently while shaking his head.


    He was referring to the second life. If Christopher and the others hadn''t betrayed humanity for merely their own interest, there would have been a significant chance to save the world and everyone, including Gilbert, taken if he was still alive at that time.


    Unfortunately, nobody knows aside from him and Natas.


    "Once the dust settles down, go for it!" Kayn orders.


    Quite timely enough, after Kayn said that, the thick cloud of dust could finally be seen settling down.


    However, the distortion in space still remains due to the extreme hotness left by the aftermath of the <<ming Tyrant>>.


    Before the cloud of dust could disappear, Maria and Wesley didn''t waste any time as they immediately jumped into the cover and right after pulled the seriously injured Christopher out.


    "You are not going anywhere!" Magnus roared out and released a volley of ming serpents towards the retreating Maria and Wesley.


    "You go, I''ll hold him off," Maria pushed Wesley away and decided to stay and defend.


    As Maria grabbed her sword, she didn''t hesitate to parry all iing ming serpents.


    ng!


    Cling!


    "I didn''t expect I''d meet you this soon, Maria," Magnus walked out of the cloud of dust.


    "I was honestly hoping not to see you again, Magnus," Maria stepped backward.


    "Unluckily day,"


    After muttering that, Magnus lunged himself right away.


    Bang!


    A loud sound of metal hitting against metal echoed as Maria was thrown far away.


    "You are ranked fifth in the Assembly Knights for a reason, and one of that is your strength is far from mine," Magnus disregarded Maria and turned his focus to Wesley who was running away while carrying Christopher on his shoulder. "And you,"


    "You better not think I''d be an easy opponent like Maria," Wesley uttered in hopes of discouraging Magnus from attacking him.


    "Fool! The only reason why you are ranked third is because of the threat that your Gift brings. Not your personal strength," Magnus didn''t hesitate to chase after Wesley.

 Chapter 321 Christopher’s Fate Part 6

    <h4>Chapter 321 Christopher¡¯s Fate Part 6</h4>


    Chapter 321: Christopher''s Fate Part 6


    "That''s exactly the reason why you shouldn''t underestimate me," Wesley''s lips turned into a smile.


    Whoosh!


    Suddenly, five Undead soldiers jumped out of the bush by the side in an ambush.


    Magnus waspletely caught off guard, instantly making him retreat away to avoid the iing attack.


    Bang!


    The five Undead soldiers turned to look at Magnus, pissed after missing their surprise attack.


    "Are you seriously thinking of stopping me with just these five Undead soldiers?" Magnus shook his head in disappointment.


    Wesley didn''t continue to bother with Magnus as he retreated towards the location where they and Kayn''s group had agreed to meet beforehand.


    "You are not going anywhere!" Magnus roared out as he charges straight towards the five Undead soldiers.


    As easily as cutting pie, Magnus instantly cut the five Undead soldiers in half and went right away to continue chasing after Wesley.


    However, to Magnus surprise, five more Undead soldiers suddenly came out of the bush. And in the next following moment, more and more Undead soldiers started showing themselves to block his path.


    Roughly calcting their numbers, Magnus shortly came to the conclusion that there are close to a hundred Undead soldiers in front. As for the possibility that there are more, only time would tell.


    "It was a mistake to underestimate you," Magnus smiled in excitement. He had missed joining in the battle between the Assembly of Freedom and the Green Horn City not so long ago, so this is a good enough opportunity for him to at the very least experience a bit of fighting against a considerable number of enemies.


    "I hope you don''t mind me satisfying my desire,"


    Magnus'' eyes turned red out of bloodthirst as his body vanished into thin air.


    In the following moment, everyone could see traces of a red streak of light moving around the path blocked by the Undead soldiers.


    Everytime the red streak of light passes through a group of Undead soldiers, all of them would immediately explode in the next second, leaving piles of bones on where they once stood.


    The red streak of light quickly waves through the group of Undead soldiers like an unhindered wind passing through every space in between.


    After close to a minute, Magnus'' figure could be seen once again. This time, he is standing at the end of the path.


    Looking behind Magnus, one could see the minced bone pieces of all the Undead soldiers that dared to block his path.


    The pieces were still moving since they are all undying beings, but they could no longer serve their purpose of blocking Magnus from chasing after Wesley.


    Unexpectedly though¡­


    Boom!


    A loud sound suddenly exploded right in front of Magnus as if a hard and heavy object dropped in front of him.


    After the dust settled down, Magnus soon saw Maria''s sword has prated the ground a few inches close to his feet.


    "Is it so difficult for you to understand that you cannot defeat me?" Magnus looked at Maria who is blocking his path all by herself. But suddenly, he noticed that there''s not even a single wound or scratch on Maria''s body despite the result of their earlier exchange.


    "Honestly, you aren''t really that scary as I originally thought you were," Maria began cracking her neck and afterwards she waves her hand, taking out a pair of gold ted gauntlets out from her Storage Ring.


    "Gauntlets?" Magnus can''t help raising his eyebrow.


    It wasn''t any ordinary gauntlets though. It more or less resembles a boxing gloves, a huge one to be exact,pare to the gauntlets that they normally wear to protect their hands.


    After taking out her gauntlets, Maria immediately made her stand as she held her right hand forward while the other hand close to her cheeks, both hands were clinched in a fist.


    "Is that some sort of martial arts?" Magnus narrowed his eyes in surprise. He has never seen anyone in ''The Bridge'' using martial arts before. The reason is not because it is rare, instead there''s simply no other existing ss in this ce that supports this type ofbat style, at least as far as he knows. Not to mention, the type that uses one''s own fist as weapon.


    Needless to say, this would be an entirely different story if Kayn was here as he would instantly be able recognize the sort of stance that Maria is exhibiting right now as the renowned arcane ss called Soulfist.


    This arcane ss was already found a long time ago and was sold in an underground auction house a few years back to an anonymous buyer. That buyer should be Maria or someone close to her, which simply means that she came to ''The Bridge'' after activating the Soulfist arcane ss for herself.


    Although the Soulfist has the word ''Soul'' in its name, it doesn''t actually have any attributes rted to soul attacks or defense, even in theter stages. Instead, its main description simply implies that its power is so strong that it has the capability to burst and crash a person soul into dust. Just a figure of speech though, not literally.


    The main reason for that is because the Soulfist ss has a serius burst damage capabilities. To simply put, it has the capability to input huge amount of mana and direct it into their fist thus allowing the user to output a simr degree of power. Only in their first though, and it doesn''t include any other parts of their bodies, thus why the name Soulfist.


    "Just to rify, I wasn''t fighting you seriously a while ago since our main goal was to simply save Christopher. I simply serve as a distraction so that Wesley can achieve our goal," Maria smiled.


    "Wesley is just right over there," Magnus scuffed.


    "Are you sure? How about you look closely," Maria smiled.


    Following Maria''s instruction, Magnus soon realized that the one he thought to be Wesley carrying Christopher is actually nothing but a mere Undead soldier carrying antoher Undead soldier. They were wearing the same clothes as Wesley and Christopher, that''s why he thought they were the same.

 Chapter 322 Maria versus Magnus Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 322 Maria versus Magnus Part 1</h4>


    Chapter 322: Maria versus Magnus Part 1


    "You really have to drop that notion that you are better than all of us. You might be ranked first in the Assembly Knights, but you''ve seriously forgotten that we became one for a reason too," Maria shook her head in disappointment.


    In the area of evading detection and running away, Wesley could arguably hold the title as number one in the entire ''The Bridge''. How else would he be able to charm an entire town and charm more than thousands of people without getting captured still if he wasn''t good at concealing himself, and that''s even under the condition that he is already someone that a lot of people in ''The Bridge'' is warry about.


    Magnus instantly realized that Wesley must have switched with their Undead doubles during the time he was busy dealing against the huge group of Undead soldiers.


    "He has long already meet up with the others and are currently hiding while waiting for me," Maria did the initiative to exin.


    "Good thing you''ve mentioned that," Magnus brandished his sword. "Now, I don''t have to worry anymore about other''s interrupting my fight,"


    "Likewise," Maria smiled.


    In the next moment, a powerful force suddenly grabbed Magnus and pulled him towards Maria.


    "Telekinesis?!" Magnus instantly realized the reason why Maria didn''t get a single scratch in their previous exchange. She most likely countered the force of his attack with her telekinesis.


    Boom!


    A powerful jab hit Magnus stomach before he could even bother to defend.


    But instead of flying away, his body stayed in the same position with only his stomach slight bend to the direction of the force of the punch.


    "This¡­" Magnus'' immediately moved his arm in hopes of defending the next attack. But to his surprise, he instantly found out that his arm can no longer move.


    Bang! Bang!


    A series of punch directly hit Magnus body from everywhere around his body.


    Although they were thrown by a woman, it wasn''t in any sort of way short of strength and power. As a matter of fact, Maria''s punches might even be better than the majority of males in ''The Bridge''.


    "I¡­ can''t¡­ believe¡­ I am¡­ losing¡­" Magnus was having trouble speaking.


    Fortunately, because the distance was close, it became impossible for Maria to build up enough momentum tounch a strong punch. As such, it didn''t deal that much damage to Magnus, especially with the armor that he is wearing, excluding the face though.


    "Not¡­ my¡­ handsome¡­ face¡­"


    <<Soulbreak>>!


    Banggg!


    As if Maria knew what Magnus was thinking, Maria finally uses a skill that allowed her to deal a burst of damage despite their short distance.


    Magnus instantly flew away towards a tree close to twenty meters away from them.


    Boommm!


    A loud explosion erupted as the tree portion of the tree where Magnus crashed instantly bursted into pieces.


    Enkkk!


    Therge trunk of the tree soon separated from its roots and slowly fell down to the ground, blowing up a cloud of dust afterward.


    Maria puffed out her ample breast proudly to show off how easily she defeated Magnus in that brief exchange.


    "Holy shit!" Lecter was inplete disbelief.


    "I never thought Maria would hide that much capability," Patter added.


    "I handpicked all of you for a reason," Chief Kylo muttered. But deep inside, he was also the same as the other two that didn''t see iting.


    "Is that all you got?"


    A voice suddenly came out from the cloud of dust.


    It was Magnus.


    As the dust settled down, everyone could finally see Magnus standing on his feet.


    Putui!


    Magnus spit a bit of blood to the side and wiped the right side of his face, which left some traces of blood.


    "How pretencious," Maria scoffed.


    Without wasting any time, Maria did the same trick again to pull Magnus towards her.


    "No you''re not!" Magnus stopped both of his feet on the ground.


    Boom!


    As Magnus roared loudly while exerting a lot of strength to both his feet, the dragging motion suddenly came to a stop.


    No, it wasn''t because Maria decided to stop her telekinesis. Instead, she was now unable to pull Magnus no matter what.


    "It seems like the force of your telekinesis depends entirely on your strength," Magnus smiled in triumph.


    Maria''s eyes showed the look of surprise for a brief moment before quickly remembering that Magnus is a battle maniac. This man quite literally rose to his current position and fame through fighting. While he might not be smart on other things, but when ites to fighting, he can easily bepared to those geniuses.


    "That''s not my limit yet," Maria poured all of her strength in gathering as much mana from her surrounding to the limit of what her body can possibly handle.


    "This¡­" Magnus was caught in a surprise and his proud moment shattered as his feet slowly started moving once again.


    Whoosh!


    Not long afterward, Magnus entire body was pulled straight towards Maria.


    This time, however, because of the significantly increase of mana that Maria has poured into her telekinesis, the speed of pull on Magnus'' body increased to a significant degree.


    With a wave of her hand, Maria threw Magnus high up in the air before suddenly letting go of her telekinesis.


    "I can''t believe you just leave me like this!" Magnus screamed to the top of his lungs as he started falling to the ground.


    Being high up in the air for the first time in his entire life, Magnus experienced a struggle trying to manuever himself with nothing to stand on to bnce his body.


    Just when Magnus thought that was all Maria was intending to do, he suddenly notices that below him a few of the trees were actually strangely moving as if they were being pulled out from the ground.


    From this sight alone, Magnus instantly realized what is about to happen next.


    "You can''t possibly be thinking of throwing those trees toward me while I am in this helpless state,"

 Chapter 323 Maria versus Magnus Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 323 Maria versus Magnus Part 2</h4>


    Chapter 323: Maria versus Magnus Part 2


    "That''s exactly the reason why you shouldn''t underestimate me," Wesley''s lips turned into a smile.


    Whoosh!


    Suddenly, five Undead soldiers jumped out of the bush by the side in an ambush.


    Magnus waspletely caught off guard, instantly making him retreat away to avoid the iing attack.


    Bang!


    The five Undead soldiers turned to look at Magnus, pissed after missing their surprise attack.


    "Are you seriously thinking of stopping me with just these five Undead soldiers?" Magnus shook his head in disappointment.


    Wesley didn''t continue to bother with Magnus as he retreated towards the location where they and Kayn''s group had agreed to meet beforehand.


    "You are not going anywhere!" Magnus roared out as he charges straight towards the five Undead soldiers.


    As easily as cutting pie, Magnus instantly cut the five Undead soldiers in half and went right away to continue chasing after Wesley.


    However, to Magnus surprise, five more Undead soldiers suddenly came out of the bush. And in the next following moment, more and more Undead soldiers started showing themselves to block his path.


    Roughly calcting their numbers, Magnus shortly came to the conclusion that there are close to a hundred Undead soldiers in front. As for the possibility that there are more, only time would tell.


    "It was a mistake to underestimate you," Magnus smiled in excitement. He had missed joining in the battle between the Assembly of Freedom and the Green Horn City not so long ago, so this is a good enough opportunity for him to at the very least experience a bit of fighting against a considerable number of enemies.


    "I hope you don''t mind me satisfying my desire,"


    Magnus'' eyes turned red out of bloodthirst as his body vanished into thin air.


    In the following moment, everyone could see traces of a red streak of light moving around the path blocked by the Undead soldiers.


    Everytime the red streak of light passes through a group of Undead soldiers, all of them would immediately explode in the next second, leaving piles of bones on where they once stood.


    The red streak of light quickly waves through the group of Undead soldiers like an unhindered wind passing through every space in between.


    After close to a minute, Magnus'' figure could be seen once again. This time, he is standing at the end of the path.


    Looking behind Magnus, one could see the minced bone pieces of all the Undead soldiers that dared to block his path.


    The pieces were still moving since they are all undying beings, but they could no longer serve their purpose of blocking Magnus from chasing after Wesley.


    Unexpectedly though¡­


    Boom!


    A loud sound suddenly exploded right in front of Magnus as if a hard and heavy object dropped in front of him.


    After the dust settled down, Magnus soon saw Maria''s sword has prated the ground a few inches close to his feet.


    "Is it so difficult for you to understand that you cannot defeat me?" Magnus looked at Maria who is blocking his path all by herself. But suddenly, he noticed that there''s not even a single wound or scratch on Maria''s body despite the result of their earlier exchange.


    "Honestly, you aren''t really that scary as I originally thought you were," Maria began cracking her neck and afterwards she waves her hand, taking out a pair of gold ted gauntlets out from her Storage Ring.


    "Gauntlets?" Magnus can''t help raising his eyebrow.


    It wasn''t any ordinary gauntlets though. It more or less resembles a boxing gloves, a huge one to be exact,pare to the gauntlets that they normally wear to protect their hands.


    After taking out her gauntlets, Maria immediately made her stand as she held her right hand forward while the other hand close to her cheeks, both hands were clinched in a fist.


    "Is that some sort of martial arts?" Magnus narrowed his eyes in surprise. He has never seen anyone in ''The Bridge'' using martial arts before. The reason is not because it is rare, instead there''s simply no other existing ss in this ce that supports this type ofbat style, at least as far as he knows. Not to mention, the type that uses one''s own fist as weapon.


    Needless to say, this would be an entirely different story if Kayn was here as he would instantly be able recognize the sort of stance that Maria is exhibiting right now as the renowned arcane ss called Soulfist.


    This arcane ss was already found a long time ago and was sold in an underground auction house a few years back to an anonymous buyer. That buyer should be Maria or someone close to her, which simply means that she came to ''The Bridge'' after activating the Soulfist arcane ss for herself.


    Although the Soulfist has the word ''Soul'' in its name, it doesn''t actually have any attributes rted to soul attacks or defense, even in theter stages. Instead, its main description simply implies that its power is so strong that it has the capability to burst and crash a person soul into dust. Just a figure of speech though, not literally.


    The main reason for that is because the Soulfist ss has a serius burst damage capabilities. To simply put, it has the capability to input huge amount of mana and direct it into their fist thus allowing the user to output a simr degree of power. Only in their first though, and it doesn''t include any other parts of their bodies, thus why the name Soulfist.


    "Just to rify, I wasn''t fighting you seriously a while ago since our main goal was to simply save Christopher. I simply serve as a distraction so that Wesley can achieve our goal," Maria smiled.


    "Wesley is just right over there," Magnus scuffed.


    "Are you sure? How about you look closely," Maria smiled.


    Following Maria''s instruction, Magnus soon realized that the one he thought to be Wesley carrying Christopher is actually nothing but a mere Undead soldier carrying antoher Undead soldier. They were wearing the same clothes as Wesley and Christopher, that''s why he thought they were the same.

 Chapter 324 Maria versus Magnus Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 324 Maria versus Magnus Part 3</h4>


    Chapter 324: Maria versus Magnus Part 3


    "You really have to drop that notion that you are better than all of us. You might be ranked first in the Assembly Knights, but you''ve seriously forgotten that we became one for a reason too," Maria shook her head in disappointment.


    In the area of evading detection and running away, Wesley could arguably hold the title as number one in the entire ''The Bridge''. How else would he be able to charm an entire town and charm more than thousands of people without getting captured still if he wasn''t good at concealing himself, and that''s even under the condition that he is already someone that a lot of people in ''The Bridge'' is warry about.


    Magnus instantly realized that Wesley must have switched with their Undead doubles during the time he was busy dealing against the huge group of Undead soldiers.


    "He has long already meet up with the others and are currently hiding while waiting for me," Maria did the initiative to exin.


    "Good thing you''ve mentioned that," Magnus brandished his sword. "Now, I don''t have to worry anymore about other''s interrupting my fight,"


    "Likewise," Maria smiled.


    In the next moment, a powerful force suddenly grabbed Magnus and pulled him towards Maria.


    "Telekinesis?!" Magnus instantly realized the reason why Maria didn''t get a single scratch in their previous exchange. She most likely countered the force of his attack with her telekinesis.


    Boom!


    A powerful jab hit Magnus stomach before he could even bother to defend.


    But instead of flying away, his body stayed in the same position with only his stomach slight bend to the direction of the force of the punch.


    "This¡­" Magnus'' immediately moved his arm in hopes of defending the next attack. But to his surprise, he instantly found out that his arm can no longer move.


    Bang! Bang!


    A series of punch directly hit Magnus body from everywhere around his body.


    Although they were thrown by a woman, it wasn''t in any sort of way short of strength and power. As a matter of fact, Maria''s punches might even be better than the majority of males in ''The Bridge''.


    "I¡­ can''t¡­ believe¡­ I am¡­ losing¡­" Magnus was having trouble speaking.


    Fortunately, because the distance was close, it became impossible for Maria to build up enough momentum tounch a strong punch. As such, it didn''t deal that much damage to Magnus, especially with the armor that he is wearing, excluding the face though.


    "Not¡­ my¡­ handsome¡­ face¡­"


    <>!


    Banggg!


    As if Maria knew what Magnus was thinking, Maria finally uses a skill that allowed her to deal a burst of damage despite their short distance.


    Magnus instantly flew away towards a tree close to twenty meters away from them.


    Boommm!


    A loud explosion erupted as the tree portion of the tree where Magnus crashed instantly bursted into pieces.


    Enkkk!


    Therge trunk of the tree soon separated from its roots and slowly fell down to the ground, blowing up a cloud of dust afterward.


    Maria puffed out her ample breast proudly to show off how easily she defeated Magnus in that brief exchange.


    "Holy shit!" Lecter was inplete disbelief.


    "I never thought Maria would hide that much capability," Patter added.


    "I handpicked all of you for a reason," Chief Kylo muttered. But deep inside, he was also the same as the other two that didn''t see iting.


    "Is that all you got?"


    A voice suddenly came out from the cloud of dust.


    It was Magnus.


    As the dust settled down, everyone could finally see Magnus standing on his feet.


    Putui!


    Magnus spit a bit of blood to the side and wiped the right side of his face, which left some traces of blood.


    "How pretencious," Maria scoffed.


    Without wasting any time, Maria did the same trick again to pull Magnus towards her.


    "No you''re not!" Magnus stopped both of his feet on the ground.


    Boom!


    As Magnus roared loudly while exerting a lot of strength to both his feet, the dragging motion suddenly came to a stop.


    No, it wasn''t because Maria decided to stop her telekinesis. Instead, she was now unable to pull Magnus no matter what.


    "It seems like the force of your telekinesis depends entirely on your strength," Magnus smiled in triumph.


    Maria''s eyes showed the look of surprise for a brief moment before quickly remembering that Magnus is a battle maniac. This man quite literally rose to his current position and fame through fighting. While he might not be smart on other things, but when ites to fighting, he can easily bepared to those geniuses.


    "That''s not my limit yet," Maria poured all of her strength in gathering as much mana from her surrounding to the limit of what her body can possibly handle.


    "This¡­" Magnus was caught in a surprise and his proud moment shattered as his feet slowly started moving once again.


    Whoosh!


    Not long afterward, Magnus entire body was pulled straight towards Maria.


    This time, however, because of the significantly increase of mana that Maria has poured into her telekinesis, the speed of pull on Magnus'' body increased to a significant degree.


    With a wave of her hand, Maria threw Magnus high up in the air before suddenly letting go of her telekinesis.


    "I can''t believe you just leave me like this!" Magnus screamed to the top of his lungs as he started falling to the ground.


    Being high up in the air for the first time in his entire life, Magnus experienced a struggle trying to manuever himself with nothing to stand on to bnce his body.


    Just when Magnus thought that was all Maria was intending to do, he suddenly notices that below him a few of the trees were actually strangely moving as if they were being pulled out from the ground.


    From this sight alone, Magnus instantly realized what is about to happen next.


    "You can''t possibly be thinking of throwing those trees toward me while I am in this helpless state,"

 Chapter 325 Maria versus Magnus Part 4

    <h4>Chapter 325 Maria versus Magnus Part 4</h4>


    Chapter 325: Maria versus Magnus Part 4


    What followed after the disappearance of Chief Kylo, Magnus, Moei, and Marlon, was the signal that marked theplete defeat of the Assembly of Freedom.


    The banners of the Assembly of Freedom started falling one after the other,pletely getting abandoned and stepped on by all of their members who are solely focused on saving themselves and no longer bothering about caring about the others as they run away as fast as their feet could take them from the soldiers of the Green Horn City. Some of them even wished to have more feet so that they could run faster.


    Contrary to what was expected, in response to the Assembly of Freedom''s retreat, the Green Horn City didn''t continue chasing after. Instead, they made their way to the Hush Vige.


    After receiving the report from the Dream Vige of Gilbert and Kayn''s findings in the Hush Vige a few days back where hundreds of vigers suffered torture and all sorts of mistreatment at the hands of the Assembly of Freedom, they decided that it is their topmost priority to free and save thempared to chasing after the dispersing defeated men from their enemy.


    Hunting the defeated army of the Assembly of Freedom can wait since they no longer have a ce to stay as everyone in ''The Bridge'' would close their doors to them due to the fact that they''ve lost the war. It would have been apletely different story if they''d won though.


    In that case, everyone in ''The Bridge'' would do their best to capture the defeated army of the Assembly of Freedom in hopes that they can curry favor for the winner, Green Horn City.


    "Should we go with them?" Gilbert can''t help asking.


    "No, we have bigger matters to take care of," Kayn shook his head.


    After saying that, Kayn along with Gilbert, Wesley, Jude, Charles, and Jericho separated from the main army and went to the forest to their east. They are nning to meet up with the rest of the gang so that Kayn can finally proceed with the n that he has been cooking up all this time.


    The rest of the gang is referring to Maria, Garvin, Ekin, Seven, and most importantly¡­


    A murderous intent momentarily escaped from Kayn''s eyes as he remembered one person in that group.


    Christopher!


    It is now time to end the life of one of the people that betrayed him in the second life, especially considering that he no longer has any use for Christopher, therefore it is time for thetter to finally meet his end.


    As for how exactly it would be, he already had a n in mind that would make Christopher feel exactly the same way as how he felt when they betrayed him.


    ¡­..


    Maria, Garvin, Iken, Seven, and Christopher didn''t really go that far away from the battlefield. Hence, Kayn almost instantly found them just after briefly entering the Slumbering Forest.


    Seven had specifically picked a position where he could still watch the war without the risk of identally getting found out or possibly implicated in the battle. After all, he is nothing more but a third party between the war of the Green Horn City and the Assembly of Freedom. If ever he is found out, he''d most likely get executed by either party involved.


    "Seven," Kayn called out.


    "Kayn," Seven greeted back with a slight bow of his head. He is now a loyal servant of Kayn, so he ought to start treating thetter as his master.


    "Everyone," Kayn looks at the others.


    "I truly never expected that it wasn''t only me that you invited," Garvin still can''t think of any reason on how exactly Kayn was able to invite Maria and Christopher to join his side as well.


    "Well, things happened which resulted in this conclusion," Kayn doesn''t want to exin it himself since Maria can exin how he invited her. Garvin can just go and ask her if he truly wants to know.


    "Now time for the execution," Kayn''s eyes turned cold as he looks at Christopher who is currently standing like a robot by the side. Because of the Undead Apple, thetter would just stand senselessly without any orders.


    "What are you nning on doing?" Gilbert can''t help asking.


    At this point in time, it is already quite obvious to everyone, excluding Garvin and Iken, that Christopher was one of the people that supposedly betrayed Kayn in the past. As for what exactly had happened, none of them knows. And whether they''ll find out about it or not, that would entirely be up to them to uncover since Kayn doesn''t seem to want to exin it to them.


    "Did you make sure they would follow?" Kayn looks at Maria. He was refering to Chief Kylo, Magnus, Moei, and Marlon.


    "Yes," Maria nodded. She had purposely moved in a suspicious manner in order to attract the attention of Chief Kylo and his group who were just secretly hiding nearby after disappearing. They probably wanted to see the end of the war for themselves first before eventually going away to start their own redemption arc.


    "Good," Kayn truly appreciated Maria''s effort.


    "Everyone, disperse," Kayn signaled.


    In the next moment, Gilbert and the others immediately disappeared and hid behind the trees nearby.


    "It is time for you to feel exactly what it feels like being betrayed by people you trust," Kayn smiled devilishly before also disappearing.


    The instant Kayn disappeared, Christopher soon regained consciousness.


    "Huh?" Christopher quickly began looking around his surroundings. "A forest? Since there are Drowsy Mushrooms nearby, this seems to still be the Slumbering Forest,"


    "How the fuck did I even get here?"


    Christopher was clueless about everything that happened while he was under the spell of the Undead Apple and the only thing he could remember was that he was dealing with some important documents in the headquarters of the Assembly of Freedom before his mind suddenly fade away and turned ck.

 Chapter 326 Maria versus Magnus Part 5

    <h4>Chapter 326 Maria versus Magnus Part 5</h4>


    Chapter 326: Maria versus Magnus Part 5


    No matter how hard Christopher tried to remember, all he could sense was a long nk space in his memory. It is as if he hadpletely forgotten a piece of memory between the time he was sorting out the important documents and now when he finally regained his consciousness.


    "Wesley!" Christopher instantly concluded. He wasn''t a fool. Ever since he discovered Wesley''s charm, he had been going around investigating all thetter''s victims. ording to them, they all share thismon feeling of having an empty part of their memory where it feels like they undergo a time skip or something simr. What he is feeling right now is exactly the same.


    "Did that asshole do something to me without my consent?!" Christopher felt enraged.


    Christopher started stomping his foot, creating deep footprints on the dirt below, as he started moving north.


    At this moment, Christopher still doesn''t know where exactly he is. But he believes that going north would be the best action to take considering that the headquarters of the Assembly of Freedoms is located somewhere around that part. To be more exact, it was in the northwest of the Slumbering Forest.


    "There''s only two conclusions to my decision, either I reach the end of the Slumbering Forest where I can then continue navigating down south to reach the Freedom City, or I end up somewhere worse and I get lost in the process," Christopher was feeling extremely annoyed. "Whatever it is, I''ll make sure Wesley will pay for this!"


    Wesley who was secretly watching everything can''t help slightly shivering in fear. Fortunately, Christopher would be dying soon, or else he''d be the one to die instead.


    Christopher continued traveling north for hours and still, he didn''t reach the end of the Slumbering Forest nor was there any sign that he was close to the end.


    "Fuck! Did that guy put me somewhere so far away in the Slumbering Forest? What for though? Was it so that I wouldn''t be able to join in the war?" Christopher can only assume that to be the case since he isn''t dead yet. However, he is curious about some wounds that seem to be from a weapon of some sort, like a sword. But it wasn''t fatal and it could also just be from encountering monsters along the way. And speaking about the war. "I wonder if the war has already started?" If that was really the case, Chief Kylo would definitely kill him.


    "This is annoying!" Christopher screamed loudly. "I''ll definitely make him pay once I return!"


    All of a sudden, Christopher notices that he is nearing an open space.


    "Finally!" Christopher celebrated.


    However, Christopher''s celebration didn''tst long as he saw the Hush Vige not that far away to his left.


    "Is that?" Christopher was in disbelief.


    At this moment, the Hush Vige is being under siege by thousands or perhaps even ten thousand soldiers from the Green Horn City.


    "I have to help them!" Christopher didn''t waste any time as he headed straight towards the Hush Vige.


    It didn''t take long for Christopher to get close to the wall of the Hush Vige.


    But contrary to what Christopher was expecting, dozens of the siege weapons stationed on top of the wall suddenly aimed toward his direction.


    "The traitor ising, fire!"


    Whoosh!


    "What the?!" Christopher quickly evaded. "Why are you attacking me?!"


    "What a load of bullcrap you are spouting you traitor!"


    "Get away from here traitor!"


    "Scum of the Assembly of Freedom go and die!"


    "Traitor?" Christopher can''t help doubting what he is hearing. "Is this rted to the nk space in my memory? What the heck did Wesley make me do when I was under his Gift?!"


    Christopher''s only conclusion is Wesley made him betray the Assembly of Freedom when he had fallen victim to his Undead Apple. As for why, he doesn''t know. The only choice he has now is to look for Chief Kylo and exin to him what exactly happened so that he can clear his name.


    "Since the Hush Vige is here, all I have to do is go north," Christopher quickly decided to abandon the Hush Vige and head to the Freedom City. Even though he wants to help, but with the way he is being treated right now, there''s no way he can.


    Christopher started heading north.


    After traveling for a good thirty minutes, Christopher was suddenly forced to stop on his track.


    "What the fuck!" Christopher can''t help swearing loudly as he watches a sea of Undead Soldiers marching south.


    "Isn''t this Wesley''s Undead army?" Christopher already knew about the defense mechanism that Chief Kylo had set up with the help of Wesley. "I see what''s happening now. Wesley wanted to im all credit for winning the war that''s why he sent me far away. There''s also the possibility that he sent everyone away as well. He''s going to be dead for sure this time!"


    "I guess he is no longer satisfied with his position and wants more privileges," Christopher can understand. But nevertheless, that doesn''t mean he''ll spare Wesley.


    Completely ignoring the approaching Undead Army, Christopher runs to the side close to them. Just for safety purposes.


    At first, everything was fine.


    All Undead soldiers continued marching to the south.


    But as time passes, Christopher eventually notices that the Undead soldiers are slowly getting close to him, and before he realizes it, he is already surrounded by them and their ranks are steadily thickening as if to prevent him from escaping.


    The instant the Undead Army surrounded Christopher, those close to him instantly stopped and faced him.


    The Undead''s empty eyes socket and skull face, the unrecognizable faces, and the oozing slimy substance from their bodies were so creepy that although Christopher was confident that he could handle them, he still couldn''t help slightly shivering in fear.


    "Did Wesley notice my presence? Is he nning on stopping me again?" Christopher presumed as he readied his weapon in his hand.


    As if Christopher''s assumption was confirmed, the Undead soldiers near him lunged themselves before brandishing their weapons to attack him.


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